Breaking: Intense Fighting in Damascus

Originally posted by MeesterB
I really do hate when threads like this devolve into a pissing match between who can be the most critical of propaganda. Unless you have been hanging out in syria the past few months, you don't know either!

Bollocks.

Truth in reporting is happening and happening with great frequency just as long as you know where to [not] look.

Originally posted by DerepentLEstranger

Originally posted by TinfoilTP

Originally posted by DerepentLEstranger

Originally posted by TinfoilTP

Originally posted by DerepentLEstranger

all these "evil dictators" seem to have in common the
ability of keeping many diverse peoples united as nations

for all we know, assad might actually be a saint

Didn't know "Saints" needed interrogation centers and employed brutality to maintain their sainthood.
That comment sticks out as the most ignorant of the week but it is only Monday so I doubt you will stay on top.

have you seen those centers? have you witnessed any brutality yourself?

"it was on TV/YT..."

yeah, right

Human Rights Watch Link to Syian crimes against humanity evidence

Former detainees and defectors have identified the locations, agencies responsible, torture methods used, and, in many cases, the commanders in charge of 27 detention facilities run by Syrian intelligence agencies

Your ignorance is tremendous but the facts are collected and will be acted upon.

L

L
who's being ignorant here?
from your link i gather hearsay is acceptable.
what?
couldn't take the time to link to the equivalent of the abu gahrib pics?

www.abovetopsecret.com...

So surviving witnesses who will swear in a court of law to what they witnessed is only hearsay? According to your standards nothing ever happened in the history of the world. By your standards your birth is just hearsay, the witness who signed your certificate is nothing but hearsay make believe.

Strawman Abu gahrib injections will not cure your ignorance either.

When Assad falls and the torture chambers are revealed, I can only guess at the magnitude of denial that will be on display around here but it is going to be tremendous.

reply to post by PulsusHilarisCaro


Where are the most truthful reporters? Where can I get news that is gleaming with accuracy and non-bias?
Just curious because it never seems to get linked on ATS.

Regardless, I take most things with a grain of salt, so I'm not berating people for that.

reply to post by TinfoilTP


HRW is funded by Soros a globalist and a psychopath jewish kappo....

Enough said...

P.s HRW was caught lying on South Ossetia,Venezuala etc. And aren't you that guy who use to write anti-Ron Paul BS???

Originally posted by mkgandhas
reply to post by TinfoilTP

 

HRW is funded by Soros a globalist and a psychopath jewish kappo....

Enough said...

P.s HRW was caught lying on South Ossetia,Venezuala etc. And aren't you that guy who use to write anti-Ron Paul BS???

edit on 16-7-2012 by mkgandhas because: (no reason given)

edit on 16-7-2012 by mkgandhas because: (no reason given)

note how the hypocrisy of us pot calling a syrian kettle black
totally escapes him
and is dismissed as a strawman

it's SOP for psychopaths to project their evil on those they would destroy

Originally posted by MeesterB
reply to post by PulsusHilarisCaro

 

Where are the most truthful reporters? Where can I get news that is gleaming with accuracy and non-bias?
Just curious because it never seems to get linked on ATS.

Linked so often and so frequently on ATS, I have to ask what the hell are you doing when you read ATS.

Truthful reporting is everywhere and if you can't find it, I sure as hell can't lead you to it, links or not.

Originally posted by PulsusHilarisCaro

Originally posted by MeesterB
reply to post by PulsusHilarisCaro

 

Where are the most truthful reporters? Where can I get news that is gleaming with accuracy and non-bias?
Just curious because it never seems to get linked on ATS.

Linked so often and so frequently on ATS, I have to ask what the hell are you doing when you read ATS.

Truthful reporting is everywhere and if you can't find it, I sure as hell can't lead you to it, links or not.

erm... okay. Somebody is a little defensive today.
I mostly just look at pretty pictures and only read the OP's little ex-text sections...

Anyway. Time will tell with the whole fighting in Damascus story. I'm glad I'm not there though.

Originally posted by stanguilles7

Originally posted by OpinionatedB
reply to post by MidnightTide

 

Yes but this is all propaganda from the rebels and the western rebel sympathizers.... if you notice here:

Syrian Truth l Addounia TV facebook page l Damascus

It has been circulated on many gossipy facebook pages that armed men occupied Damascus International Airport . Addounia facebook correspondent directly from the Airport refutes such rumors which aim at lowering the spirit of the Syrian people

www.facebook.com...

So, you refute one aspect of the propaganda, but blindly accept the other side?

All sides are propaganda. One must weed through and find the kernels of truth within. Neither 'side' is right.

So is there a side?

I guess the new state of propaganda requires critical thinkers to toss out everything and accept nothing. Most likely nothing happened at all and some studio in California produced the "B" rate film as per Obama?

Pretty sad state of affairs when the media is useless and people can't depend on any information from any source to make a decision about a conflict. With such laws enacted and senseless misuse of publicly funded counterintelligence groups it is impossible to make sane judgements about conflict at all anywhere on the planet.

So that means we should withdraw ALL TROOPS back home.

Change policies to a defensive stance and begin de-funding ALL counterintelligence.

Delete all branches of the government that are not necessary for the economy to function.

Hold massive court hearings by local juries around the country to try politicians and bankers and corporate manipulators. Imprison all guilty parties including presidents involved in abuse of power and war crimes.

Or we could just elect another politician and complain about it.

Originally posted by MidnightTide
Fiercest fighting yet reported inside Damascus

Opposition fighters battled Syrian government forces in Damascus on Sunday in what residents described as the fiercest fighting yet inside the city limits of the capital.

in.reuters.com...


Here is the Tweet grid for up to the minute eyewitness reporting for any who are interested: tweetgrid.com...

Appears the airport has been shut down, lots of areas are on fire, and lots of videos on youtube showing some of the fighting.

edit on 15-7-2012 by MidnightTide because: (no reason given)

I only see a couple of dudes running around with ski masks and guns in a street corner and an old lady forgetting the dinner on the stove causing the kitchen to burn up

Actually it looks more like a bank robbery when the man with the bag in his left hand walks by the camera.

A few examples of classic propaganda being used by Western governments and media in the context of the Syrian crisis:

Choice of words

- the "Al Assad Regime": this is how the MSM and western govs typically choose to describe the syrian government. Indeed, how many times have we heard them use the term "the syrian government"? This choice of words is no accident. It obscures the political and institutional reality of syria. The term "regime" is here used to imply a form of illegitimacy, which comes in handy when you are promoting regime change...

- "bloody crackdown" (ususally coupled with the term "orchestrated"): again, notice the choice of words. Are there other, journalistically more neutral and objective ways, to describe a situation which, by all accounts, is very confused? Undoubtedly yes. For example, one could say "an escalating confrontation between government and opposition forces"; or "efforts to quell the rebellion". However, they invariably go for the very emotional and subjective "bloody crackdown/repression" - something which, again, compounds in the unsuspecting public the idea that the State has lost all legitimacy (since the state is supposed to "protect people"...)

Choice of footage

- Cinema Verite/Documentary style: notice how opposition videos are shot and edited using a particular style called "cinema verite" or documentary style. For example, yesterday CNN had on its frontpage a masked man, sitting next to a window in a rundown appartment, with a profile shot. The man then proceed to tell the story of a massacre. Of course, he produces no evidence for his claim - but the visual style and set-up induces the viewer to accept his tale are "undoubtdely true".

- panorama shot, plumes of smoke, sound of gunfire over muslim-looking city: low cost to create (could be anywhere), very handy to simulate "a battle scene" and create in the viewer the pecreption that violence is widespread and indiscriminate.

Carefull Omissions

- How Russia's involvement is described is a good example. The media portrays Russia as "supporting Assad" essentially because of "nostalgia" of its glorious imperial past and because of commercial greed. Nothing, in fact, could be further from the truth. What is omitted from the context is Russia's naval base in Tartus, which is Russia's only access to the mediterranean and also houses Russian nuclear ICBMs. Russiatherefore has a major startegic interest in Syria - but this is never mentionned.

- Involvement of western and GC special forces: there have been numerous, credible accounts of the presence of western and arab special forces in Syria as "trainers" and "logistical support" for the opposition. Omitting to mention this side of the story is essentially omitting to disclose the fact that the insurrection is piloted from abroad.

I hope these examples will help some people here to understand how propaganda works: a careful choice of language, calibrated visual narratives to support those words and careful omissions that consildate "the story". What we can see here is that, in each of these examples, the way the conflict is reported contributes to create in the viewer/listener the sens that the Syrian government has lost its legitimacy and should be removed from power. That is why many here on ATS believe many opposition claims are fabrications aimed at justifying regime change.