RugbyRebels

Little known facts about Syria. Long-standing vice-president Najar al Attar and chief advisor to president Bashar Assad Bouthaina Shaaban are both women with Ph.D's from British universities. Shaaban is a feminist activist and author. Former speaker of the People's Council Hadiye Khalaf Abbas was also a woman, while incumbent Hammouda Youssef Sabbagh is a Christian.

rowan wrote:Former speaker of the People's Council Hadiye Khalaf Abbas was also a woman

Chemically altered? That bastard Assad can't help himself

Digby wrote:

rowan wrote:Former speaker of the People's Council Hadiye Khalaf Abbas was also a woman

Chemically altered? That bastard Assad can't help himself

Under orders from Putin, surely . . .

Basically everything we are reading in mainstream media about Iran and Israel at the moment is a complete lie. Iranian troops are in Syria at the behest of the government in Damascus to help fight US-backed terrorists. Israel considers this a threat and is firing at the Iranians, so the Iranians are firing back. But according to mainstream media it is the Israelis who are "responding." I haven't seen so much blatant lying going on since just before the US invaded Iraq.

rowan wrote:Basically everything we are reading in mainstream media about Iran and Israel at the moment is a complete lie. Iranian troops are in Syria at the behest of the government in Damascus to help fight US-backed terrorists. Israel considers this a threat and is firing at the Iranians, so the Iranians are firing back. But according to mainstream media it is the Israelis who are "responding." I haven't seen so much blatant lying going on since just before the US invaded Iraq.

Almost like a false causus bell straight out of the Kremlin playbook. Judging by the powder puff Russian response to this, Netanyahu and his bessi Putin cooked it up together at Putin’s wee do on Monday.

Stones of granite wrote:

rowan wrote:Basically everything we are reading in mainstream media about Iran and Israel at the moment is a complete lie. Iranian troops are in Syria at the behest of the government in Damascus to help fight US-backed terrorists. Israel considers this a threat and is firing at the Iranians, so the Iranians are firing back. But according to mainstream media it is the Israelis who are "responding." I haven't seen so much blatant lying going on since just before the US invaded Iraq.

Almost like a false causus bell straight out of the Kremlin playbook. Judging by the powder puff Russian response to this, Netanyahu and his bessi Putin cooked it up together at Putin’s wee do on Monday.

Weird

Israel is seriously aggrieved that Syria wasn't destroyed by the US-led proxy war, the way Iraq and Libya were, because it is determined to hold onto the Golan Heights, though the UN ruled in Syria's favor on the issue. So it is still spoiling for war, and the presence of the dastardly Iranians in Syria now provides a pretext for continuing the hostilities. But the Iranian troops are in Syria at the invitation of the government in Damascus and therefore operating entirely within international law. You could draw a comparison here to Russia's annoyance over the build up of NATO troops on its Eastern European borders, but of course mainstream propaganda views that solely from the Western perspective. If there's a difference, it's that Iran never made a gentlemen's agreement with Israel not to put troops in Syria, as the Americans had with Russia over NATO's eastward expansion. & guess what, the only missiles Iran has fired in response to Israel's have been into the Golan Heights - legally Syrian territory!! Putin won't be too concerned about Iran's tit-for-tat with Israel, however, provided the latter doesn't employ any of the 200-odd nukes it developed secretly in violation of international law (while Washington looked the other way). Hypocrisy galore, as usual!

rowan wrote:

Stones of granite wrote:

rowan wrote:Basically everything we are reading in mainstream media about Iran and Israel at the moment is a complete lie. Iranian troops are in Syria at the behest of the government in Damascus to help fight US-backed terrorists. Israel considers this a threat and is firing at the Iranians, so the Iranians are firing back. But according to mainstream media it is the Israelis who are "responding." I haven't seen so much blatant lying going on since just before the US invaded Iraq.

Almost like a false causus bell straight out of the Kremlin playbook. Judging by the powder puff Russian response to this, Netanyahu and his bessi Putin cooked it up together at Putin’s wee do on Monday.

Weird

Israel is seriously aggrieved that Syria wasn't destroyed by the US-led proxy war, the way Iraq and Libya were, because it is determined to hold onto the Golan Heights, though the UN ruled in Syria's favor on the issue. So it is still spoiling for war, and the presence of the dastardly Iranians in Syria now provides a pretext for continuing the hostilities. But the Iranian troops are in Syria at the invitation of the government in Damascus and therefore operating entirely within international law. You could draw a comparison here to Russia's annoyance over the build up of NATO troops on its Eastern European borders, but of course mainstream propaganda views that solely from the Western perspective. If there's a difference, it's that Iran never made a gentlemen's agreement with Israel not to put troops in Syria, as the Americans had with Russia over NATO's eastward expansion. & guess what, the only missiles Iran has fired in response to Israel's have been into the Golan Heights - legally Syrian territory!! Putin won't be too concerned about Iran's tit-for-tat with Israel, however, provided the latter doesn't employ any of the 200-odd nukes it developed secretly in violation of international law (while Washington looked the other way). Hypocrisy galore, as usual!

Of course it’s fucking wierd. Netanyahu pitches up in Moscow, the only “western” leader, for Putin’s bash. RT reports that Israel informed Russia of their attack plans, who presumably didn’t bother passing it on to their allies, and now Russia has changed their tune about supplying Syria with an S-300 air defence system.
Israel’s beef with Iran is primarily about them supplying Hezbollah, who are a dangerous enemy. They found them a real handful back in 2006, and supplied with Iranian weapons they are a real threat to Israel.
The really wierd thing is Russia’s relaxed approach to Israel giving the Quds an aerial shoeing with little more than a token protest. One might be led to conclude that the Russians aren’t too impressed with having beards tramping all over what they consider their area of interest.

Stones of granite wrote:

rowan wrote:

Stones of granite wrote: Almost like a false causus bell straight out of the Kremlin playbook. Judging by the powder puff Russian response to this, Netanyahu and his bessi Putin cooked it up together at Putin’s wee do on Monday.

Weird

Israel is seriously aggrieved that Syria wasn't destroyed by the US-led proxy war, the way Iraq and Libya were, because it is determined to hold onto the Golan Heights, though the UN ruled in Syria's favor on the issue. So it is still spoiling for war, and the presence of the dastardly Iranians in Syria now provides a pretext for continuing the hostilities. But the Iranian troops are in Syria at the invitation of the government in Damascus and therefore operating entirely within international law. You could draw a comparison here to Russia's annoyance over the build up of NATO troops on its Eastern European borders, but of course mainstream propaganda views that solely from the Western perspective. If there's a difference, it's that Iran never made a gentlemen's agreement with Israel not to put troops in Syria, as the Americans had with Russia over NATO's eastward expansion. & guess what, the only missiles Iran has fired in response to Israel's have been into the Golan Heights - legally Syrian territory!! Putin won't be too concerned about Iran's tit-for-tat with Israel, however, provided the latter doesn't employ any of the 200-odd nukes it developed secretly in violation of international law (while Washington looked the other way). Hypocrisy galore, as usual!

Of course it’s fucking wierd. Netanyahu pitches up in Moscow, the only “western” leader, for Putin’s bash. RT reports that Israel informed Russia of their attack plans, who presumably didn’t bother passing it on to their allies, and now Russia has changed their tune about supplying Syria with an S-300 air defence system.
Israel’s beef with Iran is primarily about them supplying Hezbollah, who are a dangerous enemy. They found them a real handful back in 2006, and supplied with Iranian weapons they are a real threat to Israel.
The really wierd thing is Russia’s relaxed approach to Israel giving the Quds an aerial shoeing with little more than a token protest. One might be led to conclude that the Russians aren’t too impressed with having beards tramping all over what they consider their area of interest.

I thought Netenyahu was in Moscow to attend the Victory Day celebrations. You know Israel likes to continuously try and justify its existence (on Palestinian territory) by reminding everyone of that terrible conflict 80-odd years ago. I don't think Israel's only beef with Iran is Hezbollah. Far from it. I think right now both the US and Israel - not to mention Saudi and a few others - are immensely displeased with Iran for its part in preventing them from taking control of Syria (as mentioned). In fact, I think that's primarily what lies behind Trump's bizarre decision to terminate the nuclear deal even though Iran was complying with all the conditions - sour grapes that the US didn't get its way for a change and Iran was partially responsible. BTW, I didn't know you were such a big fan of RT. But I'd suggest that Putin and Bibi are right now negotiating an end to this business, which will only come about if Iranian troops pull out of Syria (despite having every right to be there) and Israel agrees to stop firing rockets into the country and supporting anti-government terrorists. I don't think Russia is one fraction as concerned about the Iranian presence in Syria as it is about illegal and aggressive American, Turkish and Israeli occupation of certain areas, which are ongoing.

'independent' SOHR funded by foreign office

Zhivago wrote:'independent' SOHR funded by foreign office

Indeed.

Surprise, surprise, another false flag . . .

This seems like as good a place as any to put this... an article outlining the flaws into the journalism of a certain oft-quoted and formerly celebrated journalist. Its cringe worthy to read.

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/poli ... mour-hersh



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rowan wrote:Surprise, surprise, another false flag . . .

RT isn’t an objective news service.

Donny osmond wrote:This seems like as good a place as any to put this... an article outlining the flaws into the journalism of a certain oft-quoted and formerly celebrated journalist. Its cringe worthy to read.

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/poli ... mour-hersh



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Good article.

Sandydragon wrote:

rowan wrote:Surprise, surprise, another false flag . . .

RT isn’t an objective news service.

The reason right-wing warmongering rednecks fear RT is that it presents a Russian voice in English. The right-wing warmongering rednecks of this world would far prefer it that the Russian voice was never heard in the West, except in Russian which is not generally understood in the West. The mainstream corporate media which has ushered America into so many genocidal wars, killing millions, would thus have it all its own way - free to brainwash and continue ushering America into its genocidal wars without the other side of the story ever coming to light. What a perfect little right-wing, warmongering rednecks' paradise that would be

& it goes without saying they would also like to discredit and silence those who reveal the truth about US war crimes, such as Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who exposed the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, and the funneling of arms and chemical weapons to terrorists in Syria directly through a NATO member . . .

Sandydragon wrote:

Donny osmond wrote:This seems like as good a place as any to put this... an article outlining the flaws into the journalism of a certain oft-quoted and formerly celebrated journalist. Its cringe worthy to read.

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/poli ... mour-hersh



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Good article.

He's an odd chap is Hersh, logically as consistent as a deranged inmate at a funny farm

Hmmm. Veteran Pultizer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh versus "Donny & Digby" on a dubious rugby chat forum. Who do I go with here??

That creationist chemist seems all the rage on RT these days. Doesn't most of their traffic come via the social media conduit for the cute animal videos and suchlike.

rowan wrote:Hmmm. Veteran Pultizer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh versus "Donny & Digby" on a dubious rugby chat forum. Who do I go with here??

If it's so dubious why do you spend so much time on it?

belgarion wrote:

rowan wrote:Hmmm. Veteran Pultizer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh versus "Donny & Digby" on a dubious rugby chat forum. Who do I go with here??

If it's so dubious why do you spend so much time on it?

I don't generally discuss politics here, as you will have noted. I realized a long time ago what a waste of time it was. My main role here, apart from supporting the mighty Canes and the Fijian 7s team , is to share international results and information, particularly from 2nd and 3rd tier which don't get covered by the so-called international rugby web sites. It's just a hobby but on occasions I have articles published on the topic.

Bitch say what?

His infant school pinned his little story on the board

rowan wrote:The reason right-wing warmongering rednecks fear RT is that it presents a Russian voice in English. The right-wing warmongering rednecks of this world would far prefer it that the Russian voice was never heard in the West, except in Russian which is not generally understood in the West. The mainstream corporate media which has ushered America into so many genocidal wars, killing millions, would thus have it all its own way - free to brainwash and continue ushering America into its genocidal wars without the other side of the story ever coming to light. What a perfect little right-wing, warmongering rednecks' paradise that would be

& it goes without saying they would also like to discredit and silence those who reveal the truth about US war crimes, such as Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who exposed the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, and the funneling of arms and chemical weapons to terrorists in Syria directly through a NATO member . . .

The 'Russian voice' in English you mentioned is freely available in the West. Freeview, freesat and just about every other western media delivery system has RT freely available.

Besides, I understand your mistrust to mainstream media (to some degree), but surely that same mistrust should also apply to Russian, or other non-western news agencies who are also pushing their own agendas. The same very much applies to internet based 'news sources' you seem to post links to. Sure, they may have the occasional award winning former journalists writing for them, but haven't many western journos won the same accolades?

Just seems odd championing some 'veteran Pulitzer prize winning investigative journalists' (Hersh is not the first) when many mainstream media journalists have also won the same award. Was it not as worthy in those years?

You're responding to the response, not to the source of the inanity itself.

rowan wrote:You're responding to the response, not to the source of the inanity itself.

Responding to the response is the entire point of the response you salad. The initial response is inane. You are playing the man and not the ball.