Search Results
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How the left became cheerleaders for US imperialism
Figureheads like the Guardian’s George Monbiot have wrecked the left’s ability to think critically, encouraging an analysis of power politics more suited to the playground. Continue reading »
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On Syria, sanctions, terror and war – an open letter to Australian parliamentarians
When we choose not to show empathy for the people of Syria, it leads us to ignore their country’s ancient history and the rich fabric of Syrian society today. Continue reading »
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Killing the story – Bakhmut, Nick Cohen, Kakhovka, Nord Stream and Piers Morgan
The late writer, broadcaster and wit Clive James formulated what he called the ‘Barry Manilow Law’: Continue reading »
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Limits, damned lies, and perception management
At a reconstruction site in Mariupol during President Putin’s visit in March, a woman cried from the back of the crowd, ‘It’s all lies’. Her comment was later taken down from social media, though it wasn’t clear who did that, nor whose lies she meant. Continue reading »
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As Arab states seek peace, US insists that Syrians suffer
After the Arab League re-admits Syria, Washington threatens new sanctions to prevent reconstruction. Continue reading »
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The cruel impact of US sanctions on earthquake affected Syria
The unilateral coercive sanctions Australia and its allies impose on Syria make us complicit in a war on the people of Syria, and arguably complicit in policide, if not genocide. To lift the cruel sanctions, we must come to the realisation that Syrians are human, like us. Continue reading »
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Journalistic responsibility vanishes when reporting on US-targeted nations
Two false news reports have gone viral in recent days due to sloppy sourcing and journalistic malpractice. As usual they both featured bogus claims about US-targeted nations, in this case Russia and Iran. Continue reading »
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False claims again – The Douma Aqaba chemical weapons and air strikes on Syria
The alleged Douma chemical weapons attack provided the justification for the United States, British and French governments’ airstrikes on Syria on 14 April 2018. Continue reading »
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Australia is playing in the international greyzone: it is time to get out of our unthinking alliance with the US
Unbeknownst to most of the population, Australia is a willing player in a global game of Risk. The risks are great, the rewards less so. We do not need to play this game. Continue reading »
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Media failure again on alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria
Two new reports from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons challenge claims that chemical weapons were used in two alleged attacks in Syria. Continue reading »
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The opportunity cost of the new cold war.
Australia, perhaps unwittingly and with very little in the way of public debate, has unnecessarily involved itself in a new cold war between the United States and its allies on one side and Russia and China on the other. Continue reading »
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DAVID MACILWAIN. Australian media and its regulator conceal the true story of chemical weapons attacks in Syria
In writing a formal complaint to the overseer of Australian media ACMA over SBS’ failure to broadcast news that the OPCW’s claims on chemical weapons use in Syria had been exposed as fabricated, I have encountered a Kafkaesque problem – only complaints on specific broadcasts can be examined.. Continue reading »
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PAUL MALONE. The Australian media and the alleged Douma chemical weapons attack.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons inspector who led the team investigating the alleged Douma chemical weapons attack in Syria in April 2018 has gone public saying that his investigation team “had serious misgivings that a chemical attack had occurred.” Continue reading »
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CAMERON LECKIE. The Australian Mainstream Media: Propagandists on Chemical Weapons
One of the most effective tools of the propagandist is the power of leaving out. Continue reading »
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PAUL MALONE.- Doubts continue about the alleged Syrian Chemical Weapons Attack in 2018
Some 20 months after the alleged Syrian government toxic chemical weapons attack on Douma in April 2018 the evidence to back the claims of a gas attack has been blown apart. Continue reading »
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CAMERON LECKIE. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons: Corrupted!
Two whistle-blowers from the world’s chemical weapon watchdog raise serious concerns about the impartiality of the OPCW. The whistle-blowers indicate that the findings of the OPCWs report into the alleged 2018 Douma chemical weapons incident do not align with the evidence/analysis compiled by the investigation team. The Australian Government should seek a formal investigation into Continue reading »
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CAMERON LECKIE. Here we go again! Yet another false flag incident?
Sun Tzu in the Art of War stated that ‘All war is based on deception.’ We should keep this in mind whenever a major international incident occurs. The application of Occam’s Razor, keeping an open mind and considering a range of possibilities suggests that many of these incidents may have been false flag operations, including Continue reading »
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ROBERT FISK. The Evidence we were never meant to see about the Douma Gas Attack. (Counterpunch, 27 May 2019)
We like to take the Big Boys on trust. No longer do we believe in our meretricious little leaders with their easy lies and twitters: the Trumps and Mays and now all the nationalists of Europe. We certainly don’t put any credit in Arab dictators. Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. The Douma “chemical attack”: still waiting for an apology.
On 7 April 2018 an alleged chemical attack took place in the city of Douma in the Syrian Arab Republic. Dramatic footage of the “victims” was widely broadcast throughout the western mainstream media. Particularly prominent were images of children foaming at the mouth and being hosed down. The footage for these dramatic depictions was almost entirely Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. Julie Bishop’s Unmemorable Tenure as Foreign Minister
The departure of Julie Bishop as Foreign Minister is no cause for regret. Her tenure was marked by hypocrisy, selective application of international law, and blindness to geopolitical realities. Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. Australian Government silent on OPCW Report
On 7th April 2018 an incident occurred in the Syrian city of Douma, 10 km North east of the capital Damascus. It was alleged, initially by the jihadi extremists occupying the city that a nerve gas attack had been carried out by Syrian government forces. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Trump is Master of the Art of Making America Grate.
Trump’s decision yesterday to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal is a global tragedy likely to unsettle an already volatile Middle East and a world in some disarray. Trump has pulled out of the deal not because it was flawed, but because it was working as intended and this posed an insurmountable obstacle to potential military Continue reading »
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‘We know where your kids live’ – John Bolton to OPCW DG José Bustani, March 2002
In justifying her decision to commit the UK to joining the US and France in the unilateral air strikes on Syria on 14 April, PM Theresa May said in Parliament on 16 April that a requirement for UN authorisation would effectively give Russia a veto on British foreign policy. Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn called for Continue reading »
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Syria a symptom of a broken international order
Last Saturday US, British and French forces bombed three chemical weapons facilities in Damascus in retaliation for the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian forces in Douma on 6–8 April that killed around 70 people. Continue reading »
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ROBERT FISK. The search for truth in the rubble of Douma – and one doctor’s doubts over the chemical attack
This is the story of a town called Douma, a ravaged, stinking place of smashed apartment blocks – and of an underground clinic whose images of suffering allowed three of the Western world’s most powerful nations to bomb Syria last week. There’s even a friendly doctor in a green coat who, when I track him down Continue reading »
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RICHARD BUTLER. Hypocrisy and Sanctimony: a Poisonous Brew.
The arguments advanced to justify the illegal US/French/UK attack upon Syrian CW related facilities incorporated buckets of sanctimony and numbing hypocrisy. There has been no serious discussion of the justification given by the three; because it was known to be patently false. And, worse, by setting themselves above the law, these three permanent members of Continue reading »
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Was DT Mouse-Trapped Into Attacking Syria?
Those of us of a certain age will remember the phrase ‘DTs’, short for delirium tremens: a rapid onset of confusion caused by an alcoholic’s immediate abstinence. Is the world suffering from a different set of DTs: the rapid-fire onset of domestic and global crises by a confused president revelling in his role as the Continue reading »
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SCOTT BURCHILL. The attack on Syria
There are seven points to consider after the US, UK and French attacks on Syria last week. Continue reading »
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Substituting question marks for exclamation marks
‘Fake news’ seems unavoidably associated with Donald Trump. He insists on casting himself as the victim of fake news even as any resemblance between his compulsive tweeting and facts seems largely coincidental. Still, it seems a pity that the rumours proved false of the Pentagon having increased the nuclear launch codes to more than 150 Continue reading »
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SCOTT BURCHILL. On the Russian gas attack
Given the “sexing up” and outright distortions of dodgy intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s “WMD” in 2002-3 by both the UK government of Tony Blair and US administration of George W. Bush, one can only be astonished at the credulity of those in the Fourth Estate who don’t even feel the need to ask for evidence Continue reading »
