How The Military Excluded The White House From International Syria Negotiations

The NYT laments today that international negotiations about the situation in Syria now continue without any U.S. participation: Russia, Iran and Turkey Meet for Syria Talks, Excluding U.S. Russia, Iran and Turkey met in Moscow on Tuesday to work toward a political accord to end Syria’s nearly six-year war, leaving the United States on the sidelines as the countries sought …

The Syrian seed bank that keeps going despite the war

For more than four years, the headquarters of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in the Syrian town of Tal Hadya has been occupied by the anti-Assad groups Al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham. ICARDA is one of 15 major international agricultural research centres, and the site of a seed bank housing some 150,000 samples in temperature-controlled …

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 12.21.16

Involuntary treatment has led to untold numbers of individual abuses, rampant torture in state hospitals, ECT and lobotomy, neurotoxic drugs, gross offenses against constitutional and human rights, and crimes against humanity. At the Nuremberg Doctors’ trials, involuntary psychiatric “euthanasia” would be described as an entering wedge into the Holocaust. Esteemed Danish medical researcher Peter Gøtzsche, MD, and I confront the horror of involuntary treatment from personal, ethical, scientific, constitutional, and political perspectives. This could be the best and most lively discussion of coercion in psychiatry you will ever hear. Extremely important for understanding the menace of psychiatry. Please tell others about this important hour, the third of four consecutive talks with Peter Gøtzsche.

Vijay Prashad – What Algeria’s ‘Black War’ Can Teach Us About the Syrian Crisis

For the first time – on 14 December – Algerian state television used new language on Syria. Previously, the language was ‘neutral’. No obvious position was taken on the Syrian conflict. Neither was the language pro-Syrian government nor was it pro-opposition. But on 14 December, as Aleppo fell to the Syrian government, the state television said that the government had …

PATRICK COCKBURN – More Propaganda Than News Coming Out of Aleppo

It has just become more dangerous to be a foreign correspondent reporting on the civil war in Syria. This is because the jihadis holding power in east Aleppo were able to exclude Western journalists, who would be abducted and very likely killed if they went there, and replace them as news sources with highly partisan “local activists” who cannot escape …

BREAKING: At Least 14 US Coalition Military Officers Captured by Syrian Special Forces in East Aleppo Bunker

SPECIAL REPORT DAMASCUS – According to two reports coming out of Aleppo today, at least 14 US Coalition military officers were captured this morning in an East Aleppo bunker by Syrian Special Forces. This story was quietly leaked by Voltaire.net, who announced, “The Security Council is sitting in private on Friday, December 16, 2016, at 17:00 GMT, while NATO officers were arrested …

Welcome to Idlib: America’s Model Syrian City http://journal-neo.org/2016/12/18/welcome-to-idlib-americas-model-syrian-city/

A report published by The Century Foundation (TCF), a US-based policy think tank, helps shed light on the inner workings of the small northern city of Idlib, Syria. Idlib is to US State Department-listed foreign terrorist organization Jabhat Al Nusra (also known as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham or Al Qaeda in Syria) as the eastern Syrian city of Al Raqqa is to the self-proclaimed …

Robert Fisk – There Is More Than One Truth to Tell in the Awful Story of Aleppo

estern politicians, “experts” and journalists are going to have to reboot their stories over the next few days now that Bashar al-Assad’s army has retaken control of eastern Aleppo. We’re going to find out if the 250,000 civilians “trapped” in the city were indeed that numerous. We’re going to hear far more about why they were not able to leave …