Russia Vindicated by Terrorist Surrenders in Syria By Finian Cunningham

[Proserpina]

http://m.strategic-culture.org/news/2015/12/31/russia-vindicated-by-terrorist-surrenders-syria.html

As Syrians gather in their capital Damascus to celebrate, there is a sense that the New Year will bring a measure of peace – the first time such hope has been felt over the past five years of war in the country. Russia’s military intervention to help its Arab ally at the end of September has been the seminal event of the year. After three months of sustained Russian aerial operations in support of the Syrian Arab Army against an array of foreign-backed mercenaries, there is an unmistakable sense that the "terrorist backbone has been broken", as Russian President Vladimir Putin recently put it.

This past week sees several local truces being implemented across Syria with evacuation of militants from towns which they have held under armed siege. The civilian populations in these locations have been effectively held hostage as human shields by the militants, thus preventing Syrian army advances up to now. The Western media, such as US government-owned Voice of America, invert reality by claiming that it is the mercenaries themselves who have been under siege from the Syrian army instead of the fact that the mercenaries have been holding civilians in their midst as hostages, as was the case earlier in the siege of Homs, which was eventually also broken. What has changed dramatically is the advent of Russian air power – over 5,000 sorties in three months – which has enabled the Syrian army to wipe out militant bases, oil smuggling and weapons supply routes in northern Syria along the Turkish border. This has left militants further inland to wither from the severance of supply lifelines. Hence the readiness now to accept truces and evacuation deals – under the auspices of the United Nations and International Committee for the Red Cross. Thousands of anti-government insurgents are being bussed out of locations around Damascus, including Zabadani, al Qadam, Hajar al Aswad and Yarmouk.

....................

Also missing or downplayed in the Western media coverage of the truces across Syria is the question of where the surrendering mercenaries are being evacuated to. They are not being bussed to other places inside Syria. That shows that there is no popular support for these insurgents. Despite copious Western media coverage contriving that the Syrian conflict is some kind of "civil war" between a despotic regime and a popular pro-democracy uprising, the fact that surrendering militants have no where to go inside Syria patently shows that these insurgents have no popular base...In other words, this is a foreign-backed war on Syria; a covert war of aggression on a sovereign country utilizing terrorist proxy armies. So where are the terrorist remnants being shipped to? According to several reports, the extremists are being given safe passage into Turkey, where they will receive repair and sanctuary from the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – and no doubt subsidized by the European Union with its $3.5 billion in aid to Ankara to "take care of refugees".

Again, this is another indictment of the state-terrorist links of NATO-member Turkey, which the EU is recently giving special attention to for accession to the bloc...Russia is not only vindicated in Syria. The Western governments, their media and their regional client regimes are being flushed out like the bandits on the ground in Syria. If the UN-sponsored peace process due to start in the New Year succeeds to end the conflict in Syria, it will be largely down to Russia’s military campaign that has wiped out the terrorist proxies working on behalf of the Western criminal enterprise for regime change in that country.

[HERVEPA]

1. Strategic Culture Foundation = Russia Today in different clothing

[Proserpina]

2. If you have a more truthful version, post it

Otherwise, be grateful that SOMEONE, even someone you loathe for no good reason, is willing to tell you the time of day. For example:

Putin's SUCCEEDING against ISIS: US officials FINALLY admit Russia's doing the RIGHT thing

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/630253/putin-succeeding-in-syra

THREE months after Russia started its bombing campaign against Islamic State in Syria, US officials are said to have finally admitted Moscow is doing the right thing. Washington has long remained critical of Vladimir Putin's actions in the Middle East, accusing the leader of propping up Bashar al-Assad's highly controversial regime. But speaking on condition of anonymity, a US intelligence official has revealed the airstrikes have seen results against terror.

He told Reuters: "The Russians did not go blindly into this, they are getting some advantage out of the price."

According to the Kremlin, in spite of carrying out more than 5,000 airstrikes since the beginning of the campaign, Russian troops have suffered only a small number of casualties. Financially, the military operation also seems to be working out for Moscow. Russia has an annual defence budget of $54billion, but country officials say sending military jets to Syria is costing a relatively modest one to two billion dollars per year.

A senior US official said: "I think it's indisputable that the Assad regime, with Russian military support, is probably in a safer position than it was."

[HERVEPA]

5. For some reason I don't feel I need to take orders from you. See any WESTerns lately?

[Proserpina]

7. For some reason, I don't think I should take any kind of abuse from you

so now we are even, and you lose.

[Fuddnik]

10. Kick to the greatest page!

Now, go tell your mom to wash your mouth out with soap.

[Proserpina]

11. She would never do that, and you know it.

She's behind me, 100% on this.

[SCantiGOP]

9. Thanks, HERVEPA

People should do a little background checking before they post propaganda here.

[HERVEPA]

15. Possibly/probably Go West back with a different name and a different propaganda source.

[rjsquirrel]

3. Ahh the smell of propaganda

in the mornin'!

[HERVEPA]

6. Really? Ya think? They should try to disguise it a bit better.

[newthinking]

12. I understand how it would feel that way to those who do not read widely

and consider alternative sources (even when they may not fit our media's Narrative).

All modern mass media is propagandized when it comes to important Policy events, especially foreign policy.

There is absolutely no way you can get a clear view of events in the world through western media because it protects it's interests at the expense of accuracy. The flow of information from war zones is heavily controlled and "Narrated" in our mass media. Which is why it is so important to understand this phenomenon and learn to recognize it, and read widely: Not consume only a single viewpoint.


Project censored is a great site (Run by College staff and students) to learn about omissions:
http://ProjectCensored.org


It's not necessary to regress to the 1950s anymore. They even have classes to help one to understand how war propaganda works in our own media.

War and Media: Propaganda and Persuasion
Course Description

This course considers propaganda and its power through the ideological messages which are constructed and maintained both verbally and visually then defines propaganda and why it is so powerful. This knowledge is then applied to the general topic of defence, and conflict throughout modern history. Propaganda has been present throughout modern history from the Nazis, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Falklands War and the “War on Terror”. The media not only reports on war, it shapes our view of conflict.

http://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/war_peace/media/hpropaganda.html

[BlueMTexpat]

13. Thanks for the links! eom

[rjsquirrel]

14. How do you know

what I read?

How many languages can you read? Me, it's 5.

A foreign news source can be very valuable. I watch Al Jazeera and read Der Spiegel, for example.


But something is not true automatically because it appears in an obscure non-Western source like this OP. This article is pure bullshit pro-Putin propaganda, it's full of lies not hidden truths.

It justifies an intervention that has included mass civilian casualties and war crimes, but the Putin love around here keeps growing. Oh for a strong Russian daddy, huh?


I read Russian, by the way, and grew up speaking it. Ask me how I know this is bullshit.

[HERVEPA]

16. Love your response, but likely too logical for some.

[BlueMTexpat]

4. I am recc'ing your thread.

Despite the crap I read on DU about anything even slightly praiseworthy of Russian actions right now - if the "praise" comes from other than a US MSM source (and we ALL know how US MSM ALWAYS tell the truth) - I am hearing similar things not only from my Syrian friends here but also from friends in Syria who are still somehow managing to live amid the chaos.

This from your link:

Also missing or downplayed in the Western media coverage of the truces across Syria is the question of where the surrendering mercenaries are being evacuated to. They are not being bussed to other places inside Syria. That shows that there is no popular support for these insurgents. Despite copious Western media coverage contriving that the Syrian conflict is some kind of "civil war" between a despotic regime and a popular pro-democracy uprising, the fact that surrendering militants have no where to go inside Syria patently shows that these insurgents have no popular base...In other words, this is a foreign-backed war on Syria; a covert war of aggression on a sovereign country utilizing terrorist proxy armies.

Sure it's biased toward Russia's POV. That does not necessarily make it inaccurate. I also repeat - as I have ad nauseam here - there are no "moderate" Syrian "rebels," just as there were no "moderate" mujaheddine in Afghanistan in the 1980s. When will we ever learn?

[Proserpina]

8. I am a firm believer in outside sources and verification is even better. Thank you