Stephen Lendman -- Ceasefire Charade in Syria

Ceasefire Charade in Syria

by Stephen Lendman

Diplomats pretend it’s largely holding while Syrians die - US-supported terrorist attacks more intense than before ceasefire began last Monday.

On Friday, Lavrov and Kerry ludicrously claimed cessation of hostilities is “at a satisfactory level,” both diplomats wanting truce (sic) made permanent. 

What country are they talking about? War rages in Syria. No ceasefire exists, nor will it ahead because Washington wants war, not peace, Assad eliminated, Syrian sovereignty destroyed, pro-Western puppet governance replacing it, America gaining another imperial trophy.

How long will the charade go on? When will Damascus and Moscow admit America again deceived them and declare all-out war on all US-supported terrorist groups, not just ISIS and al Nusra? 

Philippine President Calls Obama a Son-of-a-Bitch

Philippine President Calls Obama a Son-of-a-Bitch

by Stephen Lendman

 

How refreshing, even from a hardline leader ruling with an iron fist. He’s gutsy to a fault.

In office around 10 weeks, Rodrigo Duterte certainly made his presence known, attracting less than favorable worldwide attention in the process.

He wants capital punishment enforced against what he calls “heinous” criminals, including drugs traffickers.

He urged Filipino citizens to voluntarily kill pushers and addicts. A national bloodbath may follow before his tenure expires. He’s compiling a “kill list” like Obama, operating as judge, jury and chief executioner - criticized by human rights groups for supporting extrajudicial assassinations.

Stephen Lendman -- Jill Stein’s Acceptance Speech As Green Party Presidential Nominee

Jill Stein’s Acceptance Speech As Green Party Presidential Nominee

by Stephen Lendman

It’s official. Green Party delegates in Houston on Saturday nominated her as party standard bearer for president of the United States. She’s the real thing, the only true people’s candidate in the race for the nation’s highest office.

Money-controlled oligarch interests oppose her - humanity’s scourge, destroying planet earth one raped country after another, a trail of death, destruction and immiseration a testimony to their ruthlessness.

Clinton or Trump succeeding Obama assures more of the same, Hillary by far the worst of two unacceptable choices, the greatest threat to world peace if anointed America’s next president.

Jill humbly accepted her party’s nomination, saying “(t)his is what democracy looks like. This is what political revolution looks like.”

Her agenda reflects a nation and “world that works for all of us…that puts people, planet and peace over profit.”

The Green Party “stands up for the people” on all issues vital to everyone - endorsing peace over war, respect for fundamental human and civil rights, transition to green energy, social justice over neoliberal harshness, and governance serving everyone equitably.

Stephen Lendman -- Syrian Forces Aided by Russian Airpower Maintain Eastern Aleppo Siege

Syrian Forces Aided by Russian Airpower Maintain Eastern Aleppo Siege

by Stephen Lendman

Syrian forces have US-supported Eastern Aleppo terrorists trapped under siege - their supply lines cut. 

Efforts by thousands of other death squad fighters to break through failed, heavy casualties suffered in attempts for the past 10 days. 

Sputnik News cited a Russian RIA Novosti correspondent, saying terrorists remain surrounded in eastern and southeastern Aleppo.

Heavy fighting continues. Supply lines remain severed. Government forces control them. Reports alleging US-supported cold-blooded killer “rebels” broke through are falsified.

Over 2,000 terrorists were killed in the last 10 days alone, according to Syrian sources. Multiple breakthrough attempts were repelled, Russian airpower the key factor in battle - hammering terrorist fighters Washington calls “moderate rebels.” None exist.

Stephen Lendman -- Turkey’s Erdogan Running Wild, Geopolitics in Play

Turkey’s Erdogan Running Wild, Geopolitics in Play

by Stephen Lendman

Wannabe sultan Erdogan’s policies aren’t pretty. His reign of terror continues into its eighth day, likely lots more purging ahead.

What’s unfolding followed what looked like a stage-managed sham military uprising - sloppy, inept and stillborn when initiated, Erdogan never in danger of being toppled.

Citing “Turkish and foreign intelligence sources inside Turkey,” investigative journalist Wayne Madsen called the July 15 uprising a “ ‘false flag’ coup…limited by Erdogan’s design from the start.”

“The coup attempt was a standard ‘fly paper’ operation,” used to flush out opposition elements, seeing which ones stick, eliminating them as a threat to his absolute rule.

Stephen Lendman -- Coup Plotting: A US Tradition

Coup Plotting: A US Tradition

by Stephen Lendman

Were US dirty hands involved in Friday’s failed attempt to oust Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power?

Relations with Obama are strained. During Erdogan’s March 31 - April 1 Nuclear Security Summit participation in Washington, no meeting between both leaders was scheduled, no White House invitation afforded.

He’s more tolerated than welcome. Establishment organization Brookings invited him to speak. 

Mayhem followed, his security guards making Washington look like Ankara, assaulting journalists covering his address, clashing with peaceful demonstrators outside the venue, protesting his crackdown on press freedom, other human rights abuses, war on Turkish Kurds and support for ISIS in Syria.

Stephen Lendman -- Phony US Proposed Military Partnership with Russia in Syria

Phony US Proposed Military Partnership with Russia in Syria

by Stephen Lendman

Imperial powers don’t negotiate. They demand. Deals struck aren’t worth the paper they’re written on - agreed on then unilaterally breached.

Obama’s proposed military partnership with Russia in Syria is head-fake deception - unacceptable from what little is known. The devil is in the details - one-sidedly favoring US interests based on how it always operates.

It calls for both countries establishing a Joint Implementation Group for intelligence exchanges and operational information on ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra locations - areas where they’re operating, not precise positions for targeting - and ignoring other terrorist groups. 

No-bombing zones would be declared - safe haven platforms for launching attacks, killing civilians, committing atrocities, then returning to where they’re free from retaliation.

In return, Washington wants Moscow pressuring Syria to halt air strikes on terrorists mischaracterized as moderates, limiting its aerial operations to humanitarian and other non-combat missions.

Details of Obama’s proposal weren’t revealed. Nor did Washington designate groups it considers terrorists, according to Russian General Staff head Valery Gerasimov.

Cessation of hostilities let them regroup, rearm and add new recruits to their ranks. Things “cannot continue this way indefinitely,” Gerasimov stressed, adding Russia’s Defense Ministry supplied Washington with its terrorist targets through September - likely areas, not precise positions.

Stephen Lendman -- Obama in Poland

Stephen Lendman -- Obama in Poland

by Stephen Lendman

 

In Warsaw for US-dominated NATO’s anti-Russia, saber-rattling summit, Obama commented Saturday at its conclusion - demagogic doublespeak featured, no straight talk.

He expressed hollow condolences for Blacks victimized by police violence and grieving family members - mindless of his war on humanity at home and abroad, his callous indifference to human suffering, once offhandedly telling aides he’s “really good at killing people.”

He’s waged dirty war throughout his tenure, responsible for millions of deaths in multiple US war theaters.

His crimes include drone war as an instrument of state terror, assassinating targeted victims extrajudicially, due process and habeas rights denied them, cold-blooded murder on the pretext humanitarian intervention, protecting national security and democracy building.

He called Warsaw’s summit “a pivotal moment for” NATO, turning truth on its head, claiming “perhaps never have we faced such a range of challenges all at once,” citing nonexistent threats.

America and its rogue allies represent the only real one, humanity’s fate hanging in the balance.

All politicians lie. Obama achieved Olympian gold medal standing, a world champion in its fine art, dissembling what he does best.

Stephen Lendman -- US-Sponsored Genocide in Syria

US-Sponsored Genocide in Syria

By Stephen Lendman

Global Research, July 10, 2016

Region: USA

Theme: Crimes against Humanity, US NATO War Agenda

From the republic’s inception, America waged genocidal wars without mercy, rule of law principles discarded, conquest and dominance sought at any price.

At home, America’s native people were virtually exterminated, survivors consigned to concentration camp-like reservations, treated more like animals than people, impoverished, abused and denied their fundamental rights.

Abroad, one country after another was raped and destroyed, endless horrors continuing. Tens of millions of death attest to a ruthless state masquerading as democratic and peace-loving – an Orwellian world in fact, not fiction.

Stephen Lendman -- Trump v. Clinton in November

Trump v. Clinton in November

by Stephen Lendman

It’s all over but the postmortems. Trump and Clinton are their parties’ presumptive nominees. Choice for voters in November amounts to death by hanging or firing squad. 

Democracy is pure fantasy. None whatever exists. Trump was the last GOP aspirant left standing after all others dropped out, an unlikely choice, a surprise winner, prevailing despite party bosses opposing him.

Democrat power brokers chose Clinton before primary/caucus season began. The race was over before it started.

Voters in November get to choose between a dirty business as usual billionaire racist, demagogue and a recklessly dangerous neocon racketeer, war criminal, Wall Street tool she devil - fascist rule prevailing either way.

Both candidates represent pure evil. Duopoly power runs things, serving monied interests exclusively, popular ones increasingly ignored. 

Stephen Lendman -- Fabricated Reports of Russian Airstrikes Killing Civilians in Syria

Fabricated Reports of Russian Airstrikes Killing Civilians in Syria

by Stephen Lendman

Since Russia’s anti-terrorist campaign began in Syria last September, it’s been falsely accused numerous times of striking hospitals, other nonmilitary sites and killing civilians.

It has documented photographic and other evidence disproving falsified claims, used to denigrate its vital mission, deserving universal support.

The UK-based pro-Western imperial mouthpiece Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) features propaganda, not credible information.

On Monday, it accused Russia of killing 2,100 Syrian civilians since last September, including 500 children and 300 women - citing no credible evidence supporting its spurious claim. 

On Tuesday, it was at it again, claiming (nonexistent) Russian airstrikes killed 23 civilians in Idlib city, including seven children, saying an area next to a hospital was attacked, indicating the death toll likely to rise.

Reuters repeated its Big Lie with no due diligence fact checking, accepting a notorious unreliable source as gospel.

Stephen Lendman -- Obama in Hiroshima

Obama in Hiroshima

by Stephen Lendman

Obama is the first US sitting president to visit Hiroshima. He came to flex US muscle in a part of the world not its own, not apologize for gratuitous mass murder.

The war was over. Japan was negotiating surrender. America used nuclear weapons against a defeated enemy, showing its meanness, incinerating defenseless civilians - a taste of greater viciousness to come, its endless wars of aggression, its contempt for peace, democratic values and international law.

Asked if he’d apologize for one of history’s great crimes, he said: “No, because I think that it's important to recognize that in the midst of war, leaders make all kinds of decisions.”

“It's a job of historians to ask questions and examine them, but I know as somebody who has now sat in this position for the last seven and a half years, that every leader makes very difficult decisions, particularly during wartime.”

The notion that nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved lives by avoiding an invasion is one of history’s great lies. None was intended or needed. Japan was defeated.

Stephen Lendman -- Obsessive NYT Anti-Putin Propaganda

Obsessive NYT Anti-Putin Propaganda

by Stephen Lendman

The Times’ consistent misreporting on Russia and its president makes yellow journalism look good by comparison.

On the one hand, its editors, correspondents and contributors support America’s imperial agenda, its endless wars of aggression, its partnership with the world’s most egregious rogue states - while ignoring their highest high crimes.

On the other, it bashes Putin’s forthright efforts for world peace and stability, his respect for international law, his wanting the made-in-the-USA scourge of terrorism eliminated.

His agenda deserves high praise. Times reporting substitutes malicious misinformation and Big Lies for hard truths vital to explain.

Times editors: “Mr. Putin has been unable or unwilling to stop Mr. Assad from shelling civilians (along with) continuing Russian airstrikes…”

Fact: Putin and Assad are waging just war on the scourge of terrorism America and its rogue allies created and support.

No evidence shows they’re shelling or bombing civilians. Plenty proves US-supported terrorists and Pentagon warplanes murder them regularly, including families at home, patients in hospitals and children in school or at play.

Likely Terrorist Attack Downed EgyptAir Flight 804

Likely Terrorist Attack Downed EgyptAir Flight 804

by Stephen Lendman

At 11:09 PM local time Wednesday, Flight MS804 with 66 passengers and crew en route from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport to Cairo went missing over the Mediterranean Sea.

French President Francois Hollande said the plane “went down and is lost.” It’s too early to know if what happened was technical failure or terrorism, the latter most likely.

Stephen Lendman -- Trump and Kissinger Discuss Realpolitik

Trump and Kissinger Discuss Realpolitik

by Stephen Lendman

In November, US voters get to choose between two deplorable business as usual presidential aspirants - a billionaire demagogue v. a war criminal/Wall Street tool, both hugely anti-populist.

There’s no hope for responsible change under Trump or 

Clinton after 16 devastating Bush/Obama years - the most ruthless administrations in US history, responsible for endless wars of aggression and creeping homeland tyranny, heading toward becoming full-blown.

On Wednesday, Trump met privately with Henry Kissinger in New York, a longtime unindicted war criminal as national security advisor, then secretary of state during the Nixon/Ford years.

The scope of his high crimes were breathtaking, including:

• around four million slaughtered during America’s Southeast Asian wars;

• undermining Paris peace talks on the eve of the 1968 election to help Richard Nixon defeat Hubert Humphrey. 

• the bloody overthrow of Chile’s democratic government and support for Latin American despots;

• aiding Suharto’s takeover of West Papua and invasion of East Timor, slaughtering hundreds of thousands;

• backing Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge early reign of terror rise to power;

• support for Pakistan’s overthrow of Bangladesh’s democratically elected government, causing half a million deaths; and

• other crimes during the Nixon/Ford years.