Originally appeared at MoonOfAlabama
The U.S. government, via its CIA, has financed the “moderate” anti-Syrian mercenaries fighting against the legitimate Syrian government with at least $1 billion a year. The Wahhabi dictatorships in the Middle East have added their own billions to finance al-Qaeda’s efforts against the Syrian people. The U.S. continues to purchase and transport thousands of tons of weapons and ammunition to feed the war against the Syrian people. It also pays the various fighters and opposition groups. The U.S. efforts for regime change in Syria have been running since at least 2006 when the U.S. government started to finance anti-Syrian exile TV stations and held intensive planning talks with various anti-Syrian Islamist elements.
Together with the British government it also runs the current pro-mercenary public relation show to influence the “western” public to support its imperial meddling in Syria.
The Guardian now unveils one of the British government efforts to effectively run the complete“Free Syrian Army” media show:
The British government is waging information warfare in Syria by funding media operations for some rebel fighting groups, …
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Contractors hired by the Foreign Office but overseen by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) produce videos, photos, military reports, radio broadcasts, print products and social media posts branded with the logos of fighting groups, and effectively run a press office for opposition fighters.Materials are circulated in the Arabic broadcast media and posted online with no indication of British government involvement.
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Through its Conflict and Stability Fund the government is spending £2.4m on private contractors working from Istanbul to deliver “strategic communications and media operations support to the Syrian moderate armed opposition” (MAO).The contract is part of a broader propaganda effort focused on Syria, with other elements intended to promote “the moderate values of the revolution” …
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The documents call for contractors to “select and train a spokesman able to represent all the MAO groups as a single unified voice”, as well as providing media coaching to “influential MAO officials” and running a round-the-clock “MAO central media office” with “media production capacity”. One British source with knowledge of the contracts in action said the government was essentially running a “Free Syrian army press office”.
The British and the U.S. media also run various “civil” groups to further their regime change goals.
The “White Helmets”, known for fake “rescue” videos and their strong cooperation with al-Qaeda (vid), are financed with $23 million by the U.S. government through USAID, with £18.7 million by the U.K. Foreign Office and with several millions more from other governments. But are the “White Helmets” not “moderates” who only want to help people? The U.S. government does not seem to believe that. It just banned the head of the “White Helmets” from entering the United States even though it finances his activities.
Many social media accounts like @raqqa_sl, which are promoted in “western” media, alsodistribute fake pictures and videos as part of these propaganda efforts.
But even when these media manipulation campaigns and fake “moderates” get exposed their operations continues unabated. The Guardian, after publishing the above, will not for one moment reflect on how its own publishing on Syria was influenced by the government financed fakes. It is, just like other mainstream media, an integrated part of the campaign.
No unveiling of the truth about the “western” attack on the Syrian state and its people seems to any effect on the ongoing media operations. On April 20 the U.S. military spokesperson for the anti-Islamic State coalition told some truth about the role of al-Qaeda in the “rebel” occupied eastern Aleppo city:
That said, it’s primarily al-Nusra who holds Aleppo, and of course, al-Nusra is not part of the cessation of hostilities.
Only two weeks later the NYT propagandist Anna Barnard has the Chutzpah to claim that al-Qaeda only
has a small presence in Aleppo
Lies get repeated even after they have been debunked again and again. The relentlessness of the propaganda onslaught is effective in suppressing any larger opposition to it.