Begin with Sunday, April 15th, 2018.

“Mission Accomplished! But What is the Mission in Syria?” asks Peter Baker at the New York Times.

Read Mr. Baker’s “News Analysis” feature story closely, as it is a powerful illustration of how the “Propaganda Model of News” works in the Digital Age.

Baker’s article quickly works to “frame” an “official narrative” – the “surgical strike” against “chemical facilities in Syria” was “executed perfectly” (channeling Trump’s own words without question), then moving on to Mr. Trump’s alleged stated foreign policy goal: “defeat the Islamic State and then get out.”

Baker then compares Mr. Trump’s actions to the Obama administration’s Syrian policy (“no easier answers”), flagging the POTUS’s “competing impulses when it comes to Syria” – being “the toughest one on the international block” versus “his [DJT’s] deep conviction that American involvement in the Middle East since the attacks of September 11, 2001, has been a waste of blood and treasure.”

We could go on, but this “news analysis” gives us enough to work with.

Mr. Baker’s unspoken assumptions re: said “mission”:

  1. Mr. Trump is in charge of US foreign policy (like he is in charge of his @realDonaldTrump Twitter?)
  2. The chemical gas attacks were both real, and committed by the Assad government.
  3. The US government’s chief goal is to defeat ISIS, hold “animal” Assad to account, and stop the bloodshed being committed by the Syrian government against its own people.

All of these assumptions ought to be contested.

To whit, what Mr. Baker does NOT say on the front page of the New York Times is equally revealing:

  1. For two decades, the Pentagon and the US military have embraced and promoted a policy of “full spectrum dominance” of Planet Earth (and outer space), as well as publicly targeting specific Middle Eastern states and governments for destruction. Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Iran are on that list.
  2. Previous “chemical gas attacks” in Syria blamed on the Assad government have turned out to be either “false flags” (attacks perpetrated by non-Assad actors and blamed on Assad) or to be completely lacking in evidence, as Defense Secretary James Mattis stated in early February 2018.
  3. The global sequential struggle for energy reserves – access to 2/3 of the world’s recoverable oil in the Great Middle East, as well as control over terrain needed to build and maintain oil pipelines, is a central US policy objective, and yet goes completely unreported here.
  4. Finally, the military-industrial complex and the so-called “Deep State” (unelected federal agencies like the CIA and their Wall Street allies) love a good bombing – war is always good for those who make and sell the guns.

Surely, Baker must be aware of all of these realities?

Meanwhile, on Tee Vee? Howard Dean, Bernie Sanders, Tucker Carlson – oh my!

Just, wow. The Jimmy Dore Show breaks it down here on Dean and Carlson.

And here is JD on MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.

And another NEWS FLASH – POTUS DJT does NOT always run his own TWITTER account.

Our new VCMLEP Propaganda Model Of News 2.0 – learn, live, love it.

Finally, here’s The Truth Factory showing us how independent critical media literacy education is done.

Free media, free Vermont!

 

April 12, 2018

The US Empire’s Attack On Syria – Vermonters (and Beyond) Respond (US/SYRIA MEDIA FUN HOUSE)

Begin with Sunday, April 15th, 2018. “Mission Accomplished! But What is the Mission in Syria?” asks Peter Baker at the New York Times. Read Mr. Baker’s […]
November 3, 2017

US Announces “Permanent Occupation” of Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria (FAILED STATES)

Publisher’s note: Since 2005, we’ve been writing about the US Empire and the Pentagon’s plan for “full spectrum dominance” of planet Earth and outer space. Here’s […]
April 17, 2017

The US Empire versus Syria – Setting the Middle East On Fire (ON CONTACT)

Publisher’s Note: Former New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges explores what the hell is REALLY going in Syria in this new episode of […]
February 8, 2017

RING OF FIRE: One Vermonter’s Lessons Learned in the Middle East

Q. Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Iran – what do these 7 countries have in common (other than the BAN)? A. The BOMB. The […]
January 26, 2017

Trump’s New Muslim Ban versus Vermont’s New Syrian Refugee Program: Time For Nullification?

Updated Links: Vermont attorney general T.J. Donovan announces task force to study impact of Trump executive order. Kudos to VtDigger for covering the impact of Mr. […]
October 22, 2016

Project Censored 2017: News You Can Use

Throughout its 40-year history, Project Censored has covered a lot of ground that the corporate mainstream media has missed. Begun by Carl Jensen, a sociology professor […]
October 6, 2016

Vermont Welcomes Syrian Refugees, Victims of U.S. Imperial Policy

Publisher’s Note: Thanks to our media colleagues at Seven Days for providing ongoing coverage of Rutland, Vermont’s decision to provide a new home for 100 Syrian […]
August 9, 2016

U.S. Empire’s Syrian Air War – Two Year Anniversary Stats (AIRWARS SYRIA)

Monday, August 8th, 2016 marked the second anniversary of the US-led Coalition’s war with so-called Islamic State (Daesh) in Iraq and Syria. Here at Airwars we’ve […]