By Tony Cartalucci

CNN, among many other establishment media platforms, has long promoted the US-European funded “Syrian Civil Defence” also known as the “White Helmets.”

Yet on November 25, they published an article titled, “Syria’s White Helmets apologize for Mannequin Challenge video,” in which they admit:

It’s a familiar scene: Syria Civil Defence, also known as the “White Helmets,” rushing to rescue a man covered in rubble, but unlike thousands of other videos from Aleppo, this one is staged.

CNN would continue by claiming:

The nearly one-minute long video has been the subject of criticism on social media. On Wednesday Syria Civil Defence released a statement calling it an “error of judgment”.

“This video and the related posts were recorded by RFS media with Syria Civil Defence 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.

Ignored by both the “White Helmets'” and RFS’ as well as CNN’s explanation of the video is the fact that the now admittedly staged video – besides the “mannequin challenge” style – is virtually indistinguishable from the “thousands of other videos from Aleppo” cited by CNN.

Just like “thousands of other videos from Aleppo” cited by CNN, the “victim” being “rescued” by the “White Helmets” is covered in dust and what appears to be blood, but otherwise uninjured. Unlike in a real bombing, those “rescued” by the “White Helmet” have their limbs intact, no deep, visible wounds, and lack any of the burns or trauma associated with weaponry used in modern combat.

It is unlikely that out of the “thousands of other videos from Aleppo” cited by CNN, none of them would feature actual trauma, and instead feature only the dust and fake “blood” covered “victims” as seen in the recent, admittedly staged video, as well as during recently staged protests in Europe.

Would CNN Have Covered “White Helmet” Deceit Without Alternative Media’s Coverage?

Of course, the alternative media has been exposing the “White Helmets” for years as perhaps one of the largest, most complex war propaganda operations conceived thus far by Western powers in their bid to sway public opinion amid regime change efforts in Syria.

Image: RSF’s

“apology” lacks conviction, but is full of excuses and blame.

When the recent “mannequin challenge” video was uploaded, it was the alternative media that caught it, reported on it, and brought viral attention to it. It was the alternative media that exposed the fact that a supposed “rescue organization” was staging fake videos for war propaganda value – in possible violation of the Geneva Conventions, and certainly in violation of basic ethical concerns.

It was only after the alternative media raised these concerns and cornered RFS and the “White Helmets” that establishment media platforms like CNN finally reacted to a story it likely would have otherwise ignored.

It is no wonder, then, why establishment media platforms like CNN, the Washington Post, and others are so passionately opposed to the alternative media – they are no longer setting the agenda, and are instead forced to react. Real journalism equates to reporting and honestly analyzing world events rather than contriving and spinning them – for CNN and others, they no longer possess the freedom to do the latter without consequence.

For the alternative media, successes like this, and the fact that establishment Western media has all but declared war on the alternative media should highlight the value of honest journalism and analysis. It should also be a constant reminder that fact-driven media will always win out over agenda-driven media. For the alternative media to continue to grow and be successful, it must reaffirm its dedication to fact-driven media no matter how tempting it is to do otherwise.

Tony Cartalucci’s articles have appeared on many alternative media websites, including his own at Land Destroyer Report, Alternative Thai News Network and LocalOrg.


(activistpost.com)

By Kurt Nimmo, Blacklisted News

The effort to shut down the alternative media following the election victory of Donald Trump is kicking into high gear.

On November 16 PolitiFact declared it would “fight back against fake news” and produced a hit list of alternative media sites.

Blacklisted News is included on a list compiled by a site created specifically to target alternative media the establishment wants eliminated.

Targeted news sites include Activist Post, Consortium News, the Corbett Report, Global Research, the websites of Lew Rockwell and Paul Craig Roberts, WikiLeaks, and many others. A few sites on the list are in fact fake news websites and others satirical.

The targets are diverse politically, from the alt right website Drudge Report to the more progressive Consortium News and Counterpunch.

It should be noted PolitiFact is a creation of the corporate newspaper the Tampa Bay Times and is regularly accused of political bias. The site boasts it won the Pulitzer Prize, a clear indication of its establishment status.

Prior to the PolitiFact effort, a website called Is It Propaganda Or Not surfaced. It posted a list of “fake” news websites and claims the Russians are involved.

We assess that this overall Russian effort is at least semi-centralized, with multiple Russian projects and influence operations working in parallel to manage the direct and outsourced production of propaganda across a wide range of outlets… There are varying degrees of involvement in it, and awareness of involvement. Some people involved seem genuinely unaware that they are being used by Russia to produce propaganda, but many others seem to know full well.

Democrats claimed the Russians were meddling in US politics when it became obvious Donald Trump actually had a chance to win the White House. There is virtually no evidence the Russians had anything to do with the outcome of the election, the hacking of the DNC, and even less evidence it is nefariously exploiting American and European alternative news websites to push propaganda.

This is part of a concerted effort to eventually deny “fake news” websites access to the web or at best relegate them to a far corner not reached by corporate search engines and more importantly eschewed by advertisers.

The corporate media no longer controls the news cycle. The propaganda it receives and reports from the government is now critically analyzed and debunked on social media within minutes. Millions of Americans no longer watch the corporate alphabet news networks or read corporate newspapers. In May, Pew Research reported 62% of US adults get their news from social media. Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr are more influential than the New York Times, The Washington Post, and other corporate establishment newspapers and websites.

It remains to be seen if Google, Twitter, and Facebook will take more draconian measures to shut down alternative media posts and links to websites targeted by the establishment. A transfer of the Internet’s Domain Naming System now underway also may threaten sites the government says are fake or foreign propaganda.

How do we fight back against this? First and foremost, Facebook and Twitter must be reminded they have a responsibility to the First Amendment and the free exchange of ideas.

Facebook et al. are, of course, privately owned corporations and as such can deny service to anybody they want. The vast majority of the names of the fake news hit list, however, are legitimate news websites. Blocking access to them is not only a terrible public relations move, but also reveals they are tools for government coercion and censorship.

Finally, corporations are sensitive to public opinion and how that reflects on their bottom line. A large number of people emailing Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms and expressing their opposition to the targeting of alternative news may have an impact on what ultimately happens.

Kurt Nimmo is the editor of Another Day in the Empire. He is the former lead editor and writer of Infowars.com. Donate to ADE Here.


(activistpost.com)

By Janet Phelan

Saturday, November 26 at three pm Central Time, a small group gathered in an orchid garden in San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico, to join in global prayer and meditation for the activists at Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Cedar was first burned to smudge the enclave and after a half hour of silent meditation, there was another half hour of drumming, singing and Indian chants.

The orchid reserve is close to a busy highway. The silence observed worldwide as an hour of solidarity with the Standing Rock water protectors was punctuated with the noise of cars and motorcycles less than fifty yards away.

That would be petroleum fueled cars and motorbikes, like those which transported us to the meditation session. And the small group, ten or eleven Mexicans and Americans, also brought food and water to share. That would be water in plastic bottles, a petroleum product.

So while we sat and chanted and sang in communion with the brave and imperiled community in Standing Rock, we also participated in the very sorts of behaviors which have fueled (no pun intended) the dependence on petroleum and its byproducts.

You can’t call us hypocrites. The reality is more complex than that. Every person who attended the meditation in San Cristobal has deep and abiding ties to both worlds — the world of concern and activism and the world of consumerism which relies so heavily on the very oil that Standing Rock does not want piped through its land. We drive. We leave the market with plastic bags laden with food. One of the women attending the convocation has a husband who works on a pipeline in Alaska. And I suspect that many of those in Standing Rock also maintain a level of relationship with petroleum.

We could have been doing penance. Couldn’t we? In the guise of heartfelt support for the protesters at Standing Rock we could actually have been in a kind of confessional, where our own complicity first breaks into awareness. We could actually have been taking the first steps toward purification. Not in hair shirts, not with self flagellation, but by dipping into a global hour of prayer and support, we could possibly have begun the necessary steps toward reflection on how we too have fed a mechanized monster which only demands more — more fuel, more energy, more stuff.

I was not the only one in the San Cristobal group who was struck by this paradox. As we were gathering our things to leave the orchid garden, another woman commented on this subtext to the event.

A worldwide movement towards understanding and confronting how we have unknowingly and unthinkingly colluded in creating this omnivorous need for More may have sparked in other groups, as well. If other communities, in other nations and cities and states, who gathered to support the protesters at Standing Rock, were also struck with their own complicity then maybe the planetary hour of solidarity might have had an unexpected outcome. Coming to terms with our own engagement with that which we profess to abhor is the very first step towards overcoming it. Nothing that takes place after the breakthrough into awareness will be easy. But nothing can ever change before that breakthrough occurs.

Image Credit: (AP Photo/James MacPherson)

(activistpost.com)