I wonder how many people, not just Americans but those in other countries, have come to the conclusion that the United States today is a less free and less aware society than the societies in the dystopian novels of the 20th century or in movies such as The Matrix and V for Vendetta. Just as people in the dystopian novels had no idea of their real situation, few Americans do either.

What are we to make of the extraordinary war crimes committed by the United States in the 21st century that have destroyed in whole or part seven countries, resulting in millions of dead, maimed, orphaned, and displaced peoples? Consider, for example, the latest Washington war crime, the illegal attack on Syria. Instead of protesting this illegality, the American media egged it on, cheering impending death and destruction.

The Syrian crisis needs a negotiated solution involving all powers in the region, German foreign minister Heiko Maas said on Monday, adding he could not imagine anyone who had used chemical weapons against his own people to be part of that process.

After a hopeful improvement, the New York Times coverage of the Gaza protests is unfortunately back to its normal one-sided reporting — and intense pressure from Hasbara Central is surely a major reason. Take a look at this tweet yesterday, as the paper’s main reporter, David Halbfinger, jumps to respond to a pro-Israel critic:

In the latter half of the interview, BBC’s Annita McVeigh asked the following questions after West’s comment about Bosnia:

“We know that the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday, or accused a western state on Friday, of perhaps fabricating evidence in Douma or somehow being involved in what happened in Douma. Given that we’re in an information war with Russia on so many fronts, do you think perhaps it’s inadvisable to be stating this so publicly given your position and your profile? Isn’t there a danger that you’re muddying the waters?”

Yet we are also having it implied the Russians able to clean up all traces of alleged CW attack in Douma in a matter of days

In the following 1-minute clip, award-winning journalist Robert Fisk – writer for Britain’s Independent for almost 30 years – explains that the video of victims struggling to breathe are real, but that they have nothing to do with a chemical weapons attack:

The news is rife with the Syrian airstrikes and the theatrical narrative: the united coalition of brave allies against the despotic Assad to secure the blessings of liberty, etc., etc. The reality: The U.S. threw more than 100 missiles against soft Syrian targets with Britain firing rockets from four aircraft as France flew planes around and cruised the waters with a few ships. The target (a suspected but not verified chemical weapons facility) was destroyed…before chemical weapons use, or manufacture could be verified. Once again, the Western Hegemony “showed” that bad ‘ol puddy-tat, that anti-Saudi Arabian, anti-Petrodollar Assad…showed him that his “Clorox Bleach” assault on mannequins as verified by white hat “Light-Brite” technicians would not be tolerated! “Mission accomplished!” in the words of US President Donald Trump.

Yet the brave allies didn’t screw with the Russians directly, now, did they?

Requested changes include:

Deletion of references to Israel "occupying" territories captured during the 1967 Six-Day War and substituting "controlled." International conventions clearly outline the responsibility of occupying powers and the illegality of collective punishment and population transfers.

Changes to maps to recognize Israel's declared "annexation" of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The U.S. and most other countries do not officially recognize Israeli annexation of either territory.

Substitution of references to "occupied territories" to "captured areas."

Substitution of references to "Jewish settlers" and "settlements" with "building of homes and communities."

Deletion of a lesson reviewing a video documentary by Iranian-American religious studies scholar, author, producer and television host Reza Aslan.
Deletion of an activity based on reading the biography and work of Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi.

Russia may have tampered with the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria's Douma, the U.S. envoy to the global watchdog said on Monday, urging the body to condemn the continuing use of banned chemical weapons.

The comments came during a closed-door meeting at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, convened after an April 7 attack in the town of Douma, outside the Syrian capital, in which dozens of people were allegedly killed with poison gas.

US officials and the presstitutes tell us that the illegal US missile attack on Syria destroyed chemical weapons sites where chlorine and sarin are stored/manufactured.

If this were true, would not a lethal cloud have been released that would have taken the lives of far more people than claimed in the alleged Syrian chemical attack on Douma?

Would not the US missile attack be identical to a chemical weapons attack and thus place the US and its vassals in the same category as Washington is attempting to place Assad and Putin?

What about it, you chemical weapons experts?

Do chemical weapons only release their elements when they explode from intended use but not when they explode from being militarily attacked?

There is no evidence in Syria of chemical residue from the chemical weapons facilities allegedly destroyed by US missiles.

No dead victims.

No reports of hospitals treating Syrian casualties of the American chemical attack.

The Russian envoy to the chemical weapons watchdog group, OPCW, said that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) funded by the UK and US carried out the April 7 chemical attack in the Damascus, Syria suburb of Douma.

Russia's permanent representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Alexander Shulgin, said Russia has irrefutable evidence that there was no chemical weapons incident in Douma.

"Therefore, we have not just a "high degree of confidence," as our Western partners claim, but we have incontrovertible evidence that there was no incident on April 7 in Douma and that all this was a planned provocation by the British intelligence services, probably, with the participation of their senior allies from Washington with the aim of misleading the international community and justifying aggression against Syria," he stated. -Sputnik

Two Russian warships laden with military vehicles have been spotted en route to Syria after Friday's US-led airstrikes obliterated three suspected chemical weapons sites.

An Alligator-landing ship was pictured cruising down The Bosphorus on Sunday as the world awaits Vladimir Putin's response to this week's co-ordinated military action against Syria.

The vessel was spotted on its way to the Russian naval base at Tartus on the north Syrian coast.

On its fourth deployment of Russian military equipment to the war-torn country the ship was seen laden with tanks, trucks, ambulances and an IED radar.

A yellow RoRo Alexandr Tkachenko was also pictured heading for Tartus carrying high-speed patrol boats, a temporary bridge structure and several trucks. The images were posted on social media by Bosphorus-based naval observer Yörük I??k.

American schools are the battlefield for our children’s minds and progressives are in charge of it all, from writing the textbooks, to those reading them aloud in class.

Indianapolis talk radio host Alex On-Air posted several examples on Twitter from the Advanced Placement edition of “By The People: A History of the United States,” published by textbook giant Pearson which has a copyright of 2019.

Reading like an Op-Ed from the New York Times, the book says of the 2016 election:

“Trump’s supporters saw the vote as a victory for the people who, like themselves, had been forgotten in a fast-changing America–a mostly older, often rural or suburban, and overwhelmingly white group.”

The warning came via US ambassador Nikki Haley at an emergency UN Security Council meeting Saturday, a day after the US, UK and France struck three Syrian sites in response to an alleged chemical attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma last week.

The UN meeting came with some heated exchanges between the American, Russian and Syrian envoys.

Russia’s UN ambassador, Vasily Nebenzia, read out a quote from Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing the US, UK and France of “cynical disdain” in acting without waiting for the OPCW’s findings.

Nebenzia accused the West of “hooliganism” and demanded that it “immediately end its actions against Syria and refrain from them in the future.” “You are not only placing yourselves above international law, but you are trying to rewrite international law,” Nebenzia said.

Nikki Haley claimed the strikes were “justified, legitimate and proportionate.”

On April 14, the United States, supported by its allies, launched an airstrike against military and civilian targets in the Syrian Arab Republic. An act of aggression against a sovereign state that is on the frontline in the fight against terrorism was committed without a mandate from the UN Security Council and in violation of the UN Charter and norms and principles of international law.

Just as one year ago, when the Shayrat Airbase in Syria came under attack, the US used as a pretext a staged chemical attack against civilians, this time in Douma, a Damascus suburb. Having visited the site of the would-be chemical attack, Russian military experts did not find any traces of chlorine or any other toxic agent. Not a single local resident was able to confirm that a chemical attack had actually taken place.

On April 12, even US Secretary of Defense James Mattis told the House Armed Services Committee that the US government does not have any evidence that sarin or chlorine was used, that he was still looking for evidence.

On April 11, one of the “smartest” US presidents ever tweeted: “Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’ You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!”

When Donald Trump’s advisers drew his attention to the fact that he might have telegraphed his intentions of bombing Syria to Moscow, the imbecile came up with an even more childish tweet the next day, saying: “Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all! In any event, the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS. Where is our Thank you America?”

A Russian investigative journalist who wrote about the deaths of mercenaries in Syria has died in hospital after falling from his fifth-floor flat.

What did Borodin write?

In recent weeks, the journalist had written about Russian mercenaries known as the "Wagner Group" who were reportedly killed in Syria on 7 February in a confrontation with US forces.

Last week, the outgoing head of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, said that "a couple hundred" Russian mercenaries died in the clash in Deir al-Zour province. The mercenaries were apparently taking part in an attack by pro-Syrian government fighters on the headquarters of a US ally, the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Russia admits heavy casualties in Syria clash
Who are Russia's shadowy mercenaries fighting in Syria?
Russian guns for hire dying in Syria

Weeks later Russia admitted that several dozen Russian citizens had been either killed or wounded, but stressed they were not regular soldiers.

The US Navy is under fire for allegedly stealing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of intellectual property, including software and a high-speed ship design, but the sailing branch insisted that it respects intellectual property rights.

The Navy is entangled in two long-running federal court cases involving IP theft. In March, German software company Bitmanagement asked a federal court for a summary judgement after accusing the Navy of illegally installing $600 million in software on more than 500,000 computers.

In 2011, the company agreed to license to the Navy 38 copies of its virtual-reality software. The Navy was reportedly happy with the software and Bitmanagement began negotiating to sell additional copies. But then the company said it made a startling discovery.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons headlined on April 14th, in the wake of this U.S.-UK-France invasion of Syria that was allegedly punishing Syria’s Government for allegedly having used chemical weapons in its bombing in the town of Douma on April 7th, "OPCW Fact-Finding Mission Continues Deployment to Syria”, and reported that:

The Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) team of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will continue its deployment to the Syrian Arab Republic to establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma.

The OPCW has been working in close collaboration with the United Nations Department of Safety and Security to assess the situation and ensure the safety of the team.

On September 30, demonstrators gathered in city squares across the West for a "weekend of action” to “stop the bombs” raining down from Syrian government and Russian warplanes on rebel-held eastern Aleppo. Thousands joined the protests, holding signs that read "Topple Assad" and declaring, "Enough With Assad." Few participants likely knew that the actions were organized under the auspices of an opposition-funded public relations company called the Syria Campaign.

Inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have begun inspections in Douma, in metro Damascus, related to an alleged chemical weapons attack earlier this month. It’s not the calm environment they might have hoped for.

The probe had been advocated from the start by Syria and Russia, who both maintain the chemical attack never took place. It comes just two days after the US and its allies attacked Syria, including Damascus, over the alleged incident.

The Western strikes did not hit Douma, so the site should still be intact for investigators. The attacking nations had objected to an investigation at the UN Security Council, however.

Russia’s Ambassador assured the OPCW last week that both Russia and Syria are committed to protecting the inspectors during the probe. Some officials speculated that to prevent the investigation the Douma site would be struck, so as to prevent the investigation.

Remember how we were told my the politicians (not the scientists) that a deadly Novichok nerve agent - produced by Russia - was used in the attempted assassination of the Skripals? Remember the 50 questions (here and here) we had surrounding the 'facts' as Theresa May had laid them out? Ever wonder why, given how utterly deadly we were told this chemical was, the Skripals wondered around for a few hours after being 'infected' and then days later, survived with no chronic damage?

Well those doubts may well have just been answered as according to the independent Swiss state Spiez lab, the substance used on Sergei Skripal was an agent called BZ, which was never produced in Russia, but was in service in the US, UK, and other NATO states.

Vice President Mike Pence, attending an international summit on Saturday, said he backs President Trump’s assertion earlier in the day that the U.S.-led airstrikes this weekend in Syria resulted in “mission accomplished,” And he warned Syrian ally Russia that it is “on the wrong side of history.”

Pence spoke while in Peru about 18 hours after the U.S., France and the United Kingdom launched 105 missiles at three facilities connected to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his purported April 7 chemical attack on civilians, in the country’s years-long civil war.

The vice president attended the Summit of the Americas after Trump earlier this week canceled plans to attend the event so he could craft a response to the chemical attack, for which U.S. officials say there's proof of Assad’s involvement.

Last night, President Trump announced his disgraceful decision to launch “precision” strikes targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, a decision which was based entirely on fake news promulgated by the Jewish mainstream mass media and Western political establishment.

“Following our analysis, the samples indicate traces of the toxic chemical BZ and its precursor which are second category chemical weapons. BZ is a nerve toxic agent, which temporarily disables a person. The psycho toxic effect is achieved within 30 to 60 minutes after its use and lasts for up to four days. This composition was in operational service in the armies of the US, the UK and other NATO countries. The Soviet Union and Russia neither designed nor stored such chemical agents. Also, the samples indicate the presence of type A-234 nerve agent in its virgin state and also products of its degradation.”

Some defense experts poured cold water over Pentagon claims Saturday that the U.S.-led strike set back Syria's chemical weapons program "for years"

One of the three targets in the airstrikes was a chemical and biological weapons research and production facility just outside Damascus.

Experts suggest chlorine gas or other chemical agents like mustard gas are still available from an industrial base so difficult to fully eliminate.

Sebatian Gorka officially jumped the shark Friday night when he launched into an emotional, embarrassing tirade attacking decorated war veteran Colonel Douglas Macgregor for questioning the narrative on Trump's Syria strikes.

Colonel Douglas Macgregor said Friday on Laura Ingraham's show Assad launching a chemical attack when he's on the brink of victory "doesn't make any sense," and said he questions the claims he used "sarin and chlorine gas" together. "That's never happened before," Col. Macgregor said, "that's a first in the history of chemical warfare."

Col. Macgregor added that tonight's attack was a "cosmetic attack" which will amount to little because Russia and Iran are the real power in Syria.

Sebastian Gorka responded by screaming, "Shame on you for questioning General Mattis!"

The US, British and French bombing of Syria has put many critics of US President Donald Trump in the awkward position of agreeing with him. One of them, former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, slipped on his own tweet.
UPDATE: Mr. McFaul has now apologized for his typo in several further tweets and clarified that he, indeed, meant to say 'Assad' instead of 'Saddam.'

Attempting to explain why he agreed with the bombing on Twitter, McFaul made a point about appreciating the “most amazing” former President Barack Obama and voting for Senator Tim Kaine (and therefore Hillary Clinton) in 2016. So while McFaul thinks Trump has no strategy for Syria, he also approves of the “decision to degrade Saddam’s chemical weapons last night.” Oops.

A former head of Britain's Special Forces has challenged Theresa May's claim that President Assad was behind the chemical attack in Douma.

Major General Jonathan Shaw said: 'Why would Assad use chemical weapons at this time? He's won the war.

'That's not just my opinion, it is shared by senior commanders in the US military. There is no rationale behind Assad's involvement whatsoever.

'He's convinced the rebels to leave occupied areas in buses. He's gained their territory. So why would he be bothering gassing them?

Britain and her allies yesterday presented overwhelming evidence to nail Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's brutal regime as the culprit in the horrific chemical attack on civilians which provoked yesterday's wave of air strikes.

Compelling new details emerged from Paris as the French government presented a declassified report from its DGSE overseas intelligence service, the equivalent of MI6.

It came as Prime Minister Theresa May said all evidence pointed to Assad being behind the attack in Douma because:

Two Mi-8 'Hip' helicopters from his regime were spotted above the city in the hours before the attack – none of the opposition forces has a helicopter.
A barrel bomb was used to deliver the chemicals – a weapon that the rebels do not use.
A yellow compressed-gas canister of a type known to have been used before by the Assad regime was photographed on the roof of a building where a large number of the dead were found.

Media scoundrels consistently support all US-led wars of aggression on nations threatening no one – attacked solely for their sovereign independence, refusing to bow to Washington’s will.

Following overnight US-led aggression on Syria, screaming headlines expressed support for what demands condemnation.

The NYT screamed “US Attacks Syria in Retaliatory Strike” – over nothing, the Times failed to explain.

Other Times headlines continued the self-styled newspaper of record’s assault on Syria, roaring “Britain and France Join Strikes to Show Western Resolve” – the Times way of explaining naked aggression.

Another headline roared “Tough Talk, but a Restrained Strike.” It could have been much more destructive and may be ahead in follow-up aggression.

The single most important thing that happened last night when the US military on President Trump’s orders launched a wave of over 100 cruise missiles against Syria was that once again the US violated the most profound international law of war: initiating a war of aggression against a nation that posed no threat, imminent or otherwise, to the US or its allies.

Called a “Crime against Peace,” this violation (whose perpetrators, under the precedent set in the Nuremberg Trials that followed World War II, can face capital punishment), is considered worse than any other war crime because, as US Nuremberg prosecutor Robert Jackson explained in his argument at the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals, a war of aggression is “not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has told lawmakers that the US military is still "assessing the intelligence" on the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma, and that President Trump has yet to decide whether to launch strikes against the Middle Eastern country.

"There have been a number of these attacks. In many cases, you know we don't have troops, we're not engaged on the ground there, so I cannot tell you that we had evidence, even though we had a lot of media and social media indicators that either chlorine or sarin were used," Mattis said, speaking to members of the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

The defense secretary said he did believe that a chemical attack took place, but that the US was still "looking for the actual evidence."

Top-level meetings in London were held this week between senior US diplomats, the Foreign Office and think tank experts on how to tackle Russian propaganda, which soared amid the poisoning of ex-double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, and the weekend’s Allied strike against Syria.

Brett Bruen, who was president Obama’s director of global engagement during the Ukraine crisis, warned Russia may not limit its word warfare to political matters.

He said: “Britain must understand that what we’ve seen with election meddling is just the first wave. It will extend to the City, targeting British financial institutions and technology giants.

Britain would consider launching a cyber attack against Russia in retaliation if Russia targeted British national infrastructure, the Sunday Times reported, citing unnamed security sources.

Britain's relations with Russia are at a historic low, after it blamed Russia for a nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England, prompting mass expulsions of diplomats.

Russia has denied involvement, and on Saturday also condemned strikes against Syria by Western powers, which Britain took part in.

Cyber security has become a focal point of the strained relations. On Thursday, a British spy chief said that his GCHQ agency would "continue to expose Russia's unacceptable cyber behavior", adding there would be increasing demand for its cyber expertise.

Trump and his partners in (war) crimes UK/France decided to raise the body count in war-torn Syria, striking Damascus and guaranteeing that this long, savage imperialist conflict will remain claiming Syrian lives.

This is hugely alarming. South Front is a valuable member of the alt-media family but its output is somewhat unique. Where the rest of us are tend to be very opinionated and specialize in commentary, South Front sticks to wire-agency style updates. Their output are dry news updates from around the world's conflict zones. If even such a matter-of-fact site is not safe from censorship no one is.

NATO calls on all members of the UN Security Council to confirm their duty in finding a political solution to the conflict in Syria, said Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance Jens Stoltenberg after a session in Brussels. At this meeting, the United States, Britain and France informed the allies on the military operations against Syria. Russia and all those who support the Syrian regime, called for constructive participation in the Geneva process.

In addition, Stoltenberg confirmed that Britain, the United States and France provided NATO with much information on chemical weapons in Syria, the alliance has no reason to doubt their assessment.

France together with the United Kingdom and the United States intends to submit a draft resolution of the UN Security Council to ensure a political transition in Syria, said France’s Permanent Representative to the Organization, Francois Delatra.

President Trump has vowed to carry out further airstrikes on Syria if the regime dares to use chemical weapons again, as Nikki Haley lashed out at Russia during a fiery meeting of the UN Security Council.

Scores of fast jets, fighters and destroyers fired more than 100 missiles at three military targets in Syria on Friday night in retaliation for President Assad's chemical weapons attack on the rebel enclave of Douma on April 7.

While President Trump greeted the end of the attacks with a tweet saying 'mission accomplished', Ambassador Haley promised the US was ready for another strike if Assad crossed the chemical weapons 'red line' in the future.

'The time for talk ended last night,' Haley told an emergency meeting of the Security Council called by Russia. 'We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will.