West's "Humanitarian" Claims Struggle as Syrian War Nears Endgame

September 2, 2019 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - Headlines emanating from the West regarding Syria's ongoing war have a common theme - allegations of Syria and Russia's "ruthless barrage" of the northern region of Idlib.

So often - however - has the US and its allies falsely invoked "humanitarian concern" that these headlines fall on informed and discerning ears who not only reject it, but have cemented in their minds a familiarity with this ploy that will make it all but impossible to use it again on whatever battlefield the US shifts its foreign policy to next.

Like a Broken Record

CBS in its article, "Syrians trapped by Assad's ruthless Russian-backed barrage in Idlib beg for help," peddles an all-too-familiar narrative of helpless, innocent civilians in desperate need of "help." That "help," of course always comes in the form of US intervention and the eventual, total destruction of the nation as was the case for Libya in 2011.

The article claims:

More than three million people are trapped under a Syrian bombing campaign as Bashar Assad battles to reclaim the last enclave held by rebels in his country. Idlib is the only remaining opposition stronghold after eight grueling years of civil war.

There are no "rebels" or "opposition" in Idlib. There are - however - legions of militants operating under the banners of Al Qaeda, the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (ISIS), and their various affiliates.

These terrorists are the recipients of foreign arms and support - and many of them are not even themselves Syrian - making CBS' claims that Syria's conflict is a "civil war" wholly inaccurate.

Far from Syrian or Russian "propaganda," the fact that Idlib has been occupied by terrorists and not "rebels" is one admitted by the Western media itself - and a fact admitted to since the region first fell to foreign-armed terrorists.

The Associated Press in its 2015 article titled, "Assad Loses Final Idlib Stronghold to Al Qaeda-led Insurgents," would report:

After a two-year siege, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria and other insurgents on Wednesday captured the one remaining Syrian army air base in Idlib, a development that activists said effectively expelled the last of President Bashar al-Assad’s military from the northwestern province. 

From the moment Idlib fell, throughout its occupation by terrorist forces, and up to the current Syrian assault to liberate Idlib, it is - by the West's own admission - terrorists that Syrian and Russian forces are fighting.

The collective attempt by the Western media to sidestep this fact - a fact they themselves have previously acknowledged and reported on - is aimed at condemning and impeding ongoing security operations organized by Damascus in Idlib. 

Still Trying to Sell US Intervention 

The CBS article - like many examples of Western war propaganda - after deceiving readers as to who Syrian forces are fighting in Idlib - makes the case for US intervention, claiming:

In the aftermath, one woman screamed hysterically at a news camera, begging for an American intervention. 

"We are getting killed every day," she cried. "Mr. Trump, please, please stop this!" 

But there is no help.

Like many of the West's narratives, CBS' story depends on readers believing without any evidence that not only did their "witness" really exist and said what CBS claims they said, but really begged the US to intervene despite seeing what US interventions have done everywhere else in the region over the past two decades.

Extra irony can be drawn from CBS' reporting - considering that the US itself has carried out airstrikes and drone attacks on Idlib over the years as well.

Geopolitical Impact of Elon Musk's AI "Neuralink"

August 29, 2019 (Gunnar Ulson - NEO) - Elon Musk has recently unveiled during a launching event technology he hopes will link the human mind to computers and eventually, link humans with artificial intelligence.

The technology can be used to help restore function for victims of brain diseases but can also eventually be used in the future as a form of human enhancement.

Forbes would report in a recent article that:

Artificially intelligent brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) may soon become more than fantasy as Musk announced plans to go to human trials with Neuralink by the end of 2020, aiming to “achieve a sort of symbiosis with artificial intelligence” and to give people “better access to their brain information in order to repair broken brain circuits,” according to the presentation.

Technology linking the human mind to computers, especially the leveraging of artificial intelligence would be a force multiplier for individuals, businesses, nations and beyond. Its impact on business, society, and politics might be as significant as the emergence and adaptation of computers and the Internet. Some predict it will be many times more significant. 

The company Musk helped co-found, Neuralink, has a working prototype of technology known as a "brain-machine interface" (BMI) and hopes to begin human trials as early as next year.



While Neuralink is not the only company by far working on this technology, Musk's energy and approach has attracted attention not only to the company itself, but to the concepts and goals the company is pursing.

Potentially "Disruptive" Technology 

This is not the first time Elon Musk has endeavored toward goals that will, if successful, undoubtedly shift or "disrupt" global trends. His electric car company, Tesla, has shaken up the auto industry, prompting entrenched corporate monopolies who sat on electric car technology for decades to finally begin serious efforts to produce and sell electric vehicles.

Hong Kong Crisis: Made in America

August 25, 2019 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - Claims that Western interests are driving unrest in Hong Kong to undermine China have been decried across the Western media as "fake news," "disinformation," and even grounds for censorship from platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Yet a look at the organizations directly involved in leading the unrest and those supporting it reveals unequivocally that it originates in Washington DC - not organically from within Hong Kong itself.

In order to conceal this fact, the Western media has attempted to portray the unrest as "leaderless." Yet coordinated protests most certainly have both leaders and organizations directing the majority of the movement's decisions as well as providing the logistical support necessary for the sustained unrest Hong Kong now faces.

Who is Leading Hong Kong's Unrest

Despite repeated and unrealistic claims that Hong Kong's recent protests are "leaderless," they are clearly being led by a combination of opposition political parties, supporting fronts posing as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and foreign-funded media organizations.

Even partial admissions of this fact can be found throughout Western coverage of these supposed "leaderless" protests.

Hong Kong Indigenous: A July 2019 Quartz article titled, "The leader of Hong Kong’s leaderless protest movement is a philosophy student behind bars," would admit:

...there is one person to whom many protesters have turned to for inspiration and guidance, even though he hasn’t been physically present at any of the demonstrations: jailed activist Edward Leung.

The article also reports:

Over the past two to three weeks, protesters have also begun to march with placards of Leung’s face. Meanwhile, Leung’s 2016 election slogan (link in Chinese)—”Reclaim Hong Kong! Revolution of our times!”—has roared back in full force, quickly becoming the clarion call of the current wave of protests.

Edward Leung is a leading figure of the Hong Kong Indigenous political party which holds zero seats in either of Hong Kong's elected legislative bodies.

While Quartz describes Leung's "localism" movement as emphasizing "Hong Kong identity as separate to mainland Chinese" and openly advocating "Hong Kong's independence from China," the "localism" movement itself is by no means independent.

In a 2016 South China Morning Post article titled, "‘Not some kind of secret meeting’: Hong Kong Indigenous leaders meet with American diplomats," Edward Leung and fellow Hong Kong Indigenous member Ray Wong would attempt to explain why they were caught secretly meeting with US consulate staff in Hong Kong.

The article would claim:

The photos, published by news website Bastille Post on Wednesday night, showed three members of the group – including Edward Leung Tin-kei and Ray Wong Toi-yeung – meeting two consulate staffers. The quintet reportedly chatted for around an hour and a half, speaking in Putonghua at times, before going their separate ways.

Some mainland media and Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying have both claimed that there were foreign forces behind the city’s pro-democracy protests of 2014.

Today, Edward Leung encourages protesters from jail, including members of his political party to continue sowing unrest across Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Free Press - itself a foreign-backed media platform admittedly partners with US-UK government-funded fronts including PEN Hong Kong - would admit in an article titled, "Jailed Hong Kong activist Edward Leung urges protesters to focus on convincing those who oppose them," that Leung has been writing letters addressed to the protesters - who in turn carry his portrait around in the streets and have used his 2014 protest slogan during recent unrest. 

Ray Wong has since fled Hong Kong being granted asylum in Germany, the South China Morning Post would report in their article, "Hong Kong activists wanted over Mong Kok riots granted asylum in Germany."

In every instance, Hong Kong Indigenous has been supported by the United States and its European partners. Holding no elected seats in Hong Kong's government and thus in no way representing the will of the people of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Indigenous instead represents Washington's ambitions of maintaining Hong Kong as a foothold in and a pressure point against China.

Demosisto Party: Having held only one seat in Hong Kong's elected legislative bodies - Demosisto is also playing an active role in leading and directing recent protests. Its secretary general - Joshua Wong - is openly involved in leading current protests.

Wong was also a prominent figure during the 2014 "Umbrella Revolution," and was invited to Washington DC by National Endowment for Democracy (NED) subsidiary - Freedom House - to collect an award for his role in leading the unrest .

On Freedom House's own website, a post titled, "Freedom House marks its 75th anniversary by honoring three generations of Hong Kong democracy leaders: Joshua Wong, Benny Tai and Martin C. M. Lee," would praise Wong, claiming:

Wong rallied over 200,000 peaceful protestors in 2014 during the Umbrella Revolution. For his efforts, he has been recognized by notable media outlets including Fortune, Time Magazine, Foreign Policy, and London’s The Times. He has been arrested by Chinese authorities on a number of occasions, which sparked international outrage and further protests in Hong Kong.

Wong is now center stage amid current protests with his name regularly appearing in articles like The Times' "Hong Kong protests: Joshua Wong says British police commander ‘must pay price’," directing the agenda, focus, and tempo of the unrest.

While platforms like Google, Twitter, and Facebook delete accounts attempting to expose the West's role in backing unrest in Hong Kong, the Strait Times in an article titled, "Google warns Hong Kong's Joshua Wong of government-backed hackers," suggests US-based tech giants continue to provide assistance to Western-backed opposition groups and figures - including Wong - just as they were exposed doing in 2011 during the so-called "Arab Spring."

Protecting Information Space from Facebook's Tyranny

August 19, 2019 (Gunnar Ulson - NEO) - The recent attack aimed at New Eastern Outlook (NEO) and several of its authors once again exposes the infinite hypocrisy of US and European interests including across their media and among their supposed human rights advocates.

It also exposes the severe threat that exists to the national security of nations around the globe who lack control over platforms including social media used by their citizens to exchange information.

This lack of control over a nation's information space is quickly becoming as dangerous as being unable to control and protect a nation's physical space/territory.

Facebook's Tyranny  

NEO and at least one of its contributors had their Facebook and Twitter accounts deleted and were accused of "coordinated inauthentic behavior," according to Facebook's "newsroom."

Their statement reads:

In the past week, we removed multiple Pages, Groups and accounts that were involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram.

It also reads:

We removed 12 Facebook accounts and 10 Facebook Pages for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior that originated in Thailand and focused primarily on Thailand and the US. The people behind this small network used fake accounts to create fictitious personas and run Pages, increase engagement, disseminate content, and also to drive people to off-platform blogs posing as news outlets. They also frequently shared divisive narratives and comments on topics including Thai politics, geopolitical issues like US-China relations, protests in Hong Kong, and criticism of democracy activists in Thailand. Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities, our review found that some of this activity was linked to an individual based in Thailand associated with New Eastern Outlook, a Russian government-funded journal based in Moscow.

In this single statement, Facebook reveals about itself that it, and it alone, decides what is and isn't a "news outlet."

Apparently the blogs the deleted Facebook pages linked to were "not" news outlets, though no criteria was provided by Facebook nor any evidence presented that these links did not meet whatever criteria Facebook used.

While Facebook claims that it did not delete the accounts based on their content, they contradicted themselves by clearly referring to the content in their statement as "divisive narratives and comments" which clearly challenged narratives and comments established by Western media organizations.

The statement first accuses the pages of "coordinated inauthentic behavior," but then admits they were only able to link the pages to a single individual in Thailand. How does a single person "coordinate" with themselves? Again, Facebook doesn't explain.

Finally, Facebook reveals that any association at all with Russia is apparently grounds for deletion despite nothing of the sort being included in their terms of service nor any specific explanation of this apparent policy made in their statement. New Eastern Outlook is indeed a Russian journal.

Other governments, especially the United States, fund journals and media platforms not only in the United States, but around the globe. Facebook and Twitter, for example, have not deleted the accounts of the virtual army of such journals and platforms funded by the US government funded and directed via the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

NED-funded operations often operate well outside of the United States, while NEO is based in Russia's capital, Moscow. NED-funded operations often don't disclose their funding or affiliations.

Ironically, the accounts Facebook deleted in Thailand were proficient at exposing this funding to the public.

The bottom line here is that Facebook is a massive social media platform. It is also clearly very abusive, maintaining strict but arbitrary control over content on its networks, detached even from their own stated terms of service. It is a form of control that ultimately and clearly works in favor of special interests in Washington and against anyone Washington declares a villain.

Facebook would be bad enough as just a massive US social media platform, but the real problem arises considering its global reach.

Looking at Information Space as we do Physical Space 

A nation's information space is a lot like its physical space (or territory). The people of a nation operate in it, conduct commerce, exchange information, report news, and carry out a growing number of other economically, socially and politically important activities there. It is not entirely unlike a nation's physical space where people conduct these same sort of activities.

A nation's physical space would never be surrendered to a foreign government or corporation to control and decide who can and cannot use it and how it is used. But this is precisely what many nations around the globe have done regarding their information space.

US Meddling Continues in Cambodia, But With Setbacks

August 15, 2019 (Joseph Thomas - NEO) - Two Cambodian employees of US government-funded "Radio Free Asia" (RFA) face espionage charges for continuing to work for the foreign information operation even after the Cambodian government ordered it closed.

Qatari state media, Al Jazeera, in their article, "Espionage trial of two former RFA journalists starts in Cambodia," would report:

Former Radio Free Asia (RFA) reporters Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin were arrested in November 2017 after a late-night police raid on an apartment rented by the former. They were accused of supplying a foreign state with information, a charge that carries a prison sentence of between seven and 15 years. 

RFA, which is funded by the government of the United States, had closed its operations in Cambodia shortly before the arrests. The outlet was known for its critical coverage of the Cambodian government, including frequent reports on corruption and illegal logging.

Al Jazeera also admitted:

Both Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin admitted at Friday's hearing that they had continued sending videos and information to RFA after it had shut down, but they denied that this constituted espionage.

Human Rights Watch's (HRW) deputy Asia director Phil Robertson would make a statement published on the organisation's site claiming:

Chhin and Sothearin should never have had to face these bogus espionage charges, and all judicial restrictions on them should be lifted.

HRW's Robertson made these comments unironically after celebrating and making excuses for Facebook and Twitter's censorship of accounts and individuals critical of Western impropriety (including the dubious, often hypocritical work of HRW itself) worldwide.

Cambodian courts vowed to ignore the demands of foreign organisations like HRW, insisting instead they would use evidence and Cambodian law to reach a verdict, RFA's own article on the story reported.

US Meddling in Cambodia Was Extensive 

Amid continued hysteria and accusations of "Russian interference" levelled by the United States and its various functionaries against any and all opponents worldwide, the US itself has been involved in meddling in Cambodia's internal political affairs extensively.

Far from merely funding information operations like RFA, Voice of America and Cambodia Daily Cambodia has since shut down or co-opted, the US literally ran an entire political party with members operating out of Washington DC itself. It protected these proxies  from well-earned accusations and charges of sedition with fronts posing as "human rights" organisations also funded by the US government.

Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) leader Kem Sokha openly admitted to Washington's role in propping up his party and its bid to seize power in Cambodia not through elections, but through the same sort of destructive colour revolutions that have swept through Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.