History Is Being Rewritten In Syria

Brandon Turbeville

BrandonTurbeville.com

December 16, 2024

History is written by the winners as they say and nowhere is there more evidence of this than the Syrian conflict, having now closed one chapter and opened another. For thirteen years, Western countries including NATO and the United States as well as the GCC and Israel, have funded, armed, trained, and directed terrorist forces of overwhelmingly foreign elements (and some Syrians) in order to overthrow the Assad government in Syria. In the course of that plot, Western media outlets demonized Assad and the Syrian Army as the epitome of evil. Every single person killed was the fault of Assad and, if you listened to Western media, you might easily be convinced Assad’s only goal was to kill every single Syrian residing in the country.

The terrorists, by contrast, despite voluminous accounts of atrocities, wholesale slaughter, beheadings, rapes, and torture, were “freedom fighters,” “peaceful protesters,” “rebels,” and the “Syrian opposition.” They never killed anyone except in self-defense and only wanted freedom and prosperity for all.

This was the mainstream media account from Western countries but it wasn’t at all the truth.

Over those 13 years, the alternative media revealed and, in some instances, even forced the mainstream media to reveal, the level of horror these terrorists inflicted upon the Syrian people. In fact, as time went on, the idea that the “opposition” was anything but a ruthless gaggle of religious extremists became something western governments were less and less able to peddle successfully. But they gave it a good college try. That is, in between the moments where they admitted the terrorist nature of the “opposition” in order to justify bombing various targets in Syria.  

During the course of this 13 year war, however, the alternative media was successfully purged from the scene due to changes in online search algorithms (reducing visibility), massive purging on social media platforms, and a campaign labeling anyone countering the State Department nonsense as “disinformation,” or “malinformation.” As a result, MSM was largely allowed to continue peddling its propaganda with little challenge and only those who were savvy enough to discover new media outlets during the short window of competitive alternative press were able to obtain a different view.

Mainstream Belgian Reporter Blows The Lid On MSM Lies Over Ghouta, Syria “Chemical Attacks”

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
March 19, 2019

For six years and ever since the alleged “chemical weapons attack” in Ghouta, Syria in 2013, the Western corporate press has stuck with the easily disproven claim that the Syrian government “gassed” its own people. That lie has been repeatedly debunked by researchers in the alternative media but that hasn’t altered the onslaught of propaganda coming from mainstream “journalists.”

Now, however, one of their own, a mainstream Belgian reporter who was captured by the West’s Free Syrian Army terrorists, has begun blowing the lid off the lies that the Syrian government committed the “chemical attack.”

The reporter, Pierre Piccinin da Prata, recently gave an interview with Belgian RTL, where he told of a conversation he heard between rebels that exonerated President Bashar al-Assad and stated clearly that "“It wasn’t the government of Bashar al-Assad that used Sarin gas or any other gas in Ghouta." As a result, the majority of his scheduled interviews with mainstream outlets were cancelled.

Piccinin was a war reporter and Editor-In-Chief of The Maghreb and Orient Courrier and was held hostage by the Syrian “rebels” alongside Italian war reporter Domenico Quirico for five long months. He is now exposing the propaganda peddled by his colleagues and calling on them to correct what they have got so wrong about Syria since 2011.

The text of a recent  interview between Piccinin and Syria Times is included below:

Syrians Rejoice as Jaish al-Islam Capitulates – Mainstream Media Pushes Chemical Weapons Meme Instead

Bas Spliet

BrandonTurbeville.com

April 8, 2018

Image: © White Helmets
Damascus – Around 4 PM yesterday, 8 April, I was having a very interesting conversation with a tiny Damascene handcraft shop owner who makes traditional Arab oud instruments when the news broke that a deal was struck between Jaish al-Islam – the last remaining rebel group in Douma – and the Syrian government. Under the ceasefire agreement, the militants will release all prisoners in exchange for being provided a safe exit to the northern Aleppean city of Jarabulus within 48 hours. As this meant the final halt of the seven-year-long indiscriminate shelling of the city centre by the Islamist rebels, which has always been largely ignored by the mass media, people reflooded the streets of the capital with a smile on their faces. Finally, they can live in peace.

The shop owner, a Christian, went on to say that he believes that if new elections are to be held, at least 70% of Syrians would vote for President Bashar al-Assad. As Sunnis make up roughly 75% of the population while only 11% are Alawite, this would be incomprehensible if the mainstream depicture of the Syrian government as an Alawite dictatorship is to be upheld. Nevertheless, his estimation is in line with the outcome of the 2014 presidential elections, as well as with several polls conducted by entities openly hostile to the Syrian government, such as NATO and the Turkish and Qatari governments. Due to the successful battle of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) against sectarian terrorism, he believes that Assad’s popularity will only increase. To illustrate why, he told a story about a French delegation that visited the souk where his shop is located once upon a time.

Because it was a holiday, Christian and Muslim shopkeepers gathered to talk and have breakfast together on the street. The French journalists accepted their kind offer to join them, but one of them had a rather strange look on his face. Inquiring him about his facial expression, the shop owner was told by the journalist that something like that would never happen in his home country, especially not between people of different faith. He was confused because he was told that tension and conflict between different ethnicities and religions was the prime cause of the “civil war” in Syria.

It’s Raining Mortars in Damascus Again – Mainstream Media Silent

Bas Spliet

BrandonTurbeville.com

April 8, 2018

Image: An injured man in the emergency room of al-Mwassat University Hospital © Bas Spliet

Damascus – I arrived in Damascus the day before yesterday, on 6 April. With the exception of the city of Douma, the whole of Eastern Ghouta had gradually come under the control of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) since the military started a major operation in February to take control of the insurgents’ last major stronghold in the northern vicinity of the Syrian capital. Fighters from Jaish al-Islam – the only remaining rebel group which, literally translated, means the Army of Islam – were being bussed to other rebel-held areas across Syria, and it looked like the final negotiations were under way. I figured that the last of the indiscriminate mortar shelling which had plagued Damascus over the last seven years had finally come to an end. Unfortunately, I was mistaken.

Soon, the news started pouring in that mutual bombing by the SAA and the rebels had resumed following the breaking down of the fragile truce due to internal disagreements amongst the foreign-backed militancy. According to the state-owned SANA news network, four civilians died and 22 were killed in the indiscriminate attacks targeting the capital’s civilian population of Friday, which was Good Friday for the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Many people visited parades celebrating the Eastern Orthodox Good Friday despite the shelling © Bas Spliet

American Corporate MSM Is Merged With CIA And Has Been Since The 1950s

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
March 14, 2017

Hat tip to Washington’s Blog for collating much of this information.

With the recent back and forth seemingly taking place between two different factions of the American Deep State and playing out before the entire country, a few alternative media outlets have begun to question whether or not certain mainstream media outlets are actually connected to the Deep State, most notably the CIA. With an unimaginable scale of disinformation being released and promoted throughout mainstream channels on a daily basis, all propagandizing the public to go along with the desired direction of the American establishment, few could assume otherwise. However, such connections between American mainstream outlets and the CIA are more than mere conjecture, they are well-known and have been documented for some time.

For instance, back in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, Operation Mockingbird, a plan known to many researchers today but known to virtually no one at the time it was originally being implemented, was a secret CIA effort to influence and control the American media and, thus, to influence and control the information received (as well as the opinions) of the American people. The first report of the program came in 1979 in the biography of Katharine Graham, the owner of The Washington Post, written by Deborah Davis.[1]

Davis wrote that the program was established by Frank Wisner, the director of the Office of Policy Coordination, a covert operations unit created under the National Security Council. According to Davis, Wisner recruited Philip Graham of the Washington Post to head the project within the media industry. Davis wrote that, “By the early 1950s, Wisner 'owned' respected members of The New York Times, Newsweek, CBS and other communications vehicles." Davis also writes that Allen Dulles convinced Cord Meyer, who later became Mockingbird’s “principal operative,” to join the CIA in 1951.[2]

Syrian President Assad Calls Western Atrocity Reports “Fake News”

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
February 14, 2017

In his first interview with Western Corporate media since the election of Donald Trump, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sat before a highly propagandized Western public and a politicized Western media and answered a number of questions that were raised as a result of the Trump election and a recently released report by Amnesty International alleging the execution by hanging of 13,000 prisoners at Saydnaya Prison.

The Amnesty report, while written with skill, lacked any relevant evidence and stands as yet one more example of politicized “human rights” campaigning that finds its roots in the U.S. State Department and the office of George Soros designed to demonize the Syrian government and drum up public support for some type of military action against the Syrian military or at least continued Western support of terrorists.

Thus, in his reply to the question regarding the Amnesty report, Assad rightly identified the report and mainstream corporate reporting surrounding the report as “Fake News.” Indeed, this is a fact that is becoming increasingly clear not only in the United States but in the Western world as a whole. i.e. that the corporate press is nothing more than a 24/7 barrage of fiction designed to manipulate the minds of its audience for the benefit of an agenda that is not readily apparent to its viewers.

“So– so Amnesty International knows more about Syria than me, according to you. No, that’s no true. No. They– they haven’t been to Syria,” Assad stated. “They only base their reports on allegations. They can bring anyone, doesn’t matter what’s his title. You can forge anything these days. And we’re living in a fake news era, as you know.”

More "Fake News" Photos "From Aleppo" Proven False, Poorly Executed Propaganda

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
December 24, 2016

The Fake News just keeps on coming as the NATO imperialists realize they are losing control in Syria and their plans to destroy the secular and democratically-elected government of Bashar al-Assad. From “Russia did it!!!” (whatever the “it” might be), to mass civilian suicide in East Aleppo, the mainstream corporate press is deconstructing right in front of our eyes. It doesn’t help the MSM’s case that every time one of their “journalists” tries to confront legitimate alt media researchers, activists, or journalists, they are humiliated on live television. Still, we have to give them credit for remaining committed no matter how embarrassing the fight gets for them.

This embarrassment includes the continued use of photographs alleging to show the “crimes against humanity” committed by the “brutal dictator” Bashar al-Assad that turn out to be photos of other countries, carefully clipped scenes, and even images from music videos. To a completely zombified and somnambulant public, the images show what they are purported to show. To anyone who can use the internet, however, they are simply fake photos and the last few nails in the coffin of mainstream media.

Take the most recent, posted on Twitter by a Muslim Brotherhood-aligned former employee of Al-Jazeera, Dr.Tareq Al-Suwaidan, allegedly showing a young girl, wearing tattered clothes, running through the streets of Aleppo. The picture allegedly shows the grueling conditions of children in Aleppo as a result of the disproven “brutality of Assad’s forces.” The reality, however, is the picture was nothing more than a still from a music video by Lebanese singer Hiba Tiwaji for her song “Al Rabih Al Arabi.” That did not stop the tweet from going viral, however. It was at least stopped before the mainstream media could make it a symbol worthy of World War Three. The origins of the use of this photo for propaganda purposes are unknown.

7 Times The MSM Got Its Ass Kicked In Debates In 2016

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
December 22, 2016

With the recent hysteria in the mainstream media over so-called “fake news” and “Russian propaganda,” it is clear that the Western corporate press is lashing out wildly at the threat of the alternative media. Every time the corporate press has put forward a false narrative about Syria, the alternative press has been there to dismantle it. Every time a false flag attack happens to galvanize Americans, the alternative media has been there to expose it. Every time the corporate press chooses to talk about Beyonce instead of massive government scandals, the alternative press has been there to pick up the slack.

Thus, it is clear that the alternative media has finally reached the point where it is a major threat to the corporate propaganda operation and the deep state is having to react in order to neutralize it. Hence, we have “fake news” scandals that were entirely manufactured and made up and the reason why unproven claims of Russian propaganda are being reported by actual fake news outlets like CNN, NPR, and the rest as factual.

With all that being said, there are increasing numbers of clashes between alternative media journalists and the corporate outlets trying to slander them. When the corporations can slander alt media personalities without response, the propaganda tends to work well enough. However, when faced with an alt media journalist who can respond, the corporate media tends to fall flat on its face every time.

MSM Fake News Claims Civilians Committing Mass Suicide In East Aleppo After Syrian Army Victory

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
December 14, 2016

If anyone needs an example of just why the mainstream corporate media is becoming more and more irrelevant by the day, one need only look at the coverage of the liberation of Aleppo to see why it must now rely on government legislation, hysteria, and panic simply to continue existing into the next decade.

Without attempting to provide a wide range of samples of stupidity and outright lunacy being peddled by the corporate press, one article stands out. “Aleppo: Cease-Fire Reached In Besieged Syrian City, Rebels Say,” by Alastair Jamieson and Mac William Bishop is a stunning display of unsupported and distorted information. The article repeatedly claims that Assad’s forces are focused on murdering innocent civilians, hunting them down in the streets and killing them, burning them alive, and ludicrously suggesting that many civilians are committing suicide en masse because of the Syrian military’s victory.

The NBC article conflates terrorists with civilians and presents unverified claims as absolute truth from the first word to the last. It reads,

A cease-fire agreement has been reached that would allow civilians and fighters trapped in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo to evacuate, NBC confirmed Tuesday. 

Google, Corporate Press Launch Attack On Alternative Media

Brandon Turbeville
BrandonTurbeville.com
Activist Post
November 16, 2016

On November 15, U.S News and World Report released an article by Rachel Dicker providing a list of “fake sites” to “avoid at all costs.” On the list, Activist Post was prominently noted as being “fake” or, more accurately to the point of the article, a “propaganda” site.

This article comes shortly after an announcement by Google that it would be prohibiting “fake” and “misrepresentative” sites from using its “Adsense” program. The company stated to Reuters that,

“Moving forward, we will restrict ad serving on pages that misrepresent, misstate, or conceal information about the publisher, the publisher’s content, or the primary purpose of the web property. This policy includes fake news sites, the spokesperson confirmed. Google already prevents its AdSense program from being used by sites that promote violent videos and imagery, pornography, and hate speech.

And, of course, the definition of the Orwellian-named “hate speech,” violence, misrepresentation and “fake news” is all going to be determined by Facebook and Google. War, for instance, is extremely violent but there is a necessity to cover it and even produce images from the battlefield in the process. Police shootings and other forms of violence against citizens is also violent but a necessary issue to cover. “Hate speech” is incredibly subjective and, in 2016, speech has come to be labeled as “hate” even when it merely respectfully disagreed with a protected identity group.

Mainstream Journalist Slams MSM Coverage Of Syrian Crisis: ‘Incomparably Worse’ Than Coverage Of Iraq War

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
May 2, 2016

John Rosenthal has been known as a critic of Western intervention in both Libya and Syria since the beginning of both of those crises. Yet, having made a successful career of writing for the Western mainstream Press and outlets such as the National Review, the Wall Street Journal Europe, and World Affairs, work has become slower and slower as his views on Anglo-American imperialism become more apparent.

Indeed, Rosenthal has found that mainstream outlets are much less likely to accept material criticizing imperialist measures and that they are virtually united in refusing to print material that does not paint the targets of Western imperialism in an unfairly bad light. While hesitancy to publish material critical of the governments for whom these outlets often speak has surely been a hallmark of the mainstream corporate press for some time, the noose of censorship and the tightening of the grip on information has become even stronger in recent years. Indeed, it is something that Rosenthal himself has been candid about in regard to his own career which he claims has been a victim of such censorship, a trend that he sees as growing with each crisis.

Rosenthal sat down for an interview with the BRICS Post recently and discussed a number of different topics, one of them being the state of the media and western media coverage of the crises in Syria and Libya. What he revealed was that, at least from a mainstream journalist’s point of view, the journalistic culture in 2016 and the policies of mainstream outlets is more wedded to the idea of pushing agendas and suppressing facts when it comes to geopolitics, international crises, and Anglo-American war aims than even during the period leading up to the Iraq war in 2003.

For instance, BRICS Post asked Rosenthal the question:

There has been much criticism in the past few years of how Western press have covered the Syrian civil war. 

Beware The Media Industrial Complex

Chris Veritas

Activist Post

December 2, 2015

In conversations with various people, I have often brought up the fact that the Media seems to have no memory of the past, is entirely uniform when it comes to urging war, and patently ignores a plethora of glaring issues. The issues it does catch sight of, it seems incapable of penetrating, remaining at the surface of things, and therefore keeping discourse at the most superficial level. When questioned about these tendencies of Media, the responses I’ve received range from “well, that’s just the way they maintain ratings”, to “but my paper or network has the better ideology”. Americans appear satisfied to accept what occurs to them as given, and like Pangloss to reply, indeed, this is “the best of all possible worlds”.

I beg to differ.

Here are a few troubling questions that I feel greatly undermine the idea that Mainstream Media is credible:

1: Why is it that when it comes to war, the same news sources that criticize the president constantly, suddenly all seem to lionize his cause? Shouldn’t the opposite be true? Shouldn’t there be at least some dissent among the Mainstream sources? Isn’t this a little suspicious, if the press is free and independent?

2: How can it be that not only the press, but the entire nation has forgotten that the first case made to the American people concerning war with Syria was sold as being in order to depose Assad? Clearly ISIS existed at that point, so why were they not the target? When exactly did they become the world’s Super Enemy? Apparently this happened a few months after the Media campaign to attack Syria by other means failed.

Brandon Turbeville interview with Jay's Analysis - November 19, 2014

In this interview, author and investigative journalist Brandon Turbeville and I discuss his many articles and books, as well as dissecting Western geopolitical strategies in Syria, Libya, Egypt, and the intelligence agency creation and support of ISIS, and machinations against Russia. We also delve into mass media psy ops and manipulation, as well as Brandon's work on Codex Alimentarius. Great insights!

The Beheading That Never Was? - The Kassig Killing And Western War Propaganda

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
November 18, 2014

Currently trending alongside Kim Kardashian’s photo shoot, a Missouri declaration of a State of Emergency, and Charles Manson’s marriage, is the news of the recent alleged beheading of an American citizen by Western-backed ISIS terrorists in Syria.

The latest beheading video to allegedly emerge from ISIS reportedly shows the beheading of Peter Kassig, an “American aid worker” who was captured by the Western-backed fundamentalists in October of last year. Kassig was an Iraq veteran and former U.S. Army Ranger who later became an “aid worker” in Lebanon and Syria, according to USA Today.

Kassig’s family states that, while overseas, Kassig converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdul Rahman.

The video, which was released Sunday, is over 15 minutes long and contains a rather long propaganda buildup before showing the beheading of 12-18 Syrian soldiers.

The beheading of the Syrian soldiers, it should be noted, has received virtually no reporting except for an occasional line or two describing the lead up to Kassig’s beheading.

Kassig’s beheading is not actually shown, however. Toward the end of the video, “Jihadi John,” the ISIS member who has acted as the star of the series of beheading videos is pictured standing next to a severed human head which he claims belonged to Kassig.

ISIS Agrees To Work With Itself - US Calls For Panic, Attack On Assad

image source

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
November 15, 2014

In yet another example of how the actions of death squad terrorists in Syria conveniently seem to benefit the agenda of NATO and the United States, new reports suggesting that ISIS and the al-Nusra Front are now working together to defeat the elusive “moderate rebels” fighting against Assad are timed right alongside reports of Obama’s decision to refocus his Syria strategy to openly pursue the ouster of Assad as a part of his plan to “defeat ISIS.” These new reports will ultimately be used to justify NATO and America’s plan to openly overthrow Assad even while claiming to be fighting ISIS and extremists.

The mainstream media’s accounts of the “new alliances” between Nusra and ISIS are compelling indeed, as good narratives always are, regardless of whether or not they are true.

For instance, as Deb Reichmann of the Associated Press writes,

Militant leaders from the Islamic State group and al-Qaida gathered at a farm house in northern Syria last week and agreed on a plan to stop fighting each other and work together against their opponents, a high-level Syrian opposition official and a rebel commander have told The Associated Press. 

Such an accord could present new difficulties for Washington's strategy against the IS group. While warplanes from a U.S.-led coalition strike militants from the air, the Obama administration has counted on arming "moderate" rebel factions to push them back on the ground. Those rebels, already considered relatively weak and disorganized, would face far stronger opposition if the two heavy-hitting militant groups now are working together. 

Of course, what the Associated Press neglects to mention is that while, admittedly, ISIS and Nusra have engaged in battle against one another on several occasions [such is the nature of fanaticism], the fact is that the two are actually the same organization.