3993-ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? | View Thread

There are apparently no 'red lines' when it comes to the documented terrorism of death squads in Syria, be they the Free Syrian Army (FSA, who committed some of the most heinous massacres of Syrian civilians in 2011, in 2012, in 2013...), Nour al-Din al-Zenki child-beheaders, or Jaysh al-Islam (with their love of caging civilians to use as human shields and firing mortars on civilian areas of Damascus and outskirts).

On the afternoon of April 15, terrorist factions attacked buses carrying civilians from the long-besieged western Syria villages of Kafraya and Foua. Thus far, the death toll is reported to be at least 100, with some estimating a much higher number. Earlier Sputnikreported:

"The number of victims [in the explosion] is at least 70; over 130 are injured. It is difficult to say as there are many burnt bodies and body parts around the damaged buses," noting that "hit the Rashidin area on Aleppo's outskirts. The bus was waiting for entering the city of Aleppo."

"The blast supposedly was caused by a suicide attacker who detonated an explosive device. The car with the attacker approached the buses disguised as a vehicle transporting food."

Al Ikhbaria, Syrian TV, has multiple updates on the carnage wrought by the terrorist attack on these buses that carried civilians, including scenes of the injured civilians in hospital.

"A witness to the massacre told a Syrian journalist (shared by journalist Maytham al-Ashkar):

""The 'rebels' brought a bus full of crisps. They tried to gather as many kids as possible around the vehicle. Then we heard a really loud explosion. A lot of children were killed, many were injured."

"Our Blood is Cheap": Why Foua and Kafraya Don't Merit Fair Media Coverage

A journalist with U-News who sent photos and videos of the massacre of civilians asked the anguished rhetorical question one asks in such repeated situations: "Where are the mainstream media? Why don't they report the barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack on Foua and Kafraya?"

The answer is that the genuine torment these civilians have endured for years will never be fairly reported, it does not serve the agenda of demonizing the leader of Syria and the national army in order to win western public opinion for yet another 'humanitarian' intervention which destroys the Syrian nation and installs chaos in the place of the legitimate government.

None of the people terrorized by these mercenaries of the NATO/Zionist/Gulf/Turkish alliance over the years will be respected or recognized by the Western press, be they women and children victims of rocket attacks, sniping and mortar terrorism in and around Damascus; Syrian and allied journalists assassinated by the 'moderates'; civilians of Aleppo for years bombed, sniped at and besieged by terrorist factions; or especially liberated civilians from eastern areas of Aleppo whose horrific testimonies directly negate the myth of 'rebels', 'moderates', or the falsity of Assad as the problem and the Syrian Arab Army as the 'aggressor'.

As with civilian victims of suicide bombs in Beirut and Homs, Jableh and Tartous, (which I visited in July 2016) the civilians of Foua and Kafraya are rendered by the Western corporate media as either invisible or a sect not worthy of human consideration. Ironically, while Foua and Kafraya may contain a predominate number of Shia Muslims, residents of the villages have told me how they intermarried with their neighbouring Sunni Syrians, and shared the celebrations of other faiths', as is common in secular Syria.

In August 2015, I began to write about the villages, gaining awareness of their very serious plight via a friend from Foua and journalists and civilians I came to know from both villages.

"The villages, less than 10 km northeast of Idlib, had already been suffering an over 4 year long siege by US-backed al-Nusra and affiliates.

"Until late March, residents—although surrounded by militant factions—still had an access road, thus supplies for their survival. With the militants' occupation of Idlib at the end of March, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) had to withdraw forces from bases in the province. Foua and Kafarya became utterly isolated."

The fact that the people in these villages are fully besieged and near-daily bombed and deprived of critical medicines and essential life needs has been met with the utter silence and disregard of not only the corporate media but also the human rights bodies purporting to care about Syrian civilians.

In January 2016, when the Western media began talking about the village of Madaya (one of the villages from where 'rebels' were recently safely evacuated with the full aid and protection of the Syrian government), they pointedly ignored the dire situation of residents of Foua and Kafraya because both of those villages were under siege by al-Nusra, Jaysh al-Fattah (the so-called "Army of Conquest") and Ahrar al-Sham (Liberation of the Levant Movement) along with other "moderates" of the umbrella organization Jabhat al-Islamiyah (the Islamic Front).

While the Syrian government was accused of mass starvation in Madaya, this was exposed as false in December 2016, when the terrorist factions were exposed as the real culprits, hoarding food (and medicines) and holding civilians hostage. This also occurred in the Old City of Homs, which I visited repeatedly, including one month after the Syrian government enabled safe evacuation of the terrorists who had been occupying the Old City and starving the remaining civilians within.

Parts one and two of my initial reports on the villages of Foua and Kafraya outline the full, debilitating siege that the approximately 20,000 civilians have endured since March 2015 (although the villages were on-off besieged since 2013) and the deliberately sectarian slant of Western media reports in their scant reporting of the situation there. In contrast, as my Kafraya friend told me:

"In that area of Syria there are minorities living together, from about 1,000 years ago. In Kafraya and Foua there are Shia. Before this war, the people of Foua and neighbouring Binnish were very close, they intermarried, celebrated festivals together.

At the time that this all started in Syria, I was home, still a student. We studied at a school in Ma'rat Mesreen, which was a mostly Sunni city—many of them pro-government, by the way—and some Shia. Like with Binnish, our people were friends with those in Ma'rat Mesreen, intermarried with them.

My uncle was working in al-Raqqa, but when the militants took over, he and others went back to Kafraya. The original population of Kafraya was around 10,000. Now, it's much much more, with IDPs from various areas, like Ma'rat Mesreen, and including many Sunni pro-government Syrians from other villages, but also Shia from surrounding areas."

Syrian journalist Iyad Khuder told me of the traditional unity of the villages and surrounding area.

"People from these two villages have always had good relations with their neighbors—they used to share the Islamic feasts together. No one used to ask about religion, or even to mention the words 'Sunni, Shia'. But the extremist minority who controlled northern Syria are indoctrinated by Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi ideology. So, they asked Kafraya and Foua (as a test) to join the 'revolution' against the 'regime'. The people replied, 'You are free to revolt, it's your choice. But we also have our choice and we believe it's a plot targeting the whole country.' So, the 'rebels' consider them targets, have tried to conquer their villages, and have kidnapped many of them."

© Eva Bartlett
Gas canister bombs, terrorist-fired by Hell Cannons, litter the roads leading to Aleppo. Terrorist factions have for years fired these deadly bombs on civilian areas of Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, to complicit media silence. Aleppo head of Forensics Dr. Zaher Hajo reports 11, 000 civilians dead from such terrorist bombings, snipings, missiles, mortars and more.

Completely surrounded by terrorist factions that have been regularly attacking the villages with mortars, Hell Cannon-fired gas canister bombs and snipings of the sort that left 4 and 6 year old boys (deprived of medical care by the terrorists' siege) on death's doorstep, the siege has meant civilians with critical, but treatable, illnesses are not able to get appropriate medical care, with families deprived of sustenance, clean water, heating in winter and the essential needs of life.

MSM Reporting on Terrorists Murder of Civilians: 'Bus Bombing'

The Western corporate media's reporting on massacres like the recent suicide bombings of several buses full of civilians in Syria deserves some scathing critique. Consider these lines from an article by Lizzie Dearden for the UK Independent:

"A car bomb has hit a convoy of buses carrying civilians evacuated from besieged towns in Syria, killing at least 24 people.

The blast hit the Rashidin area on the outskirts of Aleppo, where dozens of buses carrying mostly Shia Muslim families from pro-government villages were waiting to enter the city.

Photos that were too graphic to publish showed a huge fire raging next to bodies scattered on the ground next to charred buses with blown-out windows, including those of children."

If the area in question were a terrorist-occupied area, Dearden's report would read something like this:

"A regime-dropped barrel bomb has killed a convoy of buses carrying innocent civilians, mostly women and children, who were being evacuated from rebel areas of Syria. The deadly 8.0 magntitude Hiroshima barrel bomb hit Sunni Muslim families from freedom-loving rebel areas..." etc. etc.

Do note in the reporting of 'journalists' like Dearden and other presstitutes, the downplaying of actual documented Syrian civilian deaths at the hands of terrorists dubbed 'rebels'. Do note the sectarian language (rejected by most Syrians). Do note the implication that acts of terrorism on Syrians in government secured areas of the country must be considered as not credible (but physics-defying alleged school-bombings or alleged chemical weapons attacks should be believed). Also note the kind of reporting on this attack that was produced by CNN. While stating that "no group has claimed responsibility", CNN felt the need to get a word from that paragon of immorality, Abdul Rahman of the utterly discredited 'Syrian Observatory for Human Rights':

"During a televised interview, Rami Abdul Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said a suicide bomber claimed he was carrying food items and blew himself up in a fuel station. Abdul Rahman said he doesn't believe the Syrian regime is behind the attack. He said the regime kills scores of people daily using all types of weaponry and doesn't need to kill its own sympathizers."

Yes indeed, just in case you were distracted by the US-backed terrorist bombing of buses full of civilians, CNN used the pathetic quisling Rahman to remind you of the 'evils of the regime' and to admit that, despite the 'evil' of Assad, he has not yet found a need to kill his own sympathiziers.

Regarding the "photos that were too graphic to publish" by the Independent; please explain to the families of these mutilated Syrians why their graphic murders were too distasteful to Western sensitivities when graphic images of dead and injured children are splashed across Western media broadsheets when the alleged author of such attacks is the Syrian or Russian military.

Britain's state-owned BBC, no stranger to the propagation war porn when it serves the NATO agenda, headlined rather blandly: "Syria war: Huge bomb kills dozens of evacuees in Syria".

Had the bombing in question been attributed to the Syrian army, or Russians, you can bet the headline would have read something like:

"Murderous Regime Bombs Innocent Civilians in Rebel-held Area Just Days After Worst Chemical Attack in the History of the World".

Of course, I do not believe for a moment that the allegations of the western-propagated Idlib chemical incident are true, but this is the sort of headline the Western corporate media runs, irrespective of actual evidence, of which they have none as regards the alleged chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun.

Please recall that just days after the US-led coalition murdered anywhere between 60 and 80 Syrian soldiers in Deir ez-Zor, Western governments, their jihadi proxies and the Western press deflected attention by attacking a UN humanitarian convoy and blaming Syria and/or Russia.

A BBC report on the bus bombing states:

"A huge car bomb has blasted a convoy of coaches carrying evacuees from besieged government-held towns in Syria, killing at least 39 people."

The actual names of the towns Foua and Kafraya aren't mentioned until paragraph 5, after the BBC had ominously warned of "revenge attacks on a convoy of evacuees from rebel-held towns, being moved under a deal," implying the big bag Syrian 'regime' cannot be trusted.

Despite the BBC's deliberate anti-Syrian propaganda here, compare how the Syria government and the so-called 'opposition' have behaved so far in similar exchange deals.

- December 2016: Civilians and terrorists, including al-Qaeda in Syria (Jabhat al-Nusra...and their re-branded incarnation Hay'atTahrir al-Sham ) were bused safely (from the eastern areas they terrorized) to Idlib. Sick and wounded residents of Foua and Kafraya were meant to be bused out in exchange but terrorists attacked and burned five or six buses, pledging to " burn anyone who comes to transport them".

"4 months ago "rebels" burned evacuation buses meant for Foua/Kafraya and can be heard saying "We will burn anyone who comes to transport them"

- April 2017: Syrian media, SANA, reported on April 14: "60 buses transport more than 2300 gunmen and some of their families from al-Zabadani and Madaya. The link on SANA's website contains a video showing numerous moving buses, the Syrian Red Crescent, and civilians presumably families of militants also present in the video.

In August 2016, Vanessa Beeley and I met with a number of Foua/Kafraya residents who had been evacuated in a then rather-rare evacuation, December 2015. The horrors they spoke of will never be fairly reported in corporate media.

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 4/17/2017 11:59:23 PM
	MIT expert claims latest chemical weapons attack in Syria was staged Tareq Haddad International Business TimesApril 17, 2017 A leading weapons academic has claimed that the Khan Sheikhoun nerve agent attack in Syria was staged, raising questions about who was responsible. Theodore Postol, a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), issued a series of three reports in response to the White House's finding that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad perpetrated the attack on 4 April. He concluded that the US government's report does not provide any "concrete" evidence that Assad was responsible, adding it was more likely that the attack was perpetrated by players on the ground. Postol said: "I have reviewed the [White House's] document carefully, and I believe it can be shown, without doubt, that the document does not provide any evidence whatsoever that the US government has concrete knowledge that the government of Syria was the source of the chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria at roughly 6am to 7am on 4 April, 2017. "In fact, a main piece of evidence that is cited in the document point to an attack that was executed by individuals on the ground, not from an aircraft, on the morning of 4 April. "This conclusion is based on an assumption made by the White House when it cited the source of the sarin release and the photographs of that source. My own assessment is that the source was very likely tampered with or staged, so no serious conclusion could be made from the photographs cited by the White House." The image Postol refers to is that of a crater containing a shell inside, which is said to have contained the sarin gas. His analysis of the shell suggests that it could not have been dropped from an airplane as the damage of the casing is inconsistent from an aerial explosion. Instead, Postol said it was more likely that an explosive charge was laid upon the shell containing sarin, before being detonated. Khan Sheikhoun crater "The explosive acted on the pipe as a blunt crushing mallet," Postol said. "It drove the pipe into the ground while at the same time creating the crater. "Since the pipe was filled with sarin, which is an incompressible fluid, as the pipe was flattened, the sarin acted on the walls and ends of the pipe causing a crack along the length of the pipe and also the failure of the cap on the back end." The implication of Postol's analysis is that it was carried out by anti-government insurgents as Khan Sheikhoun is in militant-controlled territory of Syria. Postol, formerly a scientific advisor at the Department of Defense (DoD), has previously outlined similar inconsistencies with US intelligence reports. Following the 2013 chemical weapons attack in eastern Ghouta, Postol again said the evidence did not suggest Assad was responsible – a finding that was later corroborated by the United Nations. walid muallem In his latest reports, Postol hit out at what he says is a "politicisation" of intelligence findings. Postol said: "No competent analyst would miss the fact that the alleged sarin canister was forcefully crushed from above, rather than exploded by a munition within it. "All of these highly amateurish mistakes indicate that this White House report, like the earlier Obama White House Report [from Ghouta in 2013], was not properly vetted by the intelligence community as claimed. "I have worked with the intelligence community in the past, and I have grave concerns about the politicisation of intelligence that seems to be occurring with more frequency in recent times – but I know that the intelligence community has highly capable analysts in it. "And if those analysts were properly consulted about the claims in the White House document they would have not approved the document going forward." (Yahoo News)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 4/18/2017 12:15:44 AM
	Wikileaks Reveals Hive: The CIA’s Top Secret Virus Control System April 17, 2017 at 9:33 am Written by Anti-Media News Desk (MPN) Early Friday morning, Wikileaks released its fifth batch of Vault 7 documents exposing the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s hacking techniques. The latest release, titled “Hive,” exposes the agency’s multi-platform malware suite that allows the CIA to monitor targets via malware as well as the ability to realize specific tasks on compromised machines. Hive is said to provide customizable implants for a variety of operating systems for distinct types of devices, not just computers, tablets, and phones. Among the platforms vulnerable to Hive include Linux, Windows, Solaris, MikroTik (used in Internet routers), and AVTech Network Video Recorders (often used in CCTV recording). First released in 2010, Hive is essentially an “implant” that functions as both a beacon and shell, allowing CIA hackers to gain a foothold in devices that allow them to deploy any number of other tools, such as those detailed in previous releases. Wikileaks has described Hive’s function as a “back-end infrastructure malware” that uses public HTTPS interfaces which provide “unsuspicious-looking cover domains” to hide its presence on infected devices. Each of those domains is linked to an IP address at a commercial Virtual Private Server (VPS) provider, which forwards all incoming traffic to what is termed a “Blot” server. All re-directed traffic is then examined by CIA hackers to see if it contains a valid beacon. If it does, then a tool handler – called Honeycomb in the released documents – and the CIA then begins initiating other actions on the target computer. The released user guide shows that Hive allows for the uploading and deleting of files as well as the execution of applications on the device. Unlike some other Vault 7 tools which can persist indefinitely on targeted devices, Hive comes with a“self-delete” function that allows the malware to destroy itself if it receives no signal from the CIA for a set amount of time. The self-deletion leaves only a log and configuration file, containing only a time-stamp behind. Apparently this feature posed difficulties to CIA developers as the self-deletion can “be problematic due to the inability to accurately assess the reliability of the host’s system clock,” according to the Hive Developers Guide. Wikileaks noted that anti-virus companies along with forensic experts have noticed before that malware, potentially originating from a state-actor, utilized the same back-end infrastructure implantation that Hive employs. Through the analysis of the communication between specific implants, these experts and software companies were able to determine that the malware’s origin came from a “well-resourced organization which was involved in intelligence gathering operations.” However, there had been unable to attribute the back-end or the implants to the CIA, though Wikileaks’ release of Hive may change that. Indeed, Wikileaks noted in its press release that “The documents from this publication might further enable anti-malware researchers and forensic experts to analyse this kind of communication between malware implants and back-end servers used in previous illegal activities.” Wikileaks’ latest release comes on the heels of CIA director Mike Pompeo’s aggressive statementsagainst the transparency organization in which he labeled them “non-state hostile intelligence service.” He also condemned Wikileaks’ editor-in-chief, Julian Assange of making “common cause with dictators.” While other CIA directors have targeted both Wikileaks and Assange in the past, Wikileaks now five releases of top secret CIA hacking tools may have prompted an escalation in Pompeo’s rhetoric. It remains to be seen if this rhetoric will translate into action, however. Assange, for his part, doesn’t seem too concerned, choosing to respond with a witty retort that incisively pointed out the CIA’s lack of credibility in making such accusations: Follow Julian Assange @JulianAssange Called a "non-state intelligence service" today by the "state non-intelligence agency" which produced al-Qaeda, ISIS, Iraq, Iran & Pinochet. 8:26 PM - 13 Apr 2017 3,148 Retweets 4,675 likes By Whitney Webb / Republished with permission / MintPress News / Report a typo
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 4/18/2017 12:34:08 AM
	VALUE OF U.S. DOLLAR DOWN AND GOLD PRICES RISE AS NORTH KOREA TENSIONS MOUNT BY REUTERS ON 4/17/17 AT 11:08 AM Geopolitical tensions over North Korea pressured the dollar against the yen and lifted gold prices on Monday, while U.S. stocks edged higher after three straight days of losses. North Korea made a failed missile test launch on Sunday, adding to regional tensions that have escalated over the past weeks as U.S. President Donald Trump has taken a tough rhetorical line with Pyongyang. “We are seeing once again a little bit of a flight to safety as a result of the news over the weekend of North Korea's attempted missile test. That's resulting in a little bit of a weakness in the U.S. dollar,” said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington. A North Korean soldier takes photographs as Vice President Mike Pence (not pictured) arrives at the truce village of Panmunjom, South Korea on April 17. North Korea attempted to test a missile on Sunday, but it exploded shortly after launch.KIM HONG-JI/REUTERS The dollar fell to a five-month low against the safe-haven yen, while the U.S. dollar index was down 0.4 percent. Gold gained 0.7 percent to hit a five-month high. Most major European markets were closed for Easter Monday, while Wall Street reopened after being closed for the Good Friday holiday. Worries over the upcoming French elections as well as softer U.S. economic data added to the bearish sentiment. Data on Friday showed U.S. retail sales fell for a second straight month in March and consumer prices dropped for the first time in just over a year. Data showing China's economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter helped offset the soft U.S. figures. World stocks as measured by the MSCI world equity index rose 0.3 percent. U.S. stocks regained some ground after the recent global risks had weighed on the market last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 67.03 points, or 0.33 percent, to 20,520.28, the S&P 500 gained 5.64 points, or 0.24 percent, to 2,334.59 and the Nasdaq Composite added 15.55 points, or 0.27 percent, to 5,820.70. The United States, its allies and China are working together on a range of responses to North Korea's latest failed ballistic missile test, Trump's national security adviser said on Sunday, citing what he called an international consensus to act. That dwarfed any relief for market players after the U.S. Treasury department did not name China as a currency manipulator, avoiding an all-out confrontation on currencies between the world's two largest economies. U.S. bond prices were mostly flat. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was at 2.23 percent.In a highly anticipated report on Friday, Trump's administration declined to name any major trading partner as a currency manipulator, backing away from a key campaign promise to slap that label on China. Oil prices fell slightly. (Newsweek)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 4/18/2017 9:21:36 AM
	Video of woman getting punched at Berkeley protest sparks outrage April 17, 2017 Video of woman getting punched at Berkeley protest sparks outrage BERKELEY — In the wake of Saturday’s protest violence in Berkeley, videos and photos of the brawls that broke out have been circulating online, CBS San Francisco reported. One clip, in particular, is sparking outrage at a known white supremacist, a student at California State University, Stanislaus. Of all the fist-fights, explosions and bloody brawls that broke out at Saturday’s so-called “Patriots Day” protest in downtown Berkeley, one moment stood out. In a video posted to social media, a young woman — apparently protesting President Trump — is seen being sucker-punched. A reverse-angle picture shows her own fist extended as well. The video and image have gone viral — not least because the man throwing the punch is Nathan Damigo, founder of the white supremacist organization known as “Identity Europa.” CBS San Francisco attempted to make contact with the woman, who goes by the name Louise Rosealma. A fundraising page for her says that, since the protest, she has received rape and murder threats online. It’s unclear whether Berkeley police are investigating the incident or Nathan Damigo. CBS San Francisco attempted to reach Damigo for comment but he has not replied. CBS Sacramento reports that Damigo has been a controversial figure at Stanislaus State University. The self-proclaimed white nationalist once tweeted that, “Non-Whites are incapable of replicating White culture.” The 30-year-old was given a less than honorable discharge from the military, after two tours of Iraq. © 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Yahoo News)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 4/18/2017 10:45:23 AM
	No 'Red Lines' After US-Backed Terrorists Massacre Idlib's Foua Civilians Eva Bartlett Sott.net Sun, 16 Apr 2017 14:35 UTC © U-News Photo of US-backed terrorist bus bombing against civilians in Syria There are apparently no 'red lines' when it comes to the documented terrorism of death squads in Syria, be they the Free Syrian Army (FSA, who committed some of the most heinous massacres of Syrian civilians in 2011, in 2012, in 2013...), Nour al-Din al-Zenki child-beheaders, or Jaysh al-Islam (with their love of caging civilians to use as human shields and firing mortars on civilian areas of Damascus and outskirts). On the afternoon of April 15, terrorist factions attacked buses carrying civilians from the long-besieged western Syria villages of Kafraya and Foua. Thus far, the death toll is reported to be at least 100, with some estimating a much higher number. Earlier Sputnikreported: "The number of victims [in the explosion] is at least 70; over 130 are injured. It is difficult to say as there are many burnt bodies and body parts around the damaged buses," noting that "hit the Rashidin area on Aleppo's outskirts. The bus was waiting for entering the city of Aleppo." "The blast supposedly was caused by a suicide attacker who detonated an explosive device. The car with the attacker approached the buses disguised as a vehicle transporting food." Al Ikhbaria, Syrian TV, has multiple updates on the carnage wrought by the terrorist attack on these buses that carried civilians, including scenes of the injured civilians in hospital. "A witness to the massacre told a Syrian journalist (shared by journalist Maytham al-Ashkar): ""The 'rebels' brought a bus full of crisps. They tried to gather as many kids as possible around the vehicle. Then we heard a really loud explosion. A lot of children were killed, many were injured." "Our Blood is Cheap": Why Foua and Kafraya Don't Merit Fair Media Coverage A journalist with U-News who sent photos and videos of the massacre of civilians asked the anguished rhetorical question one asks in such repeated situations: "Where are the mainstream media? Why don't they report the barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack on Foua and Kafraya?" The answer is that the genuine torment these civilians have endured for years will never be fairly reported, it does not serve the agenda of demonizing the leader of Syria and the national army in order to win western public opinion for yet another 'humanitarian' intervention which destroys the Syrian nation and installs chaos in the place of the legitimate government. None of the people terrorized by these mercenaries of the NATO/Zionist/Gulf/Turkish alliance over the years will be respected or recognized by the Western press, be they women and children victims of rocket attacks, sniping and mortar terrorism in and around Damascus; Syrian and allied journalists assassinated by the 'moderates'; civilians of Aleppo for years bombed, sniped at and besieged by terrorist factions; or especially liberated civilians from eastern areas of Aleppo whose horrific testimonies directly negate the myth of 'rebels', 'moderates', or the falsity of Assad as the problem and the Syrian Arab Army as the 'aggressor'. As with civilian victims of suicide bombs in Beirut and Homs, Jableh and Tartous, (which I visited in July 2016) the civilians of Foua and Kafraya are rendered by the Western corporate media as either invisible or a sect not worthy of human consideration. Ironically, while Foua and Kafraya may contain a predominate number of Shia Muslims, residents of the villages have told me how they intermarried with their neighbouring Sunni Syrians, and shared the celebrations of other faiths', as is common in secular Syria. In August 2015, I began to write about the villages, gaining awareness of their very serious plight via a friend from Foua and journalists and civilians I came to know from both villages. "The villages, less than 10 km northeast of Idlib, had already been suffering an over 4 year long siege by US-backed al-Nusra and affiliates. "Until late March, residents—although surrounded by militant factions—still had an access road, thus supplies for their survival. With the militants' occupation of Idlib at the end of March, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) had to withdraw forces from bases in the province. Foua and Kafarya became utterly isolated." The fact that the people in these villages are fully besieged and near-daily bombed and deprived of critical medicines and essential life needs has been met with the utter silence and disregard of not only the corporate media but also the human rights bodies purporting to care about Syrian civilians. In January 2016, when the Western media began talking about the village of Madaya (one of the villages from where 'rebels' were recently safely evacuated with the full aid and protection of the Syrian government), they pointedly ignored the dire situation of residents of Foua and Kafraya because both of those villages were under siege by al-Nusra, Jaysh al-Fattah (the so-called "Army of Conquest") and Ahrar al-Sham (Liberation of the Levant Movement) along with other "moderates" of the umbrella organization Jabhat al-Islamiyah (the Islamic Front). While the Syrian government was accused of mass starvation in Madaya, this was exposed as false in December 2016, when the terrorist factions were exposed as the real culprits, hoarding food (and medicines) and holding civilians hostage. This also occurred in the Old City of Homs, which I visited repeatedly, including one month after the Syrian government enabled safe evacuation of the terrorists who had been occupying the Old City and starving the remaining civilians within. Parts one and two of my initial reports on the villages of Foua and Kafraya outline the full, debilitating siege that the approximately 20,000 civilians have endured since March 2015 (although the villages were on-off besieged since 2013) and the deliberately sectarian slant of Western media reports in their scant reporting of the situation there. In contrast, as my Kafraya friend told me: "In that area of Syria there are minorities living together, from about 1,000 years ago. In Kafraya and Foua there are Shia. Before this war, the people of Foua and neighbouring Binnish were very close, they intermarried, celebrated festivals together. At the time that this all started in Syria, I was home, still a student. We studied at a school in Ma'rat Mesreen, which was a mostly Sunni city—many of them pro-government, by the way—and some Shia. Like with Binnish, our people were friends with those in Ma'rat Mesreen, intermarried with them. My uncle was working in al-Raqqa, but when the militants took over, he and others went back to Kafraya. The original population of Kafraya was around 10,000. Now, it's much much more, with IDPs from various areas, like Ma'rat Mesreen, and including many Sunni pro-government Syrians from other villages, but also Shia from surrounding areas." Syrian journalist Iyad Khuder told me of the traditional unity of the villages and surrounding area. "People from these two villages have always had good relations with their neighbors—they used to share the Islamic feasts together. No one used to ask about religion, or even to mention the words 'Sunni, Shia'. But the extremist minority who controlled northern Syria are indoctrinated by Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi ideology. So, they asked Kafraya and Foua (as a test) to join the 'revolution' against the 'regime'. The people replied, 'You are free to revolt, it's your choice. But we also have our choice and we believe it's a plot targeting the whole country.' So, the 'rebels' consider them targets, have tried to conquer their villages, and have kidnapped many of them." © Eva Bartlett Gas canister bombs, terrorist-fired by Hell Cannons, litter the roads leading to Aleppo. Terrorist factions have for years fired these deadly bombs on civilian areas of Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, to complicit media silence. Aleppo head of Forensics Dr. Zaher Hajo reports 11, 000 civilians dead from such terrorist bombings, snipings, missiles, mortars and more. Completely surrounded by terrorist factions that have been regularly attacking the villages with mortars, Hell Cannon-fired gas canister bombs and snipings of the sort that left 4 and 6 year old boys (deprived of medical care by the terrorists' siege) on death's doorstep, the siege has meant civilians with critical, but treatable, illnesses are not able to get appropriate medical care, with families deprived of sustenance, clean water, heating in winter and the essential needs of life. MSM Reporting on Terrorists Murder of Civilians: 'Bus Bombing' The Western corporate media's reporting on massacres like the recent suicide bombings of several buses full of civilians in Syria deserves some scathing critique. Consider these lines from an article by Lizzie Dearden for the UK Independent: "A car bomb has hit a convoy of buses carrying civilians evacuated from besieged towns in Syria, killing at least 24 people. The blast hit the Rashidin area on the outskirts of Aleppo, where dozens of buses carrying mostly Shia Muslim families from pro-government villages were waiting to enter the city. Photos that were too graphic to publish showed a huge fire raging next to bodies scattered on the ground next to charred buses with blown-out windows, including those of children." If the area in question were a terrorist-occupied area, Dearden's report would read something like this: "A regime-dropped barrel bomb has killed a convoy of buses carrying innocent civilians, mostly women and children, who were being evacuated from rebel areas of Syria. The deadly 8.0 magntitude Hiroshima barrel bomb hit Sunni Muslim families from freedom-loving rebel areas..." etc. etc. Do note in the reporting of 'journalists' like Dearden and other presstitutes, the downplaying of actual documented Syrian civilian deaths at the hands of terrorists dubbed 'rebels'. Do note the sectarian language (rejected by most Syrians). Do note the implication that acts of terrorism on Syrians in government secured areas of the country must be considered as not credible (but physics-defying alleged school-bombings or alleged chemical weapons attacks should be believed). Also note the kind of reporting on this attack that was produced by CNN. While stating that "no group has claimed responsibility", CNN felt the need to get a word from that paragon of immorality, Abdul Rahman of the utterly discredited 'Syrian Observatory for Human Rights': "During a televised interview, Rami Abdul Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said a suicide bomber claimed he was carrying food items and blew himself up in a fuel station. Abdul Rahman said he doesn't believe the Syrian regime is behind the attack. He said the regime kills scores of people daily using all types of weaponry and doesn't need to kill its own sympathizers." Yes indeed, just in case you were distracted by the US-backed terrorist bombing of buses full of civilians, CNN used the pathetic quisling Rahman to remind you of the 'evils of the regime' and to admit that, despite the 'evil' of Assad, he has not yet found a need to kill his own sympathiziers. Regarding the "photos that were too graphic to publish" by the Independent; please explain to the families of these mutilated Syrians why their graphic murders were too distasteful to Western sensitivities when graphic images of dead and injured children are splashed across Western media broadsheets when the alleged author of such attacks is the Syrian or Russian military. Britain's state-owned BBC, no stranger to the propagation war porn when it serves the NATO agenda, headlined rather blandly: "Syria war: Huge bomb kills dozens of evacuees in Syria". Had the bombing in question been attributed to the Syrian army, or Russians, you can bet the headline would have read something like: "Murderous Regime Bombs Innocent Civilians in Rebel-held Area Just Days After Worst Chemical Attack in the History of the World". Of course, I do not believe for a moment that the allegations of the western-propagated Idlib chemical incident are true, but this is the sort of headline the Western corporate media runs, irrespective of actual evidence, of which they have none as regards the alleged chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun. Please recall that just days after the US-led coalition murdered anywhere between 60 and 80 Syrian soldiers in Deir ez-Zor, Western governments, their jihadi proxies and the Western press deflected attention by attacking a UN humanitarian convoy and blaming Syria and/or Russia. A BBC report on the bus bombing states: "A huge car bomb has blasted a convoy of coaches carrying evacuees from besieged government-held towns in Syria, killing at least 39 people." The actual names of the towns Foua and Kafraya aren't mentioned until paragraph 5, after the BBC had ominously warned of "revenge attacks on a convoy of evacuees from rebel-held towns, being moved under a deal," implying the big bag Syrian 'regime' cannot be trusted. Despite the BBC's deliberate anti-Syrian propaganda here, compare how the Syria government and the so-called 'opposition' have behaved so far in similar exchange deals. - December 2016: Civilians and terrorists, including al-Qaeda in Syria (Jabhat al-Nusra...and their re-branded incarnation Hay'atTahrir al-Sham ) were bused safely (from the eastern areas they terrorized) to Idlib. Sick and wounded residents of Foua and Kafraya were meant to be bused out in exchange but terrorists attacked and burned five or six buses, pledging to " burn anyone who comes to transport them". "4 months ago "rebels" burned evacuation buses meant for Foua/Kafraya and can be heard saying "We will burn anyone who comes to transport them" - April 2017: Syrian media, SANA, reported on April 14: "60 buses transport more than 2300 gunmen and some of their families from al-Zabadani and Madaya. The link on SANA's website contains a video showing numerous moving buses, the Syrian Red Crescent, and civilians presumably families of militants also present in the video. In August 2016, Vanessa Beeley and I met with a number of Foua/Kafraya residents who had been evacuated in a then rather-rare evacuation, December 2015. The horrors they spoke of will never be fairly reported in corporate media. Eva Bartlett Eva Bartlett is an independent writer and rights activist with extensive experience in the Gaza Strip, where she lived a cumulative three years (from late 2008 to early 2013),accompanying Palestinian fishers and farmers as they came under intensive fire from the Israeli army. She documented the 2008/9 and 2012 Israeli war crimes and attacks on Gaza while riding in ambulances and reporting from hospitals. From June-August 2016, she visited Syria for her fifth time. Her writings can be found on her blog, In Gaza (sott.net)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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MIT expert claims latest chemical weapons attack in Syria was staged

VALUE OF U.S. DOLLAR DOWN AND GOLD PRICES RISE AS NORTH KOREA TENSIONS MOUNT

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No 'Red Lines' After US-Backed Terrorists Massacre Idlib's Foua Civilians

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VALUE OF U.S. DOLLAR DOWN AND GOLD PRICES RISE AS NORTH KOREA TENSIONS MOUNT

Video of woman getting punched at Berkeley protest sparks outrageApril 17, 2017

No 'Red Lines' After US-Backed Terrorists Massacre Idlib's Foua Civilians

Video of woman getting punched at Berkeley protest sparks outrage
April 17, 2017