Muslim moderate, gentle soul, Mohammed Daoudi had posted to his wall a VICE piece titled “I am waiting to die”: Syrians in Aleppo are posting final goodbyes online” (December 12, 2016).

The front line staff of the Fourth Estate has watched not only Aleppo’s most desperate hours but many, this editor included, has caught the arc of the narrative from its start in Daraa in 2011 and then revisited the Cold War Era, Soviet Era history, and a little more Russian history to note the threads of aristocracy, barbarism, and imperial ambition coursing across the decades.

My comment —

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/15/syria-ambulances-on-the-move-as-aleppo-evacuation-operation-begins

The Soviet Union dissolved 25 years ago, but the head of the “revived” Russian state is a KGB colonel who talked a billionaire into supporting his ambition to become the top official of the new state . . . and here we are witness to atrocities in which three old dictatorships — Moscow, Damascus, Tehran — share responsibility for the slaughter of innocents.

The Soviet Union spread lies wherever it wished to leverage power, and that includes the leveraging of power in the Palestinian community. Well, look back to the Soviet’s courtship of the middle east almost 70 years ago and then again at is presence in Syria right now.

http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/1669/honesty/

Today, Moscow represents another deep “security states” (http://www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-resurrects-the-kgb-moscow-security/) with Putin as the Big Boss (AKA “Vertical of Power”) and another class of aristocrats known as “The Oligarchs”. In Syria, you may not only observe Moscow’s idea of “truth” — go ahead: have a look at RT’s or Tass’s coverage of the same obscenity — but also its disregard for God, for human dignity, and such a thing as “human rights”.

Moscow’s methods in intimidation and patronage have helped reintroduce the world to barbarism and political totalitarianism.

This blog post tells how Assad himself encouraged and incubated the development of ISIL.

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/12/09/syria-assad-isil-background/

What kind of mentality manipulates the political image of an event using such methods?

Know what you’re seeing.

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