Syria

As circles close on Ghouta and Afrin, where’s the solidarity?

The Turkish assault on Afrin has forced the enclave’s Kurdish defenders into an alliance with the same Assad regime that is committing war crimes in Eastern Ghouta. This tragically poses an obstacle to any solidarity between the respective defenders of the besieged enclaves. But we in the West are faced with no such grim choices, and should be capable of a consistent position. Yet Noam Chomsky, who signed a statement in support of Afrin, has shamefully abetted Putin’s propaganda portraying the repeated chemical attacks on Ghouta as “fake news.” (Photo of Aleppo ruins from UNHCR)

Watching the Shadows

Counterpunch justifies Kremlin propaganda

After the Washington Post cited FBI sources to the effect that at least one recent contributor to Counterpunch was a "probable Russian troll," editor Jeffrey St. Clair responds by defending  "pro-Russian" bias, pointing to instances of "bias" in favor of horrible things like torture and nuclear strikes by mainstream wonks. So much for the notion of the "alternative media" actually taking a higher standard than the dreaded "MSM," and actually providing an alternative. Instead the idea seems to be that if they can run sinister propaganda, so can we. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Watching the Shadows

Plame tweet prompts conserva-purge of Giraldi

American Conservative finally gave far-right ex-spook Philip Giraldi the sack over rank anti-Semitism after one of his evil screeds was tweeted by Valerie Plame. Would that some of our supposed allies in the Palestine struggle were as principled as our conservative enemies. Counterpunch, ANSWER, Al-Awda and MondoWeiss continue to promote Giraldi and/or his equally vile sidekick Alison Weir. Image: frgdr.com

New York City
countervortex

NYC: protest Gilad Atzmon at Theatre 80

Professional Jew-hater Gilad Atzmon will be appearing at Theatre 80, a venerated neighborhood institution in the East Village—with New York antifas preparing to protest.

Syria

Syria: gas attacks, air-strikes and hypocrisy

Trump, whose own air-strikes have killed hundreds, decides he must bomb an Assad air-base to retaliate for a gas attack—while the “anti-war” left is undisturbed by the gas attack.

North America

Anti-Semitic threats and ‘false flags’

Are the "false flag" theories about the anti-Semitic threats vindicated by the bust of a left-wing ex-journo? No, because exploiting anti-Semitism to score points is still anti-Semitic.