[Here is an editorial that points out the undeniable and somewhat humorous hypocrisy of the western media. Although not satire, the title is a bit misleading. Of course, the western “journalists” who were cheer-leading for the “moderate rebels” in Syria knew that such groups were actually brutal, reactionary extremists and imperialist proxy forces for overthrowing the legitimate government of the country. Regardless, it is somewhat amusing to watch these shills scramble to try to piece together a coherent narrative while still maintaining their massive bias against the Syrian Arab Republic. Amusing or not, the damage has already been done, and a large section of the western “left” bought the false narratives that their governments and media outlets sold to them.
This should remind us that information is a powerful weapon, and it is being wielded against the masses by the bourgeoisie 24 hours a day, all across the globe. We must also pick up this weapon and wield it for the people against our oppressors. We must change the way we look at, understand, and produce media. We must be critical of everything we watch, read, and hear. As Leading Lights we must do our part to expose and counter the lies being spread by the elites. We will deliver the proletarian truth to the masses in order to break the trance keeping the majority of the world in slavery. —Uziel]
By Nebojsa Malic
RT
An absolutely fascinating phenomenon accompanying the Turkish invasion of Syria has been watching the reaction of western journalists who once shilled for ‘moderate rebels’ now falling into the trap of having to condemn them.
Spearheading the Turkish invasion are the very “Free Syrian Army” and other “moderate” militants that the mainstream Western outlets have promoted for years as the victims of “genocidal monster” Bashar Assad in Damascus. Now, however, the “rebels” are baddies and Assad is the savior – at least when it comes to the Kurds the media have been lamenting as allies “betrayed” by US President Donald Trump. What a headache!
“When Turkish forces fight the Kurds the media calls them genocidal maniacs and ISIS-helpers,”tweeted scholar Max Abrahms. “When Turkish forces fight [Syrian President Bashar] Assad the media calls them rebels and revolutionaries.”
Outlets like the Washington Post are now describing as “crazy and not reliable” the very same militants they defended as “moderate rebels” just months earlier, journalist Aaron Mate pointed out.
“There are surely proxy war apologists who previously cheered on FSA now pained by their atrocities against Syrian Kurds,” Mate tweeted, noting that they shouldn’t be taken seriously unless they apologize to those they smeared as “Assadists” for being right all along.
While no apologies have been forthcoming, there has been plenty of hand-wringing by western journalists. Here is Danny Gold of PBS Newshour, bemoaning the discovery that the anti-government fighter he once “embedded with” (while working for Vice) is now taking part in Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria:
Reading the mainstream Western press this week, one would think they are the real victims of last week’s developments – not the Syrian Kurds whose fate they are lamenting – as the narrative they have crafted and maintained since 2011 is falling apart. Not only has the Turkish invasion exposed the true nature of “moderate rebels,” it has also served as a pretext for a general US withdrawal from Syria, and a deal between the Kurds and the Syrian government that Washington has spent years blocking.
The very same journalists who’ve spent years demonizing Assad as a genocidal war criminal and a week accusing Trump of abandoning the Kurds to Turkish “genocide” are now struggling to cope with the Syrian Arab Army stepping in to defend the Kurds from Turkey.
Needless to say, the process is not going too well.
“Trump has driven the Kurds into Russia’s arms,” tweeted Edward Luce, chief US columnist for Financial Times, describing the Syrian development as a disaster of global proportions, an unraveling of the world order that only benefits the Kremlin.
“I don’t know whether it’s too late to retrieve the benign image America had in most of the world. But the light is failing,” Luce said in a thread on Monday.
Journalist Max Blumenthal described Luce’s thread as “panic over an empire’s waning,” which is fitting for such melodrama. Notice that there is little or no concern for the well-being of Syrians, who have suffered for over eight years of proxy warfare and IS terror – or even the Kurds themselves, who were the original recipients of all the hand-wringing up to the moment they made a deal with Damascus.
It’s hard to admit being wrong, which is why most journalists never do it. Much easier to blame Russia, like they’ve been doing ever since the 2016 US presidential election and the Brexit referendum revealed how horribly out of touch they’ve been with their own societies. What Syria has shown is the extent to which this is true for international coverage as well. Don’t look for them to apologize, however – they’re the real victims in all this, don’t you know?
Original Source: https://www.rt.com/op-ed/470943-moderate-rebels-terrorists-kurds/ (RT)
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