The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
My friend Bill Polk, a well-known historian with extensive experience in the Middle East and Central Asia and author of many books on these areas, has written a backgrounder on how to make sense out of the Syrian chemical weapons issue. He has given me permission to distribute it. Herewith is his most interesting primer on …
Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Bill Polk Primer on Syria & Chemical Weapons”
As we stand poised to get into yet another war in the Islamic world, this cautionary tale seems very apposite. Toxic Legacy of US Assault on Fallujah ‘Worse Than Hiroshima‘ PATRICK COCKBURN – The Independent (UK) Climate change does not just affect the oceans, as this story on the Great Lakes makes clear. This vast …
Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Fallujah as Hiroshima, Great Lakes Shrinking”
Attached is another excellent report by Patrick Cockburn on the disorientating nature of contemporary yellow journalism in the Syrian Civil War. Of course, disorientation is not a new problem in war: Sun Tzu said, “All war is based on deception.” But the ability to manipulate data and images with high-tech computing technology and then distribute …
Syria: Yesterday, the official news agency, al Manar, reported that government forces had captured Tal Kalakh near the northern border of Lebanon, after several days of “fierce clashes.” It was a key node for rebel arms smuggling. Comment: Actually the Syrian army took control of the town over the weekend. Patrick Cockburn visited Tal Kalakh …
Continue reading “NIGHTWATCH: Syrian Realities You Can Trust”
Patrick Cockburn has written a very important essay on Syria in the London Review of Books (attached below). The essay is aptly titled but has only a few oblique, albeit important, references to Sykes – Picot Agreement, a document some readers may not familiar with. Let’s begin with a little background. The Sykes-Picot agreement (it …
Pressure is mounting for the US to become involved in the Syrian civil war. Advocates of intervention have all sorts of motives. Once of the most attractive talking points from the perspective of the interventionists is the Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons on its own people. This short and well focused essay addresses that …
The author of the attached report, Patrick Cockburn, is one of very best reporters reporting on the Middle East, and perhaps the most knowledgeable on Iraq. This is a very important report, in my opinion. Partition could really have a destabilizing influence on the entire Arab region, but especially Syria, as well as non-Arab Turkey. …
Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Iraq Army Losing North, Partition Being Discussed”
