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Lindsey Snell, a journalist who escaped Al Qaeda captivity in Syria, responds to a top US diplomat calling the militant group “an asset” amid a media-enabled PR campaign to whitewash its image. Amid a public relations campaign to rehabilitate the Al Qaeda franchise in Syria — which rules Idlib, Syria’s last militant-controlled province – former top US diplomat James Jeffrey has called the group a US “asset.” Lindsey Snell, an independent journalist who escaped captivity by Al Qaeda in Syria, […] The post Former hostage responds to top diplomat calling Al Qaeda a US ‘asset’ in Syria appeared first on The Grayzone.

An anti-war activist was visited by California Highway Patrol officers after posting video of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s bumbling comments on Israel-Palestine. The action, which AOC denies triggering, was initiated by a call to US Capitol Police. As he waited for a food delivery at his home in Los Angeles on April 8, Ryan Wentz, an anti-war activist and producer for the online viral program Soapbox, heard two men calling his name from over his front gate. When he approached, he […] The post Anti-war activist visited by police after posting embarrassing AOC video appeared first on The Grayzone.

After convincing itself Vietnam would grant it access for missile bases against China, the Pentagon got a hard dose of reality. When the Pentagon began gearing up for a future war with China in 2018, Defense Department officials quickly realized that they needed access to Vietnamese territory for troops armed with missiles to hit Chinese ships in a US-China conflict. So they initiated an aggressive campaign to lobby the Vietnamese government, and even Communist Party officials, in the hope that […] The post Pentagon campaign to recruit Vietnam as military ally against China exposed delusions of US war strategy appeared first on The Grayzone.

The BBC’s Chloe Hadjimatheou produced a podcast serial designed to rehabilitate the White Helmets’ late, scandal-stained founder, while blaming critics for his demise. Was she a channel for a wider British intelligence operation? White Helmets founder James Le Mesurier falling to his death from the top floor of his Istanbul home in uncertain circumstances in November 2019 created a myriad of extremely serious problems for a great many powerful people.  At the time, the White Helmets’ intimate ties to jihadist […] The post Questions about BBC producer’s ties to UK intelligence follow ‘Mayday’ White Helmets whitewash appeared first on The Grayzone.

Memorialized by Western diplomats, Lokman Slim worked for US government cutouts, wished war and suffering on fellow Shias and informed on his community. Did these activities lead to his demise? On February 4, a Lebanese employee of foreign embassies and NGOs was murdered in the southern Lebanese village of Addousiyeh. Few Lebanese people had heard of the 58-year-old socialite who had made his living in recent years by informing on his own community. But the Western diplomatic and NGO community […] The post Lokman Slim’s war: The life and mysterious death of a Western collaborator in Lebanon appeared first on The Grayzone.

As the Biden administration ramps up confrontation, Lyle Goldstein of Naval War College discusses how China and Russia are forging new ties. In its opening months, the Biden administration has targeted Russia and China with belligerent rhetoric, new sanctions, and continued military provocations. Lyle Goldstein of the US Naval War College discusses how the US is inflaming the key flashpoints of Taiwan, Xinjiang, the South China Sea, Ukraine, and nuclear weapons, and how Russia and China are deepening cooperation in […] The post As US continues New Cold War, Russia and China forge new ties appeared first on The Grayzone.

Cultivated by the US government as human rights activists, Uyghur American Association leaders partner with far-right lawmakers and operate a militia-style gun club that trains with ex-US special forces. On March 21, US-government-funded Uyghur activists were caught on video disrupting a gathering against anti-Asian racism in Washington DC, barking insults at demonstrators including, “Wipe out China!” and “Fuck China!” The Uyghur caravan flew American and “East Turkestan” flags and drove vehicles adorned signs bearing slogans such as, “We Love USA,” […] The post “Wipe out China!” US-funded Uyghur activists train as gun-toting foot soldiers for empire appeared first on The Grayzone.

CIJA, a taxpayer-funded outfit that collaborated with al-Qaeda, lied to entrap a British academic in a sting operation. Its goal was to discredit critics of the dirty war on Syria – and cover up its own corruption. A British academic who belongs to a prominent anti-war research group has been targeted in a deceptive sting operation run by a regime-change organization funded with UK and US taxpayer money. That contractor now stands accused of defrauding the European Union of millions […] The post Western govt contractor entrapped British scholar in sting operation to cover up Syria corruption scandal appeared first on The Grayzone.

Noam Chomsky says that ongoing US claims of Russian interference are a joke — all the more so as the US continues to ravage multiple states with savage sanctions that target civilian populations and COVID-19 bullying that denies countries Cuban doctors and Russian vaccines. Noam Chomsky weighs in on the Putin-Biden row; new US claims of “Russian interference”; the “savagery” of US sanctions on Cuba, Iran, Syria, Venezuela and other nations; US pressure on Brazil to reject Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine […] The post Chomsky on the ‘joke’ of ‘Russian interference’ and the savagery of US sanctions appeared first on The Grayzone.

After publishing fraudulent claims in a bid to smear OPCW whistleblowers, Bellingcat has been caught in another subterfuge that contradicts its stated allegiance to “transparency and accountability”: a hidden, external author writing its material. The website Bellingcat promotes itself as a collective of digital sleuths who “pledge allegiance to truth and evidence and abide by the principles of transparency and accountability.” Its self-described “groundbreaking investigations,” especially those aimed at Russia and Syria, have led to fawning Western media endorsements of […] The post Bellingcaught: Who is the mysterious author of Bellingcat’s attacks on OPCW whistleblower? appeared first on The Grayzone.