White Helmets

So, James Le Mesurier bites the dust, while all the lies finally caught up with him. Another affirmation that the truth lives forever.

13-16 minute Read Minor Snip:
Over the past two years, enlightening information has been revealed that thoroughly and unequivocally debunks the “humanitarianism” of the White Helmets in Syria, sometimes referred to as the Syrian Civil Defense.

Since they were founded in 2013, much of Western media has sought to elevate the White Helmets as the “bravest” and most heroic of Syrians. They have been the subject of a Netflix documentary, which won an Oscar, and has consistently been plastered across TV screens in surprisingly well-produced videos showing them removing children from rubble in war-torn areas claimed by Syria’s “rebels.”

However, missing from this unambiguously positive coverage has been the group’s ties to terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, their doctoring of footage, their role in executing civilians and their use of children – both dead and alive – as props for producing pro-intervention propaganda. Also absent is how the White Helmets have received over $123 million from 2013 to 2016 from the U.S. and UK governments, as well as Western NGOs and Gulf state monarchies.

 
Update:

James Le Mesurier, who co-founded a group of volunteer first responders in Syria nicknamed the White Helmets, has been found dead near his home in Istanbul, according to reports.

His death comes just days after he was accused of being a spy in a tweet by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The former British Army officer is considered to have founded the Syria Civil Defence or White Helmets in Turkey in 2013.

|t is not known how he died, but colleagues reported he may have fallen from the balcony of his apartment in the Turkish city.

Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, mentioned Mr Le Mesurier on Friday accusing him of being a "former agent of Britain’s MI6, who has been spotted all around the world".

In the comments, which were shared on Twitter by the Russian foreign ministry's account, she accused him of working as a spy in the Balkans, and the Middle East.

More follows…
 
Apparently James Le Mesurier was taking medications.

Narrative Managers In Overdrive After Death Of White Helmets Founder
Caitlin Johnstone 8-10 minute Read:
Snip:
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James Le Mesurier, the founder of the White Helmets, has died. He was found to have plummeted from a height to the street outside his home, and authorities are reportedly calling it a suicide.

Le Mesurier has a history with British military intelligence and was fundamentally involved with an extremely shady narrative management operation geared toward manufacturing support for yet another imperialist military intervention in yet another Middle Eastern nation, so obviously any claims of suicide should be taken with a grain of salt no smaller than a Buick. But it is worth noting that according to Middle East Eye, Le Mesurier’s wife told police that he’d been struggling with psychological issues for which he was taking medications and had previously been hospitalized.

Le Mesurier’s home was reportedly only accessible by fingerprint and no video footage of anyone besides Le Mesurier and his wife entering or leaving has been found.

Establishment narrative managers, for their part, have been floating the possibility that the White Helmets founder was murdered by the Russian government. The Washington Examiner has published an article titled “Did Russia kill White Helmets founder James Le Mesurier?”, calling to mind Betteridge’s law of headlines which states that “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.” The BBC’s Mark Urban tweeted out and then deleted a thread (screenshots here) in which he cites an anonymous source who claims to have known Le Mesurier’s flat well enough to be sure that it’s not possible to “fall” from his balcony, then meaningfully pointing to a “black propaganda campaign by Russia and Assad media” against Le Mesurier. He apparently didn’t consider the possibility of suicide until later, saying he deleted his thread due to “new information”.

For more info on Le Mesurier and his White Helmet mates, I highly recommend watching this excellent half-hour video by James Corbett. It’s full of primary-source video footage indisputably confirming the organization’s ties to western governments and to violent extremist factions in Syria, and explaining how an allegedly “neutral” organization on the ground has been used to control the narrative about what’s been happening in Syria.

Skipping Down:

Pundits who’ve built their name on Syria narrative management have been expressing grief over Le Mesurier’s death, including Eliot Higgins, Charles Lister, Julian Röpke and Oz Katerji. Katerji, an especially aggressive imperialism proponent, was particularly stricken, acknowledging that this pervasively corrupt operative was actually a dear friend of his.

“It is with a deeply heavy heart that I do this, but I can confirm my friend James Le Mesurier, founder of Mayday Rescue of White Helmets fame, died at his home in Istanbul last night,” Katerji tweeted. “I am profoundly saddened by this, Jakes was a brave and decent man who saved countless lives. I will miss him. I am at a loss for words.”

Janine di Giovanni, who in 2016 authored a fawning puff piece on Le Mesurier and the White Helmets for Newsweek, tweeted, “Terrible news. James was funny, smart, brave,committed. He stood up to bullies. On the right side of history. Believed in the White Helmets, their mission, their drive for good. A loss to humanity.”

Journalist Jonathan Cook criticized di Giovanni’s gushing hagiography, tweeting, “This is what access journalism looks like: prize-winning war correspondents like Janine di Giovanni hanging out with ‘funny’ spooks like James Le Mesurier who’ve been responsible for stoking the very wars they report on — wars that have destroyed whole societies.”


Continued..
 
Yeah, some wasted no time with the Russian's did it - there was a drum-roll for this, yet his wife points to medical, and fingerprint access to the house with no video of others is mentioned, yet who knows how it will play out. Hint: local news tonight had him anointed like Mother Teresa.

Caught Craig Murray in that Tweet:


Craig Murray

@CraigMurrayOrg


On the death of James Le Mesurier, western governments' organiser of logistics support and propaganda for the fanatical jihadists in Syria, it is no surprise that today "Philip Cross" makes 48 edits to his Wikipedia page.https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Le_Mesurier&limit=100&action=history …



Consent Factory @consent_factory

We were wondering where "Philip Cross" had suddenly run off to. Clearly, "he" had bigger fish to fry than our in-house satirist ...

 
Caitlin Johnstone weighs in.

Establishment narrative managers, for their part, have been floating the possibility that the White Helmets founder was murdered by the Russian government. The Washington Examiner has published an article titled “Did Russia kill White Helmets founder James Le Mesurier?”, calling to mind Betteridge’s law of headlines which states that “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.” The BBC’s Mark Urban tweeted out and then deleted a thread (screenshots here) in which he cites an anonymous source who claims to have known Le Mesurier’s flat well enough to be sure that it’s not possible to “fall” from his balcony, then meaningfully pointing to a “black propaganda campaign by Russia and Assad media” against Le Mesurier. He apparently didn’t consider the possibility of suicide until later, saying he deleted his thread due to “new information”.
For more info on Le Mesurier and his White Helmet mates, I highly recommend watching this excellent half-hour video by James Corbett. It’s full of primary-source video footage indisputably confirming the organization’s ties to western governments and to violent extremist factions in Syria, and explaining how an allegedly “neutral” organization on the ground has been used to control the narrative about what’s been happening in Syria.


 
Special report from our war correspondents: "White Helmets - Southern Dossier" English Subs.

That was pretty good, and oh so horribly sad. Near the end, a number of low level WH are speaking - lost papers, forgeries, infiltration (always foreigners, Jordan, and Israel conduits); their very thoughts of what they were initially doing was thrown on its head as conflict registered in their minds as each day progressed, until the whole thing went sideways. These guys knew that they, low level WH, had been used at so many levels. They are protective, too, thinking they were doing humanitarian good deeds as their training provided, while being directed from above to participate in what they did not at first understand of its full meaning and intent. Some seemed sincere.

As the Southern Dossier speakers acknowledge, they felt sad for some of these guys as they were manipulated and used up.
 
First published on Canadian Dimensions, Vanessa Beeley had it on her site, this is the source site:


Written by Professor Samir Saul (history) and Rachad Antonius (Sociology/Pure Applied Mathematics) Universite du Quebec at Montreal:

Note: Beeley uses a different headline on her site:

'Is it acceptable to challenge dominant narratives on Syria? Not in Canada.'


Is it permissible to challenge the official narrative on Syria?
Samir Saul and Rachad Antonius Media , War Zone
January 6, 2020



Syria_war_soldiers_800_524_80.jpeg

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), shows Syrian army units and pro-government forces deploying at an undisclosed location in the Atshan village in central province of Hama, on October 11, 2015.

Last month, two conferences were scheduled in Montreal as part of Vanessa Beeley’s Canadian tour. As soon as they were announced, the speaker was subjected to volleys of invective, insults and slander from the proponents of the official narrative on Syria. The strategy was clear: smear the person to distract attention from what she was saying, attack the messenger so that the message would not be heard. The conference scheduled at the Université de Montréal was cancelled. The other was held as planned at the Centre Saint-Pierre, despite pressures. It drew a sellout crowd.

Beeley is an investigative journalist who has been on the ground in Syria and whose independent journalism has been recognized in Great Britain by a various institutions. Her links with the Arab world go back to her childhood; her father, Sir Harold Beeley, was a diplomat, a historian and an ambassador to the Middle East.

Beeley’s investigations contradict the official account on Syria. Among other things, she questioned the role of the White Helmets and showed that this organization was created in Turkey in 2013 by a British army officer, James Le Mesurier. On the basis of official documents, she demonstrated that the White Helmets were funded mainly by the British and American governments. She pointed out that they shared premises and even leadership with jihadist groups in Syria.

Wars and Lies

Every war is justified by an official narrative, repeated over and over again. Then reality catches up with it, truth comes out and the story falls apart, often after the fact. The narrative is then discredited, debunked and discarded. The war against Syria is no exception; many distortions and falsehoods are already discredited. Consider the following.

The downfall of the Syrian regime was presented as imminent in 2011; it is still in place. The conflict was supposed to be confessional; it is not, despite all efforts to ignite sectarian discord. The war was described as civil; it is a national war against foreign interventions that have hardly been concealed and which have now turned into open American occupation of oil-rich regions of Syria. The militiamen were described as “moderate rebels”; they are jihadists practicing terrorism, with thousands of foreigners among them. Bashar al-Assad was described as unpopular; he was re-elected in 2014 in a landslide. The voting behaviour of Syrian refugees in Lebanon was telling; far from possible control by Syrian authorities, they cast their ballots overwhelmingly in favour of the Syrian government, confounding those who assumed they would condemn it. A genocide was predicted when Aleppo was taken back in December 2016; in fact, the population of the city rediscovered the social and even the festive life they had been deprived of by the war. The Syrian government was accused of using chemical weapons; but its stockpile was destroyed in 2013 under the aegis of the United States, while the jihadists kept theirs.

Listening or gagging?

Any position must be accepted or rejected on its merits, not by defamation or denial of speech. Attendees at the conference had the right attitude. They came in large numbers to judge for themselves. As for the academic world, it is based on certain fundamental principles, such as the examination of a diversity of analyses in order to evaluate them and reach conclusions, and a critical approach toward everything. That is the bedrock of the quest for knowledge which is the mission of universities. Such a fact is not necessarily to the liking of certain economic, political or ideological interests, which may seek to muzzle, mislead or spook academics in order to hinder free thought and to dissuade the very people whose function is to defend it.

That the Syrian regime has been authoritarian or that it has committed abuses is not in doubt. It is far from perfect. Like all peoples in the Middle East and elsewhere, the Syrian people want change. But it is up to them to determine what those changes will be, not to foreign governments acting by means of armed jihadist militias.

Those who lied about the war against Iraq in 2003 are the same people who disseminate the official narrative on Syria. One must have a short memory to believe them. Critics who have gone against the tide have often been right in past wars. They often anticipate what history will later confirm. Their input must therefore be taken into account, while the right to question what they say must be preserved. Beeley is one of those voices challenging official truths. She does not claim to be infallible, but she does reveal aspects of the war in Syria that few observers see or analyze. She should be heard and not censored, always with a critical mind.

Samir Saul is a professor of history at the Université de Montréal. His centres of interest concern France and the Arab World. His investigations focus on the relations between the political and economic dimensions on the international front. In economic history, he studies capital flows, international trade and the history of industries. He is a founding member and coordinator for the Groupement interuniversitaire pour l’histoire des relations internationales (GIHRIC).

Rachad Antonius is a Professor of Sociology at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Born in Cairo, Egypt, he graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) in Pure and Applied Mathematics from Cairo University. He completed a M.Sc. degree in Mathematics at the University of Manitoba, then a Ph.D. in Sociology at the Universite du Quebec at Montreal. He teaches quantitative methods and research methodology, and he also specializes in migration studies, and Middle-Eastern studies.
 
Intensified contacts between the American politicians and the White Helmets could lead to big problems in the region, Maria Zakharova said.

By Mazen Eyon - 19 March, 2020
 
Intensified contacts between the American politicians and the White Helmets could lead to big problems in the region, Maria Zakharova said.

While reading, noted Assad and Putin had talked today:

President al-Assad receives phone call from President Putin on developments of events in Syria
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20 March، 2020
Damascus, SANA-President Bashar al-Assad on Friday received a telephone call from Russian President Vladimir Putin on the developments of events in Syria.
During the call, President al-Assad and Putin touched upon the implementation of the Russian-Turkish agreements concluded on March 5 to achieve stability in Idleb region and the continued violation of these agreements by terrorist organizations in addition to the political process.
President Putin congratulated President al-Assad and the Syrian people on the occasion of Israa and Mi’raj night, wishing that Syria would overcome difficulties it is passing through and restore security and stability as soon as possible.
Gh.A.Hassoun
 
'The White Helmet's 'coronavirus' cynical campaign against the Syrian government.'

By Vanessa Beeley - 26 Mar, 2020
 
'The White Helmet's 'coronavirus' cynical campaign against the Syrian government.'

What a fantastic PR stunt. :wow: Simply an amazing transformation!

They look like they came off an assembly line, all reanimated in white KeenGuardTM S40's from Kimberly-Clark from head to toe carrying White Helmet embossed piss-cansTM. Why one might think they are getting ready for some type of new viral action: the new and improved 'Covid-19 White Helmet's/Tyvex' humanitarians.

snip said:
Sanctions increase the risk of pandemic spread
All measures taken against the Syrian government by the UK, US and EU are ostensibly to “protect” the Syrian people. Of course sanctions never protect the people, they deprive the people of basic needs, they decimate essential infrastructure. They are designed to weaken the target state or leadership, to turn the people against the government, to serve US-led foreign policy agendas in the region. Sanctions enable war and destruction, they are taken to bring resistant nations into line with horrifying consequences for the civilian population.


Secretary Pompeo

@SecPompeo

The U.S. is taking action to sanction Assad regime Lt. General Ayoub for the violence perpetuated against the people of northern #Syria. Such violence that impacts civilians, humanitarian workers, and hospitals must not be tolerated. We stand on the side of the Syrian people {;-)}

Instead of lifting sanctions to allow nations like Iran and Syria to combat what is described as a “global pandemic” that threatens the lives of all Syrians and Iranians according to the media hype – the US-led coalition of “humanitarian” intervention is effectively doubling down on their pro-sanction, pro-war rhetoric, as a recent statement from the UK, US, France and Germany has demonstrated. Former UK Ambassador to Syria, Peter Ford, described the statement as a thinly veiled cry of solidarity for Al-Qaeda in Syria, “There is not a word here with which Hayat Tahrir Ash Sham, the dominant jihadi group, would not concur.

White Helmets weaponize Covid-19 to ensure Syrian people suffer more
The Al-Qaeda-linked White Helmets group have sprung into action to defend the sanctions regime and to effectively condemn the huge majority of Syrian people to further misery should the pandemic take hold in Syria. An organisation with a history of collaboration with the US Coalition-sponsored armed groups in Syria, itself funded by the same governments, has been triggered by the billionaire-manufactured PR complex {good one to read} that manages and directs this shadow state construct.

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'Fairytale wedding: The governments of Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Qatar and others have been financing Al-Qaeda through White Helmets' funding.'

17 Jul, 2020
 
Noticed an article by Professor Tim Hayward, a member of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media (WGSPM) that he had posted December 2nd, 2020, an article titled Diagnosing Disinformation: a reply to Wilson and Starbird. This is in reply to the so called misinformation specialists at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Here is the authors note:

Author’s note: This article was originally due to appear in Misinformation Review, the Harvard-based journal that published the piece it responds to. The editorial board accepted the article for publication, but because of the challenging nature of my critique, they decided it should be published under the rubric of a letter to the editor so as to allow a right of reply to the authors of the article criticised. Three weeks after it was sent out to those authors, I was informed that ‘we are unable to publish letters on our site at this time.’ [Submitted to Misinformation Review 22 August 2020; Accepted for publication 30 October 2020; notified of non-publication 30 November 2020.]
I won't post all of it here except for the opening, which gives one the overview:
Disinformation is a difficult field of investigation for a distinctive reason. Disinformation implies bad faith, and any discussion of it that relates to real actors or institutions implicitly impugns them. This adds a layer of difficulty for those attempting a dispassionate assessment of different points of view in terms of reasoned disagreements. The researcher needs to be scrupulous in maintaining standards of good faith when purporting to identify contraventions of it. Failure to attend to this requirement carries a further risk of propagating rather than diagnosing disinformation. This risk is made evident in a recent article by Tom Wilson and Kate Starbird in Misinformation Review. Unfortunately, they fall foul of it. This essay argues for greater epistemic caution.

The authors state their aim is to ‘conceptualize what a disinformation campaign is and how it works’ (Wilson and Starbird 2020). Given the promised conceptualization, the reader might expect to learn of clear criteria for distinguishing disinformation from reliable information; and regarding the promise of showing how a campaign involving it works, the expected pre-requisite would be a clear method for identifying when a campaign so designated is in operation. Unfortunately, neither of these crucial clarifications is attempted by the authors. Of concern, too, is that in identifying a specific alleged disinformation campaign they not only fail to establish exactly how it is disinformative but they adopt the standpoint of an opposing campaign whose own bona fides are left unexamined.

To begin with, the framing of the authors’ objectives appears prejudicial with respect to its proposed investigation:
‘This research examines “both sides” of the White Helmets discourse—exploring how the White Helmets promote their work and foster solidarity with online audiences through their own social media activity and through episodic attention from mainstream media, and examining how the campaign against the White Helmets attempts to counter and delegitimize their work through strategic use of alternative and social media.’


There is a pdf of the article here.
 
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