The US State Department has announced their latest round of “non-lethal aid” for Syrian rebels, and while couched as an attempt to “support the Syrian opposition,” much of the money is going to pet projects to try to rile up international support against the Assad government.
$15 million of the funding is going to go to journalists and opposition figures “to support documentation of war crimes, human rights violations, and other Syrian government abuses.”
The State Department has been keen on this, hyping abuses committed by the Assad government for years, initially in an effort to build up support for a failed US invasion, and now seemingly just to keep that window open.
Despite talking up a $70 million figure for the non-lethal aid to rebels, the rebels themselves appear only to be getting about $25 million worth of gear, with the rest going to journalists or self-proclaimed governments-in-exile to try to buy credibility.
Much of that will be going to the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) in Istanbul, which has virtually no backing by any armed rebel forces anymore, but is still regularly bankrolled by the US to keep their lights on while they hold endless meetings over who is going to be leading their ultimately powerless group.
And various editors and idiot contributors talk about Putinbots???
Wouldn't mind playing Assadbot–or just defending Assad; what with mudslinging being the major mode of US warfare … but it'd just suck that bad apparently to have to field and refute a lot of US funded assertions… not to mention the fairly general tone of contempt of him in interesting places seemingly absent much detail on him.
Good rule of thumb is if you really get a lot of Americans thinking someone's e.g. 'brutal,' then probably 1. they'll be making stuff the hell up, and 2. he's standing in-the-way of low-lifes.
And we're concocting anti-Assad stories…. at the same time the EU is considering throwing their support behind him to keep him in power? Oh that should be interesting how Washington spins that one- they want Assad to stabilize Syria, while we want him out know full well the vacuum will be quickly filled by the likes of ISIS and its associated groups. I wonder how we'll spin it regarding the Israelis, who stand to benefit nothing from ISIS setting up shop next door and standing a good chance of taking down Lebanon and/or Jordan.
I don't want any innocents to have to pay the price, but FFS the last thing we need to insert ourselves into an essentially unwinnable situation- like Indochina, we may win the battles but we sure as H won't win the war. Keep the troops in the barracks AT HOME IN THE US and let the Middle East sort itself out- and whoever comes out on top we'll deal with.
I wonder whether this largesse explains why the supposedly left-wing "Free Speech TV" has aired the defunct Free Syrian Army's propaganda flic "Red Lines" about 8 million times since Thanksgiving.
Thank you Jason. As soon as my big check from Bashar arrives I'll send you guys a donation. I may even do that under my real circumstances.