By David McIlwain

Russia Insider
The ‘regime’ has already changed in Syria – without any help from Western ‘democracies’. But the propaganda war on Syria will continue…

While the Western powers pursue their illicit project to replace Syria’s government with some cabal of tired terrorists and aging exiles, the Syrian people have quietly continued with their own plan for a new and representative government, which this week held its inaugural session.

Following the national elections held in April, and the democratic selection of 258 representatives for the Parliament, this new government promises much, not just in terms of a undivided front to fight the foreign-backed insurgency, but as a model for peaceful ‘regime change’.

Although the new parliament still has a majority of representatives affiliated with the former ruling party, we may expect to see substantial debate around areas formerly beyond discussion, under the eye of the newly elected and female speaker, Hadiyah Abbas.

In his opening speech to the parliament, President Bashar al Assad, who himself was re-elected by a majority of Syrians two years ago, spoke forcefully of the need to unite against the foreign enemy and rid the whole country of these terrorist armies – whatever it might take.

And it may take a lot. Not only are insurgents well-embedded in parts of some cities, where all the choices to expel them are difficult, but they are still being resupplied and reinforced from over Syria’s borders.

This is well illustrated by the deterioration that has occurred since the Russian air support to the Syrian Army was ‘relaxed’ in March. In an act of betrayal and deceit by the US and its Gulf partners, the charade of Geneva ‘peace talks’ was exploited to deflect attention from a multi-faceted ‘surge’ in assistance to the mercenary armies, supported directly by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, and indirectly by Washington and its NATO allies.

Thanks to this ‘surge’, thousands more Syrians have died from terrorist mortar and car-bomb attacks, rocket and sniper fire, while the sacrifice of many loyal soldiers’ lives – lost in liberating areas from ‘rebel’ control – is now squandered as the foot soldiers of Syria’s fake ‘Revolution’ seize them back.

This is the current reality, but if it sounds a little strange to some readers it would be no surprise. What is happening to Syria now, and what has been happening for the last five years, simply would not have been possible without the ‘misinformation support’ from trusted Western media. It might be argued – and is of course – that those media are merely presenting what their government leaders are saying, and that they are the true deceivers and dissemblers.

But this can no longer be an excuse, with the most recent developments in Syria being a watershed of credibility.

At the same time as President Assad was defining Syria’s fight against his and Syria’s enemies, that trusted ‘liberal’ mouthpiece for those enemies – the Guardian – produced an astoundingly bigoted and mendacious ‘report’ about the latest fighting in Syria. It demonstrated that not only have the Guardian and its correspondents learnt nothing about the war on Syria, but their comprehension of it is now so corrupted with false information as to be irredeemable. (This is barring the alternative reason – that the Guardian is now a close ally of the UK government and its allies in this war, and that its journalists cooperate to support them).

While it is hardly exceptional, Kareem Shaheen’s report from Beirut last week contains many of the elements of deceit that pervade the ‘Guardian narrative’ on Syria and its President.

(Though this is the same false narrative promoted by the BBC and other Western mainstream media, the Guardian’s influence on the particular demographic who might question and then volubly dissent from this narrative transforms its ‘news reports’ into influential propaganda.)

Shaheen’s report is actually a crude reconstruction of Assad’s speech to the new parliament, but begins by reinforcing the enduring and completely false narrative about attacks on hospitals:

“A hospital in rebel-held east Aleppo in Syria has been put out of service after government airstrikes in the vicinity killed at least 10 people, a day after the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad, vowed to reclaim “every inch of Syria” no matter the bloodshed that caused.”

Framing the latest attempts by the Syrian army and Russian airforce to kill or drive out the – mostly Al Nusra – terrorists from East Aleppo as just more in “a systematic campaign against medical facilities.” Shaheen immediately colours the Guardian reader’s perceptions of the conflict, reversing the legitimacy of the proponents.

The terrorists – whose numbers include the notorious ‘Syrian Civil Defence’ -, are presented as victims of attacks on civilian targets and even as ‘surviving on aid’ from Turkey, while their story is mediated through foreign Opposition agents like the SOHR and the ‘Syrian American Medical Society’. Conversely, and perversely, President Assad’s determined and inspiring speech before ‘a newly installed loyalist parliament’ is ‘defiant’ and ‘strident’.

Although Shaheen quotes his speech directly she first gives US spokesman Mark Toner the megaphone: “This was vintage Assad….”

This is ‘vintage Assad’ – judge for yourself:-

“Our war against terrorism will continue, not because we love war, for they are the ones who imposed the war on us,” Assad said. “But the bloodletting will continue until we uproot terrorism wherever it is and whatever its masks are.”

It turns out that Assad did not threaten a ‘bloodbath’ to ‘retake all of Syria’ from the terrorist army. Rather he warned that the terrible bloodshed caused by the terrorists would continue if the whole country didn’t unite to kill or arrest all of those fighting in or supporting the violent insurgency.

There is only a single sentence in Shaheen’s report that suggests the truth of what is happening in the fight to liberate Aleppo from the insurgents’ grip:

“The opposition in Aleppo has also bombed hospitals in government territory with indiscriminate shells and damaged a maternity hospital last month.”

– a sentence however that merely adds to the whole deception, failing to mention the hundreds of real civilians killed by the barrage of mortars and missiles launched by the terrorist forces in a combined and coordinated assault on Aleppo’s centre last month. Readers would have no idea that the supposed strikes on hospitals and civilians by Syrian forces were actually targeting those terrorists and their support networks. Neither the Syrian army nor the Russian air-force has actually targeted real hospitals that provide normal civilian services. The much touted ‘Al Quds’ hospital and its paediatrician for instance, allegedly destroyed in March by airstrikes has proved unknown amongst Aleppo residents.

As I write this, news comes in from Syrian friends:

“an isis car bomb attacked us today my cousin captain Ali was hit so bad it and lost his left leg so far, I was mildly wounded and thrown in the air for almost 10 meters. We are at the hospital now, waiting for Ali to wake up.”(NB – for Syrians all terrorists are ‘ISIS’ or ‘Al Qaeda’, as these groups work together to fight the Syrian army)

This news highlights an aspect of Syria’s suffering which gets little attention; the hundreds of thousands, even millions of Syrians who have suffered life-changing injuries as a direct result of the West’s dirty war on their country. Who will be held to account for this devastation and who will pay for the care and rehabilitation of so many traumatised people? What chance is there that justice will prevail, and that the criminals who started this war and still support it will be forced to pay for the consequences?

After all we know who they are, don’t we? (Kareem Shaheen just told us!)

By Vladislav Gulevich
Source: Global Research
In 2011 the aviation of France and Great Britain bombed Libya. Muammar Gaddafi, the leader of the country, was brutally murdered. Now Europe is considering plans to intervene in Libya again. On May 13, the Guardian published an article devoted to a European plan for a military campaign to smash the migrant smuggling networks operating out of Libya. The scenario envisages the use of ground forces.

The 19-page strategy paper for the mission, obtained by the Guardian, focuses on an air and naval campaign in the Mediterranean and in Libyan territorial waters. But it adds that ground operations in Libya may also be needed to destroy the smugglers’ vessels and assets, such as fuel dumps. Federica Mogherini, the EU’s chief foreign and security policy coordinator, reiterated that position on May 13.

«We are not planning in any possible way a military intervention in Libya,» she said. According to her, establishing control over the territorial waters of Libya is enough to destroy the smugglers’ infrastructure. But the assurances that there will be no boots on the ground sound unconvincing. It’s clear that the West is serious about what it plans to do. For instance, Great Britain is going to send amphibious transport dock HMS Bulwark, the flagship of Royal Navy, to fight small smuggler’s boats. Air and naval forces are to bear the brunt of the mission. The operations conducted ashore by special operations forces teams are not excluded, no matter the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy says otherwise. Media outlets started to examine the public opinion.

The plan obtained by the Guardian says ground operations in Libya may be needed. EU governments have still to discuss and decide on the planning document. A joint session of EU foreign and defence ministers is to decide on the mission on May 18, followed the next day by a meeting of defence chiefs from European Union countries. The military package would then need to be given a green light by heads of government at an EU summit slated for June. Ten European Union members have already expressed their approval, including Great Britain, France, Spain and Italy. According to Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya’s United Nations ambassador, his government has been left out of the urgent international discussion of the migrant crisis. This is the legacy of colonial past. Europeans still view Libya as a colony.

Federica Mogherini has already visited New York to discuss prospects for a UN Security Council resolution allowing the use of force against the smugglers. The Guardian reports that that the UK has prepared a draft document on behalf of the EU «that is believed to call for the ‘use of all means to destroy the business model of the traffickers’. Mogherini sounded optimistic about adoption of UN Security Council resolution allowing the use of force against the smugglers, but also made plain that if that proved impossible, the EU would still mount a military mission in the Mediterranean outside of Libyan territorial waters and airspace.

A question pops up. Creating obstacles on the way of flows of unfortunate people leaving Libya for Europe – is it the only goal pursued by the planned military operation in the Mediterranean Sea? The Libya’s shoreline is some 1,100 miles (1,800 km) in length. A large naval force is needed to control it. The chances for destroying the smugglers’ infrastructure are slim. Too many people are involved in this business. After the overthrow and murder of Muammar Gaddafi Libya has plunged into the quagmire of chaos. It has joined the list of most unstable countries in the world which are primarily located in Africa. The political turmoil inside the country is kind of free for all –
different groups are fighting each other. One government rules the country in Tripoli. Another government functions in Tobruk. There are other «governments» spread around the country. Under the conditions, Libya cannot be called a state in the full meaning of the word.

Under Gaddafi Libya boasted high living standards. From point of view of people’s wealth it was a leader in the Arab world. Today the country has spiraled towards total disorder. There is no whatsoever control on the part of government. Large chunks of national territory have fallen under the control of the Islamic State and other extremist groups. Libya is an oil rich country but the production is low with numerous criminal gangs thwarting the process. Cyrenaica, the oil rich eastern coastal region of Libya, demands autonomy. The country if falling to pieces. The Libya we once knew is no more.

Flows of refugees from Arab and Black Africa transit through Libya on the way to Europe. There is little Europe could do under the circumstances but use military force to stop the flows. Brussels has made all of the European Union members to partner up on policies such as EU immigration. Poland is situated far from Africa but it has to host 1200 refugees. Latvia is to provide shelter to 220 fugitives, Estonia is to host 326 of them. 207 evacuees are to be taken care of by Lithuania. But this policy does not offer a solution to the problem.

In 2015 Libya expects 135 thousand people to be born on its soil, but the population of the country will not increase due to the fact that about the same number of people leave the country. Libya is a transit country for refugees from Algeria, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Senegal, Ghana and Eritrea going to Europe. The sources in Rome say a surge of immigrants will flood Europe soon. As many as 5,000 migrants a week could arrive in Italy by sea from North African ports in the next five months unless something is done about it, according to an interior ministry projection. The figures, published on April 23 by the Rome newspaper Il Messaggero and confirmed by a ministry source, estimated that as many as 200,000 could arrive by the end of this year.

There should harbor no illusions. One can hardly imagine the West admit responsibility for dire results of the
policy aimed at «democratization» of Libya.