White Helmets

A clumsily-produced video showing a rescue operation by the White Helmets has stirred negative reactions in the social media, specially on Facebook and Twitter, infuriating people to the degree that they are now questioning authenticity of reports compiled by international bodies based on such videos so far.

People Infuriated by White Helmets' Fake Video in Syria (Tweets)
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950902000956

Tue Nov 22, 2016 - The video showed that two members of the so-called White Helmets trying to help a man stuck in rubble, all still for a while, then suddenly coming to life, the man being pulled out of the rubble and carried away.

The video of the rescue operation was first posted online by the Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office (RFS) that is an anti-Assad media outlet.

After jittery reactions, the RFS pulled out the video from YouTube, but it was too late. The video has created deep doubt and suspicion among viewers about authenticity of other videos released by the White Helmets. Many have shown their anger in their Facebook and Twitter posts, while other point to the cooperation between the White Helmets and the terrorist groups backed by a number of western states.

Now web operators and analysts have started questioning the veracity and creditability of the reports given out by the international bodies based on such videos and documents.

There was an uproar when the group did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. It was claimed that the group has saved the lives of more than 40,000 people affected by Syria's civil war. Responding to missing out on the Nobel Prize, members of the group said "it is not the Nobel we long for most, but peace itself."

Earlier this month, a Syrian journalist proved via release of several images of a Syrian child that the US-linked White Helmet Humanitarian Organization's claims of saving civilians in the war-hit country are mere lies.

Abbas Jom'eh released three images of a little girl that had been allegedly rescued by members of the White Helmet Organization in three different locations, disclosing the organization's lies about rescuing civilians in Syria.

In his twitter page, the Syrian journalist placed three images form the girl that was rescued by the White Helmet's agents in different places.

"Actors in the White Helmet rescue one girl in three different places! Can't they play their role any better on this stage?" Abbas Jom'eh asked.

A journalist said on Sunday that the White Helmets Organization was not an independent body despite their claims and receive financial supports from several western states that back terrorist groups in Syria.

"The White Helmets cannot be an independent organization because it works for the interests of the western countries that back terrorist groups in Syria and receives financial support from the US, Britain and Germany instead," Vanesa Bili said.

"It seems to be strange that the White Helmets are constantly in the regions controlled by the ISIL and Fatah al-Sham Front (the al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group previously known as the al-Nusra Front) and their affiliated groups. Videos and images taken in these regions prove that the White Helmets cooperate with the terrorists," Bili went on to say.

"The White Helmets not only offer medical services to terrorists and take part in their assassination and execution of civilians, but also work for overthrowing the Syrian government," the journalist added.
 
I was totally unaware of it but there is "a real White Helmets" organization. Last article states "The name “White Helmets” was inappropriately taken from the legitimate Argentinian relief organization Cascos Blancos / White Helmets. In 2014, Cascos Blancos / White Helmets was honored at the United Nations for 20 years of international humanitarian assistance."

First "they" impersonate the real legitimate Syrian organization “the Syria Civil Defense” - then take on a secondary identification "as the White Helmets" - another real legitimate organization? That's illegal! AND they are bold enough to seek nomination for "the Noble Peace Prize"?

The video below was originally uploaded on November 18 in the channel of the RFSMediaOffice (Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office), a propaganda organization supporting various groups fighting the Syrian state.

How White Helmets Videos Are Made. Are They Fake?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/how-white-helmets-videos-are-made-are-they-fake/5558350

By Moon of Alabama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qu09EbHvHw (0:54 min.)

It depicts the “Making of” a scene where people in White Helmets outfit “rescue” a man. For some 20 seconds the two “rescuers” and the “victim” are motionless waiting for the command to start a hectic “rescue operation” and, when that starts, adds on the usual background sound of screaming people.

The embed is a copy I made from the original and posted on my account to make sure that it is preserved.

I do not know why the RFS Media Office would upload this. To show that the White Helmets and their videos are fake? Did they not pay their dues? Or was the channel hacked and the upload done by someone else?

The original title “Edge of death | #MannequinChallenge” points to some social media nonsense which The Telegraph describes as:


A viral video craze, it involves people imitating mannequins and freezing for the camera while music plays in the background.

So is this a fake? Or a fake of the fakes the original White Helmets videos are (this one for example)?

Not fake enough yet?

How about this Yahoo News headline: All hospitals in eastern Aleppo out of action after bombardments: officials. Now compare with this tweet by an NPR Middle East correspondent:

Alison Meuse Verified account @AliTahmizian – 2:20 AM – 21 Nov 2016 MSF says four out of eight hospitals in eastern Aleppo city are currently out of service, including the only dedicated pediatric hospital.

All or four out of eight – those numbers don’t matter as some journalists evidently do not care how fake their stories are. Remember how six pediatricians in east-Aleppo signed an open letter to Obama a few weeks after the “last pediatrician in Aleppo” was killed? No journo cared about that insult to their readers sanity. Who by the way runs that “only dedicated pediatric hospital” in east-Aleppo? Some horse doctor?

Image: This is not Aleppo, Syria, but rather the streets of Europe where a recent “save Aleppo” protest was staged. Actors posing in fake dust and blood proved just how easy it is for anyone to create “war victims” anytime, anywhere.

Syria’s “White Helmets”: Extensive and Elaborate Deceptions of Modern War Propaganda
http://www.globalresearch.ca/syrias-white-helmets-extensive-and-elaborate-deceptions-of-modern-war-propaganda/5558368

By Tony Cartalucci
November 22, 2016

The US-European funded “Syrian Civil Defence” also known as the “White Helmets,” have been incrementally exposed as perhaps one of the most extensive and elaborate deceptions in modern war propaganda.

Posing as both “rescuers” of civilians trapped in alleged Syrian and Russian airstrikes, and “monitors” reporting alleged “atrocities” carried out against armed militants fighting the Syrian government, evidence has mounted that they are in fact accomplices with militant groups including listed terrorist organizations, as well as propagandists.

In early October of this year, protesters in Europe easily recreated virtually every “rescue” scene portrayed by “White Helmets” simply by applying flour and red paint to their faces and lying in the streets of European cities. (See image above) As part of the “Save Aleppo” campaign, the protesters likely sought to bring the “reality” of the “White Helmets’” work to Western audiences, but maybe did so a little too literally – revealing that many of the scenes portrayed by “White Helmet” camera crews in Syria were likely staged in a very similar, theatrical manner.

In real warfare, bombardments generally leave behind unspeakable carnage, including bodies burned beyond recognition, dangling limbs, gushing wounds, and piles of tangled gore. The “White Helmets’” videos are suspiciously absent of these realities, and instead feature almost exclusively the flour and red paint extras seen protesting in Europe’s streets last October.

It was noted last October that the only feature missing from the “White Helmets”-inspired protests in Europe was the backdrop of a ruined city and rubble to “bury” actors in.

But a recent video shared on Facebook by Syrian activist Mimi Al Laham, exposes this charade with this final feature included. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rOL7fYyRQo (0:54 min.)

What appears to be a “White Helmet” video shot in a style known as the “mannequin challenge” – in which actors remain still as a camera moves around them similar to a technique employed in Hollywood movies for dramatic effect - has surfaced on YouTube.

It begins with three men attempting to remain still as a camera moves around them. The men are posing in the rubble of a collapsed building. Two men are dressed as “White Helmet” volunteers, and the third man is laying down with his legs partially buried beneath rubble. An audible sound effect is added to the soundtrack – similar to that heard in a war movie when a character is dazed and his ears are ringing – before suddenly the characters begin moving and shouting – the volunteers begin “unburying” the trapped man who feigns screams of pain.

Aside from the “mannequin challenge” stylization, the video is utterly indistinguishable from the full summation of the “White Helmets’” previous “filmography.” Like all of the “victims” the “White Helmets” have “saved,” the man in this video is clearly not physically injured and is simply covered in dust just as protesters in Europe were, and just as all of the alleged “victims” the “White Helmets” have claimed to save in Syria have been in the wake of alleged airstrikes.

Serious Ethical Questions Raised In this video, the three men are undoubtedly actors. The “victim” was undoubtedly, intentionally buried in preexisting rubble, not trapped in it from an airstrike. The fact that two of the actors are fully dressed in “White Helmet” uniforms acquired through the tens of millions of dollars provided to the organization by Western governments, reveals a potentially serious breach in ethical behavior – similar to ethical violations committed by legitimate medical and rescue workers who use their resources and protected status for political or military purposes, rather than missions of mercy.

The “White Helmets” are perhaps the perfect embodiment of the entire Syrian “opposition.” A facade created by foreign interests to divide and destroy an entire nation, unhinge an entire region, all while posing as heroes of “freedom,” “democracy,” and “humanitarianism.” For other supposed nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide receiving funding from the US and EU, they should seriously consider the company they find themselves among – terrorists, liars, and actors preying on people’s good intentions while exploiting misery they themselves are directly involved in creating.

The White Helmets – here are a few facts that you need to know.

Fact-Sheet on Syria’s “White Helmets”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/fact-sheet-on-syrias-white-helmets/5549760?utm_campaign=magnet&utm_source=article_page&utm_medium=related_articles

* The White Helmets, also called Syria Civil Defence, are not who they claim to be. The group is not Syrian; it was created with USA/UK funding under the supervision of a British military contractor in 2013 in Turkey.

* The name “Syria Civil Defence” was stolen from the legitimate Syrian organization of the same name. The authentic Syria Civil Defence was founded in 1953 and is a founding member of the International Civil Defense Organization (1958).

* The name “White Helmets” was inappropriately taken from the legitimate Argentinian relief organization Cascos Blancos / White Helmets. In 2014, Cascos Blancos / White Helmets was honored at the United Nations for 20 years of international humanitarian assistance.

* The NATO White Helmets are primarily a media campaign to support the ‘regime change’ goals of the USA and allies. After being founded by security contractor James LeMesurier, the group was “branded” as the White Helmets in 2014 by a marketing company called “The Syria Campaign” managed out of New York by non-Syrians such as Anna Nolan. “The Syria Campaign” was itself “incubated” by another marketing company named “Purpose”.

* The White Helmets claim to be “neutral, impartial and humanitarian” and to “serve all the people of Syria” is untrue. In reality, they only work in areas controlled by the violent opposition, primarily terrorists associated with Nusra/AlQaeda (recently renamed Jabhat Fath al Sham).

* The White Helmets claim to be unarmed is untrue. There are photos which show their members carrying arms and celebrating Nusra/AlQaeda military victories.

* The White Helmets claim to be apolitical and non-aligned is untrue. In reality they actively promote and lobby for US/NATO intervention in violation of the norms of authentic humanitarian work.

* The Right Livelihood description that “Syria Civil Defence” saved over 60,000 people and “support in the provision of medical services to nearly 7 million people” is untrue. In reality the zones controlled by terrorists in Syria have few civilians remaining. That is why we see “cat” video/media stunts featuring the White Helmets.

* The NATO White Helmets actually undermine and detract from the work of authentic organizations such as the REAL Syria Civil Defense and Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

* The recent Neflix movie about the White Helmets is not a documentary; it is a self promotional advertisement. The directors never set foot in Syria. The Syrian video, real or staged, was provided by the White Helmets themselves. From the beginning scenes showing a White Helmet actor telling his little boy not to give mommy a hard time until the end, the video is contrived and manipulative. The video was produced by a commercial marketing company Violet Films/Ultra Violet Consulting which advertises its services as “social media management”, “crowd building” and “campaign implementation”.
 
Commenting on the recent media outcry over the activities of the controversial Syrian Civil Defense group, known as the "White Helmets", Turkish political analyst Hasan Sivri told Sputnik that the so-called "rescue group" is being used by the West as a cover to finance armed groups operating in the north of Syria.

Not So Pure After All: 'Black Deeds' of 'White Helmets' in Syria
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201611241047791418-west-syria-white-helmets/

Nov. 24, 2016 - The so-called Syrian Civil Defense group, known as the "White Helmets", has been publically criticized in the media recently for its 'mannequin challenge' performance in the Syria war zone.

"The White Helmets" sparked online anger after the Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office (RFS) posted a video of them faking saving someone while doing the so-called "mannequin challenge," the viral video trend in which people are videoed while frozen in motion.

​The media was quick to spot that the footage was clearly staged, which prompted the RFS to admit that the group's staged "contribution" to the international mannequin challenge frenzy intended "to raise international awareness about the Syrian revolution in general, and the members of the Civil Defense, highlighting their role and sacrifices in protecting and saving the lives of civilians in Syria."

Commenting on the group's activities in Syria, mostly on the territories controlled by the jihadists, and its repeated attempts to produce fake information, Turkish political analyst and expert in the Middle East Hasan Sivri told Sputnik Turkiye that the group has an entirely different motive.

It is being used by the Western mainstream media as a tool of anti-Russian propaganda, as the Free Syrian Army project used to be until it outlived its usefulness.

"The White Helmets is one of the cover groups used by the West to finance armed groups operating, alongside other groups, in the north of Syria," he told Sputnik.

"Similar to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) which has been used for quite a long time as a cover for the activities of various radical groups. Now when the FSA project has almost outlived itself, its place has been taken by "The White Helmets" which are being called the "civil defense," he said. The expert also noted that the activists of the group have one way or another taken part in various acts of intimidation in Syria, such as executions and mass murders.

The Syrian pro-government mass media has often published photos and videos proving the ties between the "White Helmets" and jihadist terrorist organizations like "Al-Nusra Front", among others.

One of the most vivid examples, he said, is photos from the Syrian northwestern city of Idlib, when it was captured by the jihadists. They pictured the representatives of the so-called civil defense group walking along the city waving Al-Nusra banners.

Those people who have been also captured by camera while taking part in the military operations of the terrorists with arms in their hands, are being used by the Western mainstream media as a tool of anti-Russian and anti-Syrian propaganda, the expert said.

"There are reports that France and the UK are transferring considerable sums of money into the accounts of the organization however we do not see that this money is being used for any humanitarian aid to the Syrian people," Sivri noted.

However it is being used, among others, to finance different armed groups, such as Al-Nusra Front, which ensure the continuation of the war and protract the peaceful settlement of the crisis, he stated.
 
https://www.sott.net/article/334823-Understatement-of-the-year-White-Helmets-apologizes-for-error-of-judgment-after-mannequin-challenge-video-goes-viral
Understatement of the year: White Helmets apologizes for "error of judgment" after mannequin challenge video goes viral
The 'White Helmets' Syrian civil defense group have distanced themselves from a viral 'mannequin challenge' video which led critics to raise serious questions about their work in the war-torn country.

The video depicted two members of the group assisting a man who was lying prostrate under rubble, apparently the victim of a bomb blast.

The man is covered in dust and appeared to be in great pain in the authentic-looking footage. However, the scene was staged - part of a mannequin challenge viral craze in which people freeze as if they are mannequins.

The short video was created by the Revolutionary Forces of Syria (RFS), an anti-Assad media outlet, which said it wanted to use the video trend to "raise awareness of the suffering of the Syrian people."

The White Helmets are a volunteer civil defense organization that is heavily backed by several western governments. They operate in rebel-controlled areas of Syria and were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year.

The organization says it is non-partisan. However, critics have alleged it has connections to jihadist groups.

In a statement published by CNN, the White Helmets distanced themselves from the video, describing it as an "error of judgement."


"This video and the related posts were recorded by RFS media with Syria Civil Defense volunteers, who hoped to create a connection between the horror of Syria and the outside world using the viral 'Mannequin challenge.' This was an error of judgment, and we apologize on behalf of the volunteers involved," the statement read.

Independent researcher and journalist Vanessa Beeley described the video as "extraordinary". Speaking to RT she said that the group has repeatedly staged videos.

"There are many questions over the methods used by the White Helmets, suggesting that they are not true paramedics anyway. And many of their videos have been proven to be fake. Children are taken out from under the rubble completely clean, no dust on them, taken out from areas that you can see that they could get out of on their own but taken out to the usual White Helmet paparazzi."
 
This White Helmet group is also promoting the "No fly zone" in Syria, which has been documented here already and now, Sweden is backing them with an "alternative" Noble Peace Prize. Note also, in the article below, Germany recently raised its financing to the “White Helmets” up to $7.85 million? Why is Germany financing the White Helmets? I wonder, if the financing is done directly or through the Clinton Foundation?

Why Is Sweden Giving the “Alternative Nobel Prize” to Syria’s ‘White Helmets’?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/why-is-sweden-giving-the-alternative-nobel-prize-to-syrias-white-helmets/5558947

Nov. 25, 2016 - Sweden did not succeed in getting Bob Dylan to come to Stockholm to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. Nevertheless as a consolation the “White Helmets” did arrive to get the Right Livelihood Award.

This article examines a likely geopolitical rationale that the Swedish elites had for selecting that organization. Also, facts suggest a congruence between the stances of those elites on Syria and the declared political aims of the organization White Helmets. The reviewing of the institutions involved in the award-decision and process can also result relevant in pondering the reason for the event. Finally, to inquire into the role of Carl Bildt, as member of the board of directors in the institution ultimately deciding, is interesting against the backdrop of his opposition regarding the participation of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden in previous international events organized by the same institutions –all of them under the umbrella of the Swedish Foreign Office.

The Hillary Clinton doctrine

Sweden’s awarding a prize to this organization –called the “murky White Helmets’ by Professor Jan Oberg– it might reveal a semi-concealed intervention in support of Hillary Clinton’s doctrine in the dirty war against Syria. In concrete, another means used by Sweden’s elites in uttering their pro-view for the No-Fly Zone campaign in Syria, and gathering support for it.

A main purpose of what I have called the Hillary Clinton doctrine in the Middle East is the ending –by violent means– of the secular governments in the region, to be replaced by fundamentalist dictatorships. That happened in Egypt, Libya, etc. Now it was Assad’s turn. A valuable testimony of both the origin and purpose of this stance by Clinton was given by US Senator Richard Black, who declared in video:

“Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, put into place a series of actions to overthrow the secular governments in the Middle East and to replace them with radical Islamic regimes. Why she was doing this? I know she has great connections, financial and otherwise, with Saudi Arabia, with Qatar, with Kuwait, with tyrants of the Arab world”.

To these ends in Syria, the Swedish establishment has comprehensively supported the establishment of a No-Fly zone –precisely as advocated by Hillary Clinton. Beside illustrating Hillary Clinton’s stance on the No-Fly Zone issue, the video below shows also the risk of an all-out war against Russia and Syria, and what such measure would signify for the US Armed Forces (and others supporting the No-Fly Zone, such as the Swedish establishment). Click on the image below to the see the video.

It would be worth to mention in this context the participation of the “neutral and nonaligned” Swedish air Force in the No-Fly Zone operation masterminded by Hillary Clinton –ultimately responsible for the bullets fired at close range against the head of the secular leader of the Libyan government, Muammar Gaddafi, while he was held prisoner and immobilized. “We came, we saw, he died“, says Hillary Clinton on video, while she laughs.

Also, it should be reminded that the decision regarding the military participation of Sweden in Libya was taken at the Parliament after a proposition presented by Carl Bildt; a proposal that found uncontested support in ALL political parties of the Swedish political establishment, including the Left Party (the former ‘euro-communists’). Only the Sweden Democrats opposed.

For the Swedish rulers, as it was for Hillary Clinton, it is not about religion or ideology, or about an “idealistic” solidarity with refugees from the Syrian war (in fact most of those migrants are not ). It is only about money.

While those Sunni governments financially backed Clinton and the Clinton Foundation (mentioned in the above-quoted testimony by Senator Richard Black), the role of Sweden was to contribute either with direct public funds or with donations by important Swedish companies, such as Lundin Oil or Ericsson. In retribution, they got the kind of favours from Clinton’s State Department, which permitted further expansion of Swedish business in the area, such as Ericsson. Meanwhile, the business of Sweden with Saudi Arabia, or Sweden’s arms export to the United Arab Emirates, continues unabated [See my recent articles in “The Indicter” and “Global Research”].

White Helmets

Another promoter for a No-Fly Zone in Syria is the organization “White Helmets”. Undoubtedly, there are in that organization, like in any of that kind, true volunteer-individuals trying to make a humanitarian contribution. However, as organization at large, “White Helmets” is in fact another operation set up and financed by the same forces pressing for an escalation in the military conflict in Syria. In other words, the same factions that financed armed and trained the ‘moderate’ rebels –as the New York Times and the Washington Post call them (also called by the non-partisan media “moderate” terrorists, or “moderate jihadists”).

This organization has been boosted and financed by a number of State-donors, all of them implicated in the US-led (Clinton/Obama) political and/or military coalition aimed to depose the presidency of Assad in Syria. Most of these countries count with economic benefits in the planned oil-pipe construction designed to pass through Syria and that Assad opposed; the real cause of the war. For instance, Germany raised recently its financing to the “White Helmets” up to $7.85 million. Other examples of funding governments to this so-called “non-governmental organization”: The US government has contributed with $23 million; the UK government with $4.5 million.

Professor Jan Oberg, a prominent peace activist who has also worked as senior adviser at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has recently given a characterization of this group. Following is a text excerpt from Professor Jan Oberg’s article:

Furthermore, in the analysis “WHITE HELMETS: ‘Save Aleppo’ Protest Proves How Easy it is to Dress Up Actors as ‘War Victims’“, author Vanessa Beeley refers to most elementary techniques –and visually highly effective– used to stage “civilian attack-victims” by activists converted for the occasion into amateur actors. [One example below].

The author summarizes:

“Posing as an impartial rescue force, the “White Helmets” are transparently auxiliaries serving exclusively side-by-side armed militants including US State Department, UN, and EU designated foreign terrorist organizations. Their primary function is not “rescuing” anyone, but to manage a public relations campaign aimed at swaying public and political opinion, leveraging “humanitarian” sympathy worldwide.”

One conclusion emerging in this analysis, considering also White Helmets own statements done previously in its home page, is that a main aim of its propaganda endeavour is bringing public opinion’s support to the ‘necessity of establishing a No-Fly Zone in Syria’. This is the geopolitical item that coincides with the one of Sweden’s political establishment pursuing a confrontation of “West” against Russia. And it is in this context where the Swedish award to “White Helmets” should be understood.

The claims for a No-Fly Zone in Syria have been passed through standard psy-ops by the pro-Clinton corporate-owned press. This has been directed not only at American audiences, but also echoed among EU countries viewed as potential proxies for the escalation of the Syria military conflict. Sweden is, historically considered, the primary government in Europe to react positively to such calls.

As Sweden now is giving its prestigious award to the White Helmets, the Swedish media have relentlessly reported in the most positive terms the deeds of the organization. None of the international reports denouncing a variety of manipulation techniques in constant use by the White Helmets which have found space in the Swedish media. The image and video below shows how this is done.

The appeals by “White Helmets” are done by fabricating or drastically exaggerating news on ‘war atrocities’. Hence, the suggestion of demolishing ‘air raids’ directed at civilian populations is a favourite number, for instance, in videos uploaded in YouTube. In the videos I have seen, however, such attacks never appear; what we see instead, solely, are rooms filled with smoke, dust, etc., where the same “patients” move constantly in the scene with or without anti-dust protection masks.

Who is the Swedish institution granting the distinction to the White Helmets?

Right now, as I am typing these lines, the Swedish Institute of International Affairs has removed its web page in English. There is a growing focus on that institution right now because of the Right Livelihood Prize to the White Helmets. So, one reason might be that they are ‘cleaning up’ the page. And they should.

In the Swedish version of “Swedish Institute of International Affairs” that I have access to, I found that the largest single entity financing this ‘independent’ institution is ultimately the Swedish State.

Carl Bildt, again

Secondly, I have found that the award-granting institution (Swedish Institute of International Affairs) is just a subsidiary section of the Utrikespolitiska Institutet. This in turn is an organization in which Carl Bildt sits on the board of directors.

For new readers, Carl Bild is a former Swedish PM and FM who has been accused of being US agent.

Apparently Carl Bildt still has some control over Swedish foreign policy. This stretches to such an extreme that when the State-owned TV organized a panel to discuss an emergent geopolitical situation, they invited Carl Bildt and not the current Foreign Minister Margot Wallström. One explanation was given by the then press spokesperson of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Teo Zetterman. “(Swedish) foreign policy is, historically considered, a political area characterized by consensus within domestic politics­ –more than in other spheres”, he said.

This in its turn would help also to explain a) why the political stance taken by Sweden against WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange has been so consistently negative over the years. The case is a charade perpetuated with the aim of obstructing WikiLeaks in its publishing endeavours; b) how participating institutions in this manoeuvre are predominantly financed or administratively controlled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. C) Why in some of these activities we find the direct or indirect participation of Hillary Clinton’s US State Department.

One example of the above was given on the occasion of the Stockholm Internet Forum conference of 2014 called to discuss issues of “personal integrity, transparency, spying and control”, and where Carl Bildt blatantly blocked the video-link participation of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden – which was suggested by the participants in the conference. What was less known is that even if The Stockholm Internet Forum is organized by The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), a main section of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs, it is cloned with the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US Department of State.

As the alliance with Hillary Clinton and her doctrine promoted by both Carl Bildt and Margot Wallström flourishes in the Swedish awards to murky organizations such the White Helmets, Swedish Doctors for Human Rights prepare a new presentation to the Nobel Peace Prize committee for awarding the prize to the organization WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, for their contribution to transparency and democratic processes, cornerstones for world peace.

Important readings on this subject:

Vanessa Beeley: White Helmets’: New Breed of Mercenaries and Propagandists, Disguised as ‘Humanitarians’ in Syria

Tony Cartalucci: Syria’s “White Helmets”: Extensive and Elaborate Deceptions of Modern War Propaganda

Vanessa Beeley: The REAL Syria Civil Defence Exposes NATO’s ‘White Helmets’ as Terrorist-Linked Imposters

Mint Press: US Propaganda War in Syria: Report Ties White Helmets to US Intervention

Prof. Anders Romelsjö [Swedish]: Utrikesminister Wallström twittrar ”Honoured to meet Raed Saleh of The White Helmets” – al-Qaida’s friend. Also image 1 found in Prof. Romelsjö publication.

21st Century Wire: Syria’s White Helmets, War by Way of Deception – Part 1

21st Century Wire: Syria’s White Helmets, “Moderate” Executioners Part – 2

Eva Bartlett: Human Rights Front Groups Warring on Syria

Ron Paul Institute: Syria the Propaganda Ring

Ahmad Salah: Syria’s “White Helmets”: Fiction and Reality

Simon Wood: Fact-Sheet on Syria’s “White Helmets”

Professor Dr med Marcello Ferrada de Noli is the founder and chairman of Swedish Professors and Doctors for Human Rights and editor-in-chief of The Indicter. Also publisher of The Professors’ Blog, and CEO of Libertarian Books – Sweden. Author of “Sweden VS. Assange – Human Rights Issues.” His op-ed articles have been published in Dagens Nyheter (DN), Svenska Dagbladet (Svd), Aftonbladet, Västerbotten Kuriren, Dagens Medicin, Läkartidningen and other Swedish media. He also has had exclusive interviews in DN, Expressen, SvD and Aftonbladet, and in Swedish TV channels (Svt 2, TV4, TV5) as well as international TV and media.
 
Russia said on Wednesday that the delivery of humanitarian aid by the UN in Syria is politicized as most UN help was going to militant-held areas.

Russia: UN Aid in Syria Politicized, Most Convoys Going to Militant-Held Areas
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950910000582

Wed Nov 30, 2016 - Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters in her press briefing in Moscow that only 1 percent of UN aid was being directed to Deir Ezzur, where she said at least 200,000 people were trapped by ISIL militants and in need of supplies, Sputnik reported.

Zakharova said Moscow has repeatedly introduced humanitarian pauses in Aleppo to help civilians however the militants use the truce to regroup and replenish arms and ammunition, stressing that such issue is politicized.

However, she said that Moscow is ready to work with all international humanitarian organizations on the issue of humanitarian aid delivery.

“We strongly believe that humanitarian issues should not become a tool for political pressure or serve as means of flirting with terrorists or shielding them.”

On the other hand, she slammed White Helmets group over a MannequinChallenge video, showing an alleged rescue of a Syrian civilian.

Zakharova reminded that White Helmets are nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, while such footages are more suitable for Oscar.

The White Helmets, sparked online anger after the Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office (RFS) posted a video of them faking saving someone while doing the so-called "mannequin challenge," the viral video trend in which people are videoed while frozen in motion.

Zakharova commented on a controversial statement by UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon, who said that the US under President-elect Donald Trump should not hold an equal dialogue with Russia.

She said that it is inappropriate for any state to interfere in sovereign affairs of the US.

"We have to distinguish between electoral campaign rhetoric and what is done in practice. In fact, every US administration has always been in a confrontation with Russia. We do not say that there should not be any dialogue with Russia, but Russia could not be treated as an equal partner. Russia has obviously violated the international law by what it has done in Ukraine and Crimea and we will never forget this fact," Fallon said.

Zakharova was asked to comment on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said that Turkey's operation in Syria is aimed to "put and end to the rule" of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"What for? We do not lay claims to the Syrian lands… We are there to restore justice and put an end to the rule of cruel tyrant Assad," Erdogan said commenting on the Operation Euphrates Shield in Syria. She said that Moscow is guided by Russia-Turkey agreements and official statements.

"In the context of the settlement of the Syrian crisis and bilateral relations with Turkey, we adhere to the agreements that we have reached at official level and directly with Turkish authorities." Ankara signed the International Syria Support Group's Agreements that say that there is no military solution to the Syrian conflict, Zakharova said.

"We rely on the statements that have been made repeatedly by Ankara, including the leader of Turkey, and which formed the basis of the agreements signed by the country."

The Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman said that Ukrainian plans to hold missile firing drills near Crimea are a "provocation."

"As for the so-called exercises with missile launches, it is another large-scale provocation by Ukrainian authorities that is aimed to escalate the conflict between Ukrainian and Russia," Zakharova said.

She did not rule out that "after Donald Trump's victory in the US election, Kiev wanted to keep the US as its main patron."

Zakharova also pointed to the US-led coalition's deadly strikes on the Syrian Army in Deir Ezzur, saying that "there is no logic" in Pentagon's decision not to identify ISIL targets in Syria despite an "unintentional, regrettable error" when US-led coalition aircraft mistakenly bombed the Syrian army instead of ISIL in Deir Ezzur.

US Department of Defense spokesman Peter Cook said that the United States has no plans to work with Russia to identify ISIL targets.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon said that "in this incident, ultimately, we made an unintentional regrettable error primarily based on human factors in several areas in the targeting process."

However, the US Department of Defense said that Pentagon has no plans to work with Russia on the identification of ISIL targets.

On September 17, US-led coalition aircraft carried out four strikes against the Syrian army near the Deir Ezzur airport, leaving dozens of soldiers killed and many more were wounded.

The Pentagon said that the airstrike was a mistake and was intended to target ISIL militants, while a number of Syrian officials stated that the attack was intentional.


An airstrike by the US-led coalition destroyed half of a clinic South of the Iraqi city of Mosul last month, killing eight civilians along with three ISIL militants, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch said.

HRW: US-Led Coalition Strike Kills Civilians on ISIL-Seized Clinic in Iraq's Mosul
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950910000697

Wed Nov 30, 2016 - The airstrike on October 18 apparently followed a decision by the ISIL terrorist group to take over part of the clinic and use the facility for meetings, said the HRW, Rossiya Segodnya reported.

"ISIL militants despicable positioning inside a protected health facility South of Mosul put civilians, including patients, at risk and needs to stop immediately," Human Rights Watch Deputy Middle East Director Lama Fakih said.

The rights group also criticized the US-led coalition, claiming that such airstrikes on civilian facilities are legal only when there are assurances that civilians will not be harmed.

The October 18 airstrike killed ISIL’s transportation minister, according to reports.
 
When the mainstream U.S. media reports on Syria, it relies heavily on pro-rebel activists, including members of the White Helmets who have supplied false or dubious claims at key junctures of the war, reports Gareth Porter for Alternet.

Relying on Unreliable Syrian Sources
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/11/30/relying-on-unreliable-syrian-sources/

The White Helmets founded to rescue victims trapped under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Syrian and Russian bombing, have become a favorite source for Western news media covering a story on Russian-Syrian bombing. Portrayed as humanitarian heroes for over the past year and even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize last summer, the White Helmets have been accorded unquestioned credibility by journalists covering the Syrian crisis.

Yet the White Helmets are hardly a non-political organization. Funded heavily by the U.S. State Department and the British Foreign Office, the group operates only in areas in northern Syria controlled by an al Qaeda affiliate and their extremist allies—areas to which Western journalists have not had access.

Given that the White Helmets work under the authority of those who hold the real power in east Aleppo and other opposition-controlled zones, the Western media’s reliance on this organization for information comes with serious risks of being manipulated.

The highly political role played by the White Helmets in relation to foreign press coverage was dramatically demonstrated after the attack on a Syrian Red Crescent truck convoy in the rebel held area of Urum al-Kubra, just west of Aleppo on September 19. The assault took place immediately after a ceasefire agreed to by Russia, the U.S. and the Syrian government was shattered by a deadly U.S. air attack on Syrian army forces battling ISIS around the city of Deir Ezzor on September 17.

The Obama administration assumed the attack was an airstrike and immediately blamed it on Russian or Syrian aircraft. An unidentified U.S. official told the New York Times that there was “a very high probability” that a Russian plane was near the area just before the attack, but the administration did not make public any evidence in support of that claim. In the days following the attack, news media coverage relied heavily on accounts provided by the White Helmets. The head of the organization in Aleppo, Ammar Al-Selmo, was offering them a personal on-the-scene account.

Selmo’s version of the story turned out to be riddled with falsehoods; however, many journalists approached it without an ounce of skepticism, and have continued to rely on him for information on the ongoing battles in and around Aleppo.

Changing Stories - The first detail on which Selmo’s testimony revealed itself as dishonest is his claim about where he was located at the moment the attack began. Selmo told Time Magazine the day after the attack that he was a kilometer or more away from the warehouse where the aid convoy trucks were parked at that point—presumably at the local White Helmet center in Urm al-Kubra. But Selmo changed his story in an interview with
the Washington Post published September 24, stating he was “making tea in a building across the street” at that moment.

Even more dramatically, Selmo claimed at first that he saw the beginning of the attack. According to the story published by Time on September 21, Selmo said he was drinking tea on the balcony when the bombing began, and “he could see the first barrel bombs falling from what he identified as a Syrian regime helicopter.”

But Selmo could not have seen a barrel bomb falling from a helicopter or anything else at that moment. In a video shot early the next morning, Selmo declared that the bombing had started at about 7:30pm. In later statements, the White Helmets put the time at 7:12pm. But sunset on September 19 was at 6:31pm, and by roughly 7pm, Aleppo was shrouded in complete darkness.

Someone evidently called Selmo’s attention to that problem after the Time story was published, because by the time he gave his account to the Washington Post, he had changed that part of the story as well. The Post reported his amended account as follows: “Stepping onto a balcony just after 7pm, when it was already past dusk, he said he listened to a helicopter swoop in and drop two barrel bombs on the convoy.”

In videos the White Helmets made the night of the attack, Selmo went even further, asserting on one segment of the video that four barrel bombs had been dropped and in another, that eight barrel bombs had been dropped. The idea that barrel bombs were used in the attack was immediately picked up by self-styled “media activists” on behalf of the opposition authorities in Aleppo the following morning, as the BBC reported. That theme was in line with an effort by opposition sources going back to 2012 to identify “barrel bombs” as uniquely destructive weapons, more reprehensible than conventional missiles.

Questionable Evidence - In a video the White Helmets produced the night of the attack, Selmo addresses viewers by pointing at the indentation of the supposed bomb blast. “You see the box of the barrel bomb?” he asks. But what is shown in the video is a rectangular indentation in the gravel or rubble that appears to be about a foot deep two feet wide and a little more than three feet long. He reaches under the surface and pulls out what look like a damaged shovel blade, based on its shape.

That scene clearly proves Selmo’s claim to have been completely false. Barrel bombs make very large round craters at least 25 feet wide and more than 10 feet deep, so the box-like indentation in the video bore no resemblance whatever to a barrel bomb crater.

Hussein Badawi, who is the local White Helmets director of Urum al-Kubra, is clearly lower than Selmo in the organization’s hierarchy. Badawi appeared briefly next to Selmo in one segment of the video made that night but remains silent, then disappeared. Nevertheless, Badawi directly contradicted Selmo’s claim that the first explosions that night were from barrel bombs. In a White Helmets video that was translated from Arabic into English, Badawi described those first explosions not as airstrikes but as “four consecutive rockets” near the center of the Red Crescent compound at Urum al-Kubra.

No other visual evidence of a crater such as would have been created by a barrel bomb has come to light. In support of Selmo’s assertion, The Russian-based Conflict Intelligence Team, which is dedicated to refuting Russian government claims, could only cite the video frame of Selmo holding up that single piece of metal.

Bellingcat’s Fake News - The Bellingcat website, whose founder Eliot Higgins is a non-resident fellow of the militantly anti-Russian, State Department-funded Atlantic Council, and has no technical expertise on munitions, pointed to the same frame. Higgins claimed that the piece of metal came from a “crater.” He also cited a second photograph that he said showed a “repaired crater” in the road next to a burnt-out truck. But the area in the photograph that appeared to be covered with fresh dirt is clearly no more than three feet long and a bit more two feet wide—again far too small to be evidence of a barrel bomb explosion.

Selmo’s White Helmet team also distributed to Bellingcat and media outlets what appeared at first glance to be visual evidence of Syrian and Russian air attacks: the crumpled tailfin of a Russian OFAB-250 bomb, which can be seen under the boxes in a photograph taken inside a warehouse at the site. Bellingcat cited those photographs as clinching evidence of Russian use of that bomb in the attack on the aid convoy.

But that photographs of the OFAB tailfin is extremely problematic as evidence of an airstrike. If an OFAB-250 bomb had actually exploded at that point it would have left a crater that was much larger than the one shown is that photograph. The standard rule of thumb is that an OFAB-250, like other any other conventional bomb weighing 250kg would make a crater 24 to 36 feet wide and 10 or 12 feet deep. The magnitude of its crater is shown in a video of a Russian journalist standing in one after the battle for the Syrian city of Palmyra, which had been held by ISIS.

Furthermore, the wall in the photograph only a few feet from the supposed point of impact was clearly not affected by the bomb. That indicates that either no OFAB-250 was dropped in that spot or it was a dud. But the picture of the boxes surrounding the OFAB tailfin also reveals other evidence that there was an explosion. As one observer discovered from a close examination, the boxes display evidence of shrapnel tears. A closeup of one package shows a pattern of fine shrapnel holes.

Only something much less powerful than an OFAB-250 bomb or a barrel bomb would account for those observable facts. One weapon whose shrapnel could cause the pattern seen in the photograph is the Russian S-5 rocket, two variants of which throw out either 220 or 360 small shrapnel fragments.

In the video he made the night of the attack, Selmo had already claimed that Russian aircraft fired S-5s at the site, although he mistakenly called them “C-5s.” And a photograph of two S-5 missiles was also distributed to Bellingcat and to news organizations, including the Washington Post. Selmo insisted to Time magazine that the airstrikes were divided between barrel bombs and missiles fired by Russian jets.

But again Badawi, the White Helmets chief for Urum al Kubra, contradicted Selmo in a separate video, stating that the initial barrage of missiles were launched from the ground. Badawi’s admission was very significant, because the Syrian opposition forces have had supplies of Russian S-5s ever since the weapons were smuggled out of Libya to the rebels in large numbers in 2012. They have been using S-5s as ground-launched rockets like the Libyan rebels did, and have designed their own improvised launchers for them.

Badawi claimed the initial four missiles had been fired by Syrian government forces from the defense factories in southern Aleppo governorate. But the government defense plants in southern Aleppo governorate are in al-Safira—more than 25 kilometers away, whereas the S-5s have a range of only 3 to 4 kilometers.

Even more telling is that fact that, despite Selmo’s insistence that airstrikes continued for hours and included as many as 20 to 25 distinct attacks, none of the members of the White Helmet team captured a single airstrike in a video, which would have provided clear audio-visual evidence of his claim.

The Atlantic Council’s Bellingcat site pointed to a video posted online by opposition sources in Aleppo as providing such audio evidence of jet planes just before the nighttime explosions. But despite a voice on the video declaring that it was a Russian airstrike, the sound stops immediately after the fiery explosion, indicating that it was caused by a ground launched missile, not a missile fired from a jet plane. Thus the confirming evidence of an airstrike claimed by Bellingcat did not actually confirm it at all.

A Go-to Source - Whoever was responsible for the attack on the Syrian Red Crescent aid convoy, it is clear that Ammar al-Selmo, the top White Helmet official in Aleppo, lied about where he was when the attack on the aid convoy began and, at least initially, misled his audience when he said he witnessed the first stages of the attack with his own eyes. What’s more, he made claims of Syrian barrel bombs and Russian OFAB-250 bombs dropped on the convoy that are not supported by any credible evidence.

In light of Selmo’s readiness to embellish his account and to support the narrative of a Russian-Syrian attack, Western media should have been far more careful about relying on it as confirming the U.S. charge about the aid convoy attack. But during the weeks of heavy Russian and Syrian bombing in eastern Aleppo that followed the breakdown of the ceasefire, Selmo was frequently quoted by the news media as a source on the bombing campaign. And Selmo exploited the new situation to push the rebels’ political agenda.

On September 23, the White Helmets told the news media that three of their four operating centers in east Aleppo had been hit and two of them were out of commission. National Public Radio quoted Selmo as saying he believed the group had been deliberately targeted, because he had “intercepted pilots’ communications and heard them getting orders to bomb his colleagues.” Curiously, NPR failed to identify Selmo as the head of the White Helmets in east Aleppo, identifying him only as a “White Helmets member.”

Five days later the Washington Post reported a similar claim by Ismail Abdullah, another White Helmets official working directly under Selmo.
“Sometimes we hear the pilot tell his base, ‘We see a market for the terrorists, there is a bakery for the terrorists,’” said Abdullah. “Is it okay to hit them? They say, ‘Okay, hit them.’” He further claimed that on September 21, the White Helmets had heard an enemy pilot refer to the “terrorist” civil defense centers. The organization sent a message to U.S. officials in New York for the U.N. General Assembly that they were being targeted, Abdullah added. These dramatic stories helped propel the White Helmets’ campaign for the Nobel Peace Prize, which was announced days later but which they ultimately did not win.

A Fabrication - The claim that the White Helmets had overheard pilots asking for and receiving permission to hit targets while in the air is a fabrication, according to Pierre Sprey, a former Pentagon analyst on combat aircraft who played a central role in designing the F-16. “It’s inconceivable that this could have been an authentic communication between an attack pilot and a controller,” Sprey told AlterNet, referring to Selmo’s accounts. “The only time a pilot might initiate a request to hit a target is if he sees gunfire from it. Otherwise it makes no sense.”

The day after the Russian and Syrian bombing campaign on rebel-held eastern Aleppo began on September 22, Reuters turned to Selmo for an overall assessment of the bombing’s impact on Aleppo. Selmo bluntly declared, “What’s happening now is annihilation.”

Following this dramatic statement, Western media continued to cite Selmo as though he were a neutral source. On September 26, Reuters went back to the White Helmets working under him again, citing an estimate by unnamed “civil defense workers” in Aleppo — which could only mean members of the White Helmets — that 400 people had already been killed in less than five days of bombing in and around Aleppo. But after three full weeks of bombing the United Nations and other agencies estimated that 360 people had been killed in the bombing, suggesting that the White Helmets figure had been was several times higher than could be documented by non-partisan sources.

It is obviously difficult for the news media to cover events such as the attack on the Syrian Red Crescent aid convoy and the bombing in Aleppo from Istanbul or Beirut. But the hunger for information from the ground should not outweigh the obligation to vet sources. Selmo and his White Helmets should have been recognized for what they are: a partisan source with an agenda reflecting the power to which the organization is accountable: the armed extremists who have controlled east Aleppo, Idlib, and other areas of northern Syria.

The uncritical reliance on claims by the White Helmets without any effort to investigate their credibility is yet another telling example of journalistic malpractice by media outlets with a long record of skewing coverage of conflicts toward an interventionist narrative.

_._ Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist specializing in U.S. national security policy. His latest book is Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare (Just World Books, 2014). [This article originally appeared at Alternet at HTTP://WWW.ALTERNET.ORG/GRAYZONE-PROJECT/HOW-SYRIAN-WHITE-HELMETS-PLAYED-WESTERN-MEDIA]
 
This morning on my workplace on the company email address I found an email from AVAAZ

_https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avaaz

Probably someone has subscribed to the Avaaz newsletter and now we get regular emails from them. I'll unsubscribe from it if I can.

The contest of the last email from this morning was about white helmets in Syria.
Dear friends,

73,530 lives. That’s how many people Syria’s White Helmets have saved, rushing to the scene of bombings to pull people from the rubble and carry them to safety.

What's amazing is these heroes are just ordinary Syrians — bakers, teachers, tailors — who felt they couldn't stand by, and threw themselves right into the line of fire. For their bravery, they were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and the $1 million of critical funding it comes with — but they lost!

Forget the Nobel Prize — together we have the power to give the White Helmets the recognition they deserve and the funding they desperately need.

Avaaz will send them 100% of funds raised — let's give hope to these heroes, and a country in need:
YES, I'LL DONATE €2

YES, I'LL DONATE €4

YES, I'LL DONATE €8

YES, I'LL DONATE €16

YES, I'LL DONATE €32

To donate another amount, click here.

For their heroic efforts, White Helmets volunteers are often targeted — Russian and Syrian regime planes bomb civilians, then circle back to bomb the rescue workers who scramble to help.

It’s just a part of the picture of horror that’s rocked Syria for almost six years and killed as many as 470,000 people. It’s become harder and harder to stop — and has turned into the greatest shame of our generation.

As the conflict continues to spiral, the White Helmets are doing work that no one else can, or will. They’re standing up as heroes while the world watches and fails to stop the conflict. But they’re constantly struggling to keep their work going.

If enough of us pitch in a few dollars, we can replace equipment they’ve lost in the bombings, buy tools to pull concrete slabs off people buried in the rubble, and provide medical care for wounded volunteers. Let's help them get their people's million — join in now:
YES, I'LL DONATE €2

YES, I'LL DONATE €4

YES, I'LL DONATE €8

YES, I'LL DONATE €16

YES, I'LL DONATE €32

To donate another amount, click here.

The White Helmets aren’t from an international aid organization, and they need every dollar they can get. But they're succeeding where the rest of the world is failing — in giving hope to millions of Syrians. Our community can join them, and keep up the fight for a safe, peaceful future in Syria.

With hope,

Danny, Ricken, Mais, Alice, Spyro, Nataliya, Nick, and the rest of the Avaaz team

MORE INFORMATION

Who are the White Helmets? (The Atlantic)
_http://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/09/syria-white-helmets/502073/

Syria's White Helmets Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize (Al Jazeera)
_http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/08/syria-white-helmets-nominated-nobel-peace-prize-160817161037355.html

How the White Helmets of Syria Are Being Hunted in a Devastated Aleppo (Al Jazeera)
_http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/08/syria-white-helmets-nominated-nobel-peace-prize-160817161037355.html

Syria's White Helmets (The Daily Beast)
_http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/03/syria-s-white-helmets-the-life-savers-putin-calls-terrorists.html

See how fake news and propaganda are working in this example. When Trump won the elections there was an email how people can change the outcome if they get in a huge number on the streets, but someone deleted before i managed to copy it.

Now I'm trying to unsubscribe from this newsletter.
 
angelburst29 said:
I was totally unaware of it but there is "a real White Helmets" organization. Last article states "The name “White Helmets” was inappropriately taken from the legitimate Argentinian relief organization Cascos Blancos / White Helmets. In 2014, Cascos Blancos / White Helmets was honored at the United Nations for 20 years of international humanitarian assistance."
[...]

While going through the thread, something occurred to me on the name itself, the White Helmets (WH), that is much older than the above and perhaps connected with the Syrian WH founders past that has nothing to do with humanitarian assistance.

In Vanessa Beeley's articles she discusses the founder of Mayday Rescue, James Le Mesurier at the fore of the WH. It is stated that Le Mesurier was British Army. http://21stcenturywire.com/2015/10/23/syrias-white-helmets-war-by-way-of-deception-part-1/

However, when we delve deeper into the life and times of Le Mesurier we see that it was no happy accident that he was in Istanbul at this juncture. As Sandhurst Military Academy’s top student and recipient of the Queen’s Medal, his chequered career took him from OHR [Office of High Representative] in Bosnia to intelligence co-ordinator in NATO’s newly won prize, Kosovo. We’re told that Le Mesurier left the British Army in 2000 and joined the UN serving as deputy head of the Advisory Unit on ‘Security and Justice’, and Special Representative of the Secretary General’s security policy body within the UN mission in Kosovo. His career then took him to Jerusalem where he worked on implementing the Ramallah Agreement, then to Baghdad as a special advisor to Iraqi Minister of Interior, and to the UAE to train their gas field protection force, and later to Lebanon during the 2006 war. In 2005 he was made Vice President for Special Projects at private mercenary firm Olive Group, and in January 2008 he was appointed as Principal for Good Harbour International, both based in Dubai.

A lot more could be brought up on him, however, the question of the name may, and again, may have come from what is tied to The British army signals group, which is that of the 'White Helmets.' _http://www.army.mod.uk/signals/24986.aspx

The team of 30 volunteer soldiers from the Corps, that make up the Royal Signals White Helmets, tour Britain from April to September every year demonstrating all the personal qualities demanded of the modern Royal Signals soldier.

This group has been around since 1927 and would be well known to most British Army, even the Royals. There signature is (apart from motorcycle stunts), their white helmets and military training.

Just mentioning it as a possible original tie to the false White Helmets in Syria created by Le Mesurier. Is this a play that came out of his military past matching to this original British Army signals group? Not sure, just mentioning it.
 
voyageur said:
angelburst29 said:
I was totally unaware of it but there is "a real White Helmets" organization. Last article states "The name “White Helmets” was inappropriately taken from the legitimate Argentinian relief organization Cascos Blancos / White Helmets. In 2014, Cascos Blancos / White Helmets was honored at the United Nations for 20 years of international humanitarian assistance."
[...]

While going through the thread, something occurred to me on the name itself, the White Helmets (WH), that is much older than the above and perhaps connected with the Syrian WH founders past that has nothing to do with humanitarian assistance.

In Vanessa Beeley's articles she discusses the founder of Mayday Rescue, James Le Mesurier at the fore of the WH. It is stated that Le Mesurier was British Army. http://21stcenturywire.com/2015/10/23/syrias-white-helmets-war-by-way-of-deception-part-1/

However, when we delve deeper into the life and times of Le Mesurier we see that it was no happy accident that he was in Istanbul at this juncture. As Sandhurst Military Academy’s top student and recipient of the Queen’s Medal, his chequered career took him from OHR [Office of High Representative] in Bosnia to intelligence co-ordinator in NATO’s newly won prize, Kosovo. We’re told that Le Mesurier left the British Army in 2000 and joined the UN serving as deputy head of the Advisory Unit on ‘Security and Justice’, and Special Representative of the Secretary General’s security policy body within the UN mission in Kosovo. His career then took him to Jerusalem where he worked on implementing the Ramallah Agreement, then to Baghdad as a special advisor to Iraqi Minister of Interior, and to the UAE to train their gas field protection force, and later to Lebanon during the 2006 war. In 2005 he was made Vice President for Special Projects at private mercenary firm Olive Group, and in January 2008 he was appointed as Principal for Good Harbour International, both based in Dubai.

A lot more could be brought up on him, however, the question of the name may, and again, may have come from what is tied to The British army signals group, which is that of the 'White Helmets.' _http://www.army.mod.uk/signals/24986.aspx

The team of 30 volunteer soldiers from the Corps, that make up the Royal Signals White Helmets, tour Britain from April to September every year demonstrating all the personal qualities demanded of the modern Royal Signals soldier.

This group has been around since 1927 and would be well known to most British Army, even the Royals. There signature is (apart from motorcycle stunts), their white helmets and military training.

Just mentioning it as a possible original tie to the false White Helmets in Syria created by Le Mesurier. Is this a play that came out of his military past matching to this original British Army signals group? Not sure, just mentioning it.

Very interesting connection, Voyageur! Actually, in my opinion, you hit upon a valuable piece of information. Given the background on Le Mesurier, I'd say, he's definitely tied in with British intelligence at the highest levels? The false White Helmets in Syria, just like the British motorcycle White Helmets, seem to be a cover and public display - to promote and elicit funds, while the core of the intelligence Agency "Siggies" set up and maintain
telecommunications in the war zones? It would explain, why the false White Helmets tend to be in the very locations Al Nursa and other terrorists groups are operating?

The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals - abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications and information systems essential to all operations. Colloquially referred to by some as "Siggies". Royal Signals units provide the full telecommunications infrastructure for the Army wherever they operate in the world. The Corps has its own engineers, logistics experts and systems operators to run radio and area networks in the field.[1] It is responsible for installing, maintaining and operating all types of telecommunications equipment and information systems, providing command support to commanders and their headquarters, and conducting electronic warfare against enemy communications. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Corps_of_Signals
 
@ angelburst29

Not sure if there is connection. However, the world of the British GCHQ is like a tangled ball of wool; where do you start pulling on the threads. Anywho, had seen a couple of these WH riders once in the 70's, which is what made me think about them while reading the above, you know, in terms of doing stunts. The WH is Syria are like this, doing stunts for the media that is being sold as a good-Samaritan reality to the West, yet it seems a highly coordinated military sub-operation of disinformation.
 
voyageur said:
@ angelburst29

Not sure if there is connection. However, the world of the British GCHQ is like a tangled ball of wool; where do you start pulling on the threads. Anywho, had seen a couple of these WH riders once in the 70's, which is what made me think about them while reading the above, you know, in terms of doing stunts. The WH is Syria are like this, doing stunts for the media that is being sold as a good-Samaritan reality to the West, yet it seems a highly coordinated military sub-operation of disinformation.

Actually, Voyageur, the information that you provided on The British Royal Corps of Signals and their White Helmets Army Division does seem to mirror activity reported in Syria, especially in regard to this statement, "It is responsible for installing, maintaining and operating all types of telecommunications equipment and information systems, providing command support to commanders and their headquarters, and conducting electronic warfare against enemy communications."

Take for instance - just a few statements that were made in this article, in a former Post:

Relying on Unreliable Syrian Sources
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/11/30/relying-on-unreliable-syrian-sources/

In the days following the attack, news media coverage relied heavily on accounts provided by the White Helmets. The head of the organization in Aleppo, Ammar Al-Selmo, was offering them a personal on-the-scene account.

Yet the White Helmets are hardly a non-political organization. Funded heavily by the U.S. State Department and the British Foreign Office, the group operates only in areas in northern Syria controlled by an al Qaeda affiliate and their extremist allies —areas to which Western journalists have not had access.

In videos the White Helmets made the night of the attack, Selmo went even further, asserting on one segment of the video that four barrel bombs had been dropped and in another, that eight barrel bombs had been dropped. The idea that barrel bombs were used in the attack was immediately picked up by self-styled “media activists” on behalf of the opposition authorities in Aleppo the following morning, as the BBC reported. That theme was in line with an effort by opposition sources going back to 2012 to identify “barrel bombs” as uniquely destructive weapons, more reprehensible than conventional missiles.

Selmo’s White Helmet team also distributed to Bellingcat and media outlets what appeared at first glance to be visual evidence of Syrian and Russian air attacks:

On September 23, the White Helmets told the news media that three of their four operating centers in east Aleppo had been hit and two of them were out of commission. National Public Radio quoted Selmo as saying he believed the group had been deliberately targeted, because he had “intercepted pilots’ communications and heard them getting orders to bomb his colleagues.” Curiously, NPR failed to identify Selmo as the head of the White Helmets in east Aleppo, identifying him only as a “White Helmets member.”

Why is a rescue relief organization extremely involved in mass distribution of propaganda and videos - to news media? And how was Selmo able to
“intercepted pilots’ communications and heard them getting orders"?

Australia is also working closely with the British, U.K and the U.S./NATO in Syria. Like their British counterpart, The Royal Australian Corps of Signals (RASigs) is one of the 'arms' (combat support corps) of the Australian Army.

It is responsible for installing, maintaining and operating all types of telecommunications equipment and information systems. The motto of the Signals Corps is Certa Cito and is translated as 'Swift and Sure', signifying the aim of the signal service - that communication be carried out with maximum speed and certainty. Like their British counterparts, the Royal Australian Corps of Signals' flag and hat badge feature Mercury, the winged messenger of the gods, affectionately referred to by members of the corps as "Jimmy" (the origin dates back to the merge with Engineers when the Engineer's band's Drum Major had a "Jimmy" on his staff).

On the battlefield Signals provides commanders with the means of controlling the battle using road and air dispatch services, radio, microwave and satellite links. A high technology computer switched digital network, capable of providing a high quality, high capacity, secure communications network is being introduced.

The Corps has recently taken over the responsibility for Army Information Systems. Signal Corps personnel now control large integrated information systems and are responsible for the installation and operation of local area networks using state-of-the art computer equipment.

Specialist roles in the Corps include Operator Bearer Systems (Parakeet operators & Riggers also known in the Corps as "Linies" or "Riggers"), Operator Specialist Communication Systems (Radio operators, also known as "Chooks"), Information Systems Technicians (Known in the Corps as "Geeks", who manage and maintain computer networks, network devices, servers and peripherals) and Electronic Warfare operators (also known as "bears"), and finally Technician Telecommunications Systems ("Techs") responsible for maintaining and fault finding all items of electronic telecommunications equipment, mainly Parakeet gear.

http://militaria-sales.com.au/royal-australian-corps-of-signals-rasigs-shoulder-title-anodised-p-696.html
 
angelburst29 said:
Another promoter for a No-Fly Zone in Syria is the organization “White Helmets”. Undoubtedly, there are in that organization, like in any of that kind, true volunteer-individuals trying to make a humanitarian contribution. However, as organization at large, “White Helmets” is in fact another operation set up and financed by the same forces pressing for an escalation in the military conflict in Syria. In other words, the same factions that financed armed and trained the ‘moderate’ rebels –as the New York Times and the Washington Post call them (also called by the non-partisan media “moderate” terrorists, or “moderate jihadists”).

Now, in EU Parliament:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/20161202STO54435/syria%E2%80%99s-white-helmets-%E2%80%9Cwe-need-a-no-fly-zone-and-humanitarian-corridors%E2%80%9D

06 Dec, 2016
Syria’s White Helmets: “We need a no-fly zone and humanitarian corridors”

Interview with Abdulrahman Al Mawwas, chief liaison officer for the Syrian Civil Defence volunteer force (White Helmets)

Volunteers from the Syria Civil Defence - better known as the White Helmets - risk their lives on a daily basis by serving as the main rescue group operating in besieged eastern Aleppo. Addressing Parliament’s foreign affairs and development committees on 5 December, their chief liaison officer Abdulrahman Al-Mawwas decried the current situation in Aleppo and called for both a no-fly zone and humanitarian corridors to prevent a large-scale humanitarian disaster.

Welcoming the White Helmets representatives to the joint committee meeting on 5 December, UK ECR member Charles Tannock noted the “horrendous situation” the group is working in and how almost 150 volunteers have been killed in the Aleppo region alone. The meeting got underway just as Russia and China blocked a UN Security Council resolution demanding a seven-day truce in Aleppo.

Speaking in an interview at the Parliament in Brussels, Abdulrahman Al-Mawwas, chief liaison officer of the White Helmets, said: "All conditions are against us unfortunately: the number of airstrikes, a lack of support, aid and equipment, and the fear of being targeted while on duty. Yet our goal has been always to save the biggest number of lives in the shortest time."

Al-Mawwas called the siege on Aleppo a “war crime” and demanded that a humanitarian corridor be implemented immediately. The Assad regime has however rejected any ceasefire for Aleppo that does not include the departure of all rebels from the eastern part of the city.

In a resolution adopted by Parliament on 24 November, MEPs urged all parties to the conflict in Syria to ensure humanitarian aid access throughout the country and to immediately cease bombing and indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian facilities.
[includes a WH promo video]
 
From a couple of days ago (Dec 8th), the Guardian media, supporters of the WH, ran a story to evoke sympathy for these military/propaganda poseur's:

_https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/08/white-helmets-in-east-aleppo-plead-for-help-as-regime-advances

White Helmets in east Aleppo plead for help after regime advances

The Syrian White Helmets rescue group has urged international organisations to protect its volunteers in rebel-held parts of eastern Aleppo, warning that they face torture and execution.

The rescue group said it believed it had less than 48 hours before the Syrian army, backed by Iranian militia, reached the districts in which it has been operating.

“If we are not evacuated, our volunteers face torture and execution in the regime’s detention centres,” the group said. “We have good reason to fear for our lives.”
[...]
 
voyageur said:
From a couple of days ago (Dec 8th), the Guardian media, supporters of the WH, ran a story to evoke sympathy for these military/propaganda poseur's:

_https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/08/white-helmets-in-east-aleppo-plead-for-help-as-regime-advances

White Helmets in east Aleppo plead for help after regime advances

The Syrian White Helmets rescue group has urged international organizations to protect its volunteers in rebel-held parts of eastern Aleppo, warning that they face torture and execution.

The rescue group said it believed it had less than 48 hours before the Syrian army, backed by Iranian militia, reached the districts in which it has been operating.

“If we are not evacuated, our volunteers face torture and execution in the regime’s detention centres,” the group said. “We have good reason to fear for our lives.”
[...]

White Helmets in east Aleppo plead for help after regime advances

Putin and Assad, being great humanitarians, answered their plea ... and are allowing them - a one way ticket to Idlib where they will feel "all comfy and snug" with Mustafa al-Haj Yussef, leader of the White Helmets center, in the Al Nusra-occupied city of Khan Shaykhun, Idlib! Now, how's that for perfect accommodations?

US-Russian Aleppo Evacuation Proposal Says Nusra Terrorists Can Only Go to Idlib
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612111048434354-us-russia-aleppo-evacuation/

The United States and Russia agreed on Sunday to open up evacuation routes for civilians and lightly-armed militants in eastern Aleppo, according to a text of the proposal seen by US media.

The agreement will be implemented within 48 hours, the Reuters news agency said. It cited an opposition official who said rebels still had to respond to the proposal. The Syrian government is to guarantee a safe exit. If implemented, the deal will have militants from the Nusra Front terror group (outlawed in Russia) brought to the Idlib province. Other rebels will be free to go elsewhere as long as they leave heavy weapons behind.

I was wondering why Idlib province was agreed upon by Russia, as well as, the U.S.? Found my answer here - via Vanessa Beeley and her great work.

“Every single one of us has taken an oath to save lives regardless of political, sectarian or religious affiliation! We are neutral, impartial and humanitarian.” ~ Raed Saleh

EXCLUSIVE: ‘President’ Raed Saleh’s Terrorist Connections within White Helmet Leadership
http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/12/10/exclusive-president-raed-salehs-terrorist-connections-within-white-helmet-leadership/

Saturday December 10, 2016 - Noble words from Saleh, leader of the White Helmets, as he accepted the prestigious Right Livelihood Award on behalf of his NATO allied and Gulf state multi-million-dollar funded ‘humanitarian’ NGO.

See my the open letter to offcials at the Right Livelihood organisation here: White Helmets Campaign for War NOT Peace – Retract RLA & Nobel Peace Prize Nomination.

Raed Saleh rose to media glory through his leadership of a group of proclaimed “saviours of all humanity.” Since its formation in late 2013, the White Helmets claim to by Syria’s only viable ‘civil defense’ first responders, selflessly saving some 72,000 lives in only three years – regardless of the victim’s ethnicity, religious convictions or political aspirations. So the promotional literature goes.

A former self-described electronic salesman from Jisr Al Shugour in Syria, ‘President’ Raed Saleh has become the public face of the White Helmets.
He has spoken on a variety of media, think tank and NGO platforms, always conveying the image of the White Helmets as a ‘grass-roots’ and selfless, first responders unit ready to answer the call of humanity in war torn Syria. The White Helmet mantra, “neutral-impartial-humanitarian,” has been an integral part of their marketing success in persuading the public of their legitimacy as a bona fide humanitarian organization – despite some very clear evidence to the contrary.

Over the past year, 21st Century Wire has exhaustively demonstrated the clear links between the White Helmets and the various terrorist groups operating inside Syria, including Al Nusra Front (aka Al Qaeda in Syria) and ISIS. We have also shown that the White Helmets are a part of a primarily British-led shadow state building project inside Syria. The White Helmets were designed to mimic the REAL Syria Civil Defense, established in 1953 and the only real Civil Defense inside Syria officially recognized by the ICDO (International Civil Defense Organization), based in Geneva.

For further information on the White Helmet fraudulent supplanting of the Real Syria Civil Defense and theft of their identity, please read: The REAL Syria Civil Defense Expose NATO’s White Helmets as Imposters.

Terrorist-linked

A close partner of Raed Saleh is Mustafa al-Haj Yussef, leader of the White Helmets centre in the Al Nusra-occupied city of Khan Shaykhun, Idlib.
The photo, above, clearly demonstrates the close relationship that Saleh shares with his friend and colleague Yussef, and apparently with the armed militant seen standing behind the two White Helmet leaders.

“Khan Shaykhun – home to approximately 50.000 residents – was controlled by government troops until the summer of 2014 when the al-Nusra Front launched a major offensive in southern Idlib and eventually seized the town.” ~ Al Masdar News

On the 1st December 2016, South Front reported Syrian Arab Air Force strikes on terrorist positions in Khan Shaykhun:

“At the same time, Syrian fighter jets destroyed a large number of vehicles of terrorists, as well as killed and wounded a number of militants in the villages and towns of al-Taman’a, Kafr Ain, Khan Sheikhoun, Abdin, Kfromeh, and Kafr Sajna, located in the southern part of Idlib.”

According to Yussef’s Facebook page (see screenshot below), he joined the White Helmets in 2013, so has been with the group since the early days of their establishment by a British ex-military officer and private security consultant, James Le Mesurier.

Upon closer review however, Yussef’s Facebook page demonstrates a much darker side to western public relations facade of the affable ‘humanitarian principles’ that underpin the White Helmet Madison Ave marketing image.

Below is one example of PR campaign memes, this one featuring Yussef himself, used by the White Helmets to promote the group, but more importantly – to generate many millions of dollars in public donations to the organization.

Now let’s look at how this White Helmet leader is actively promoting terrorism and indiscriminate violence against Syrian citizens.

On the 1st June 2014, Yussef called for the shelling of civilians during elections in Damascus. He declares that this murderous act would be the “greatest declaration of revolution” .

Here we have a supposedly “neutral, impartial, humanitarian” calling for direct violence against civilians exercising their right to elect the government of their choosing, in their own country.

On the 30th June 2014, Yussef then posts a statement to his Facebook page which endorses the extremist ideology of Ibn Taymiyya, often cited as being a founding member of ISIS.

Undoubtedly, White Helmet leader Yussef is advocating for severe punishment to anyone who does not fast during Ramadan, and he does not rule out execution.

Yussef, a supposed neutral humanitarian is calling for the extra judicial killing of civilians for not adhering to Islamic doctrines. It’s important to note that despite the White Helmets many extremist and terrorist connections, it has received well over $100 million in direct funding from the US State Department via USAID, the British Foreign Office and a cohort of EU member states.

On the 4th June 2014, Yussef also advocates unity between extremist factions including Al Nusra (aka Al Qaeda in Syria). The statement posted on social media also promotes the execution of the ‘Shabiha’ (a derogatory term employed by extremist factions inside Syria to describe those loyal to the Syrian state and government), SAA and looting of their properties.

Again, a supposed “neutral humanitarian” is calling for sectarian executions, reprisals and theft.

Humanitarian or Executioner?

Mustafa al-Haj Yussef is a leader of a White Helmet centre in Khan Shaykhun, Idlib. Khan Shaykhun is in an area of Idlib overrun and dominated by al Nusra Front. Yussef is not a simple operative. Yussef clearly has a close relationship with White Helmet “president” Raed Saleh who is currently on a speaking tour of Canada extolling the virtues of the White Helmets to audiences as depicted in the multi-million dollar Netflix documentary that showcases their grandiose exploits inside Syria.

See various examples of White Helmet extremism on camera here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oQTWn1JfeA (1:58 min.)

Yussef has called for the shelling of civilians, the execution of anyone not fasting during Ramadan, the murder of anyone considered a Shabiha, the killing of the SAA and the looting of their property.

Yussef subscribes to an extremist Wahhabi ideology and believes in coercing others to adhere to the same ideology. Yussef is far from being neutral, impartial or humanitarian.

It appears Yussef has taken an oath to take lives, not save them, and his partner Raed Saleh seems unperturbed by his comrade’s extremist actions despite Saleh’s lofty claims of neutrality and humanism on the public stage.

If a member of the International Red Cross were found to be harbouring such iniquity, would the international community be so forgiving? Would American and British taxpayers be so willing to fund them to the tune of over $100 million?

The White Helmets have been showered with awards and endless rounds of funding. How much longer will the illusion of their humanitarianism be indulged?

The White Helmets align themselves very transparently with the extremist entities who are carrying out ethnic cleansing pogroms in all areas they occupy throughout Syria. They consistently and openly demonstrate the underlying sectarianism and militancy that drives their participation in the war being waged against Syria by the NATO and Gulf states, and wholly supported by Israel.

News Release December 6, 2016 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada

Nobel Peace Prize nominees White Helmets to visit five Canadian cities
http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=1166179

Syria Civil Defence and Mayday Rescue team members to share with Canadians their stories from war-torn Syria.

December 6, 2016 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada

The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Howard Drake, British High Commissioner to Canada, announced today that members of the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, will be visiting Canada from December 7 to 13, 2016, as part of a series of free public events called Searching for Hope in Syria: In Conversation with the White Helmets.

Each event will include a screening of the award-winning Netflix documentary The White Helmets followed by a panel discussion. The panellists will include Raed Saleh, Head of the White Helmets and Chair of Syria Civil Defence; Farouq Habib, Syria Program Director at Mayday Rescue Foundation; and James Le Mesurier, founder and Director of Mayday Rescue. They will explain the work they do training volunteers and saving thousands of lives in one of the most dangerous places on earth.

Made possible through the support of the British High Commission and Global Affairs Canada, these events are a further example of how the United Kingdom and Canada are working together to raise awareness of the devastating situation in Syria. Both countries are major donors to the humanitarian effort in Syria, and the United Kingdom is a leading international supporter of the White Helmets.

Today, Canada is also announcing a $4.5-million contribution to Mayday Rescue to support the White Helmets’ life-saving work in Syria. This contribution, funded through the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program (PSOPs), will allow the White Helmets to recruit and train female volunteers and establish new centres that will strengthen the organization’s reach and capacity to provide critical services to all Syrians in need, particularly women and girls.

Quick facts

•Mayday Rescue is a not-for-profit organization that partners with communities undergoing conflict by providing training and equipment as well as advocacy and outreach.

•The ongoing conflict in Syria has triggered the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today. According to the UN, 13.5 million people in Syria need urgent help, including 6.5 million who are internally displaced.

•On February 8, 2016, Canada committed an additional $1.6 billion over the next three years to respond to the situation in Syria and Iraq and across the region. This includes humanitarian, development and security assistance that will help to meet the food, shelter, health, protection and emergency educational needs of Syrians affected by the crisis.

•The Government of Canada has resettled more than 33,000 Syrian refugees since November 2015.
 
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