Today I find myself, as seems typical the last two years, focused on news from the conflict zones around the world. Studying Syria because of the U. N. Security Council unanimously endorsed a political roadmap , I wanted to delve into the potential of this agreement. Then I saw Google had indexed a CNN piece about Russia’s “creeping war” in Syria, and I was again trapped into calling BS on the mainstream. This one’s dedicated to you, Matthew Chance, champion whiner and party line disseminator for the western oligarchs.
Have you ever taken note of just how consistent and nasty western media is when it comes to Russia? Surely you must have noticed that Google News has nothing listed in its indexes that could remotely be construed as dissent. A piece this morning entitled “Inside Kremlin’s creeping military campaign in Syria,” it’s the shabbiest form of media propaganda of all. Matthew Chance, CNN’s Senior International Correspondent does the full monte on Russia after the network sprung for his trip to Syria (I assume they paid). The correspondent opens his “report” bitching and whining because somebody did not kiss is royal cable news network ass, and fly him into Hmeymim airbase located outside Latakia in Syria. I am serious, the lead into this tongue in cheek Assad-Putin mud slinger is all about the “me-me-me-oh-me” hardships a reporter has to suffer, when covering the Russians.
I know, you think I am kidding, so let me quote from the “trials” of Mr. Chance:
“Certainly our journey into Syria with the Russian defense ministry was testing: Seven hours on a bus to a military airport outside Moscow, three hours going through security, then six hours on a Soviet-era Tupolev passenger jet to Syria.”
What a pansy. A reporter is given the opportunity to see the Russian offensive against ISIL first hand, cameraman in tow, and all he knows how to do is bitch, cast dispersion, show shipboard cats, and then whine some more about the food, the noise of those big powerful Russian killing machines!!! You feel me, I know. For one thing, anyplace to Syria these days involves more than your typical Miami Beach drinking holiday, for God’s sake dude. Beside this, the Tupolev you bitch about probably has more leg room than any Boeing medium range airliner. If you rode in the Tupolev Tu-154, you were in a very safe and dependable aircraft too. As for the flight time, give me as break. There are no flights from Moscow to Damascus even, except for one Syrian Airlines hop each day. Flying from Luxembourg, the closest airport to me, it takes over a day to get to Damascus. But I’m on a tangent, surely Vladimir Putin could have sent his private jet to carry CNN to the Russian front in Syria. (This is why we Americans are exceptional)
“As we dragged our heavy boxes of equipment across the tarmac, the sun rose over the mountains on the horizon, casting light on the vast air base — and the sheer scale of Russia’s military involvement in Syria.” – CNN’s Matthew Chance (in awe of some fighter-bombers and hardware)
To Matthew Chance it’s abundantly clear Russia is “all in” in Syria. “All in” – is that like Obama’s “doubling down” on ISIL? My sense is Chance either does not know the first thing about militaries or modern warfare, or he is just being cheeky-creative in order to further the CNN diatribe against Putin and Russia. Maybe both are true. The we get to some more “me-me-me-look-how-special-we-is” gibberish. Chance gets access aboard the guided missile cruiser Moskva, on station off Syria. Then the reporter cannot decide if he is more pleased with his “special access” treatment, or still worried about his creature comforts and CNN reporter kissy-kissy he gets back in the states. Make up your mind dude, are you a war correspondent or setting up for the red carpet in Cannes? Next it’s the food, and the crew’s mascot cat on board. Yes, we Americans need all the cliché bullshit about Russian quirks and inefficiencies, to go right along with our the mainstream mindset nukes will fly any second! What a piece of work this guy is. We’ve only the final message, the one CNN’s bosses want for their diversion; “The Kremlin, of course, has economic and military interests in Syria it wants protected.” Kremlin interests indeed.
Now we come to the crux of all such incendiary journalistic nonsense. Matthew Chance’s boss, Jeffrey L. Bewkes, is head of Time Warner, which is in turn owned by the Vanguard Group (owned by the Rothschild’s basically), Massachusetts Financial Services (more Rothschild investment), Dodge & Cox Inc., JP Morgan Chase, and some others. I could go on and on here, but the “investments” in Syria this CNN story allude to are fictitious. Russia has strategic interests in Syria politcalally and where energy are concerned, but the real investment there is from the same people who own CNN. Genel Energy’s moves in Kurdistan is just one example, I can provide more instances of Rothschild and other big fish with chips in this killing game. And Chance points the finger at Russia – what a hoot. Don’t take my word, do your own research and discover the real truth.
As for Russia’s “all in” war in Syria, there simply aren’t that many war fighters from Russia in the air or on the ground there. Russia’s military is second only to the United States, “all in” would mean Syria raised to the ground and bemoaning the sun being blotted out with tanks, special forces, artillery and rocket launchers,drones, cruise missiles, and warplanes. This report says Russia has 32 fixed wing aircraft at the air base in Latakia. The Washington Post said 28 in September, before the SU24 shoot down. By all accounts the maximum number of aircraft deployed in any scenario by Russia has been 50. This would include those missions where the Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers were used for the first time from bases in Russia. We’re accustomed to the “pot calling the kettle black” from the US State Department’s policy dogma on Russia. Western mainstream media does outright “fake” news via social media evidence and sharing of photoshop evidence, but a journalist flown in to cover the reality? It’s pitiful. CNN is downright pitiful. I don’t see how they can even stay in business. Now let me go and find the real news, now that one more sellout journalist is found out. Maybe there’s a reason everybody kisses CNN reporter behind? For my money, I’m glad the Russians aren’t good at it.
Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.