That Robert Fisk is held in high regard as a journalist by many who call themselves progressive speaks to the theoretical, moral, & political bankruptcy of what is wrongly called “the left.” He has long since gone beyond the parameters of orientalism to arrant racist & xenophobic hatred of Arabs & Muslims. His writings on the Arab Spring uprisings & on the Syrian revolution against Assad (where like fascists Bartlett & Beeley he was embedded with the Syrian army) are a mockery of journalism but masterpieces of political pornography. It seemed impossible he could outdo himself in that regard but this piece published today in the Independent takes his political bankruptcy to new depths of depravity. Unlike most other Assadists who have nothing to say about the bombing of civilians in Eastern Ghouta & Idlib, Fisk knows it cannot be ignored against an avalanche of photographic & video documentation.

The article should not be paraphrased because it so completely damns Fisk as a two-bit apologist & hustler for Assad’s dictatorship. This particular comment exposes the absolute moral & political corruption of this guy:

“Again, let us remind ourselves that the people of Ghouta are paying a grotesque & ferocious & disgraceful price in human suffering for their location in the Syrian war, at the hands of – yes – the Russians & the Syrians. But what do the preposterous saints of the UN bureaucracy – who, alas, will never, ever, “run out of words” — & those who describe the siege of Ghouta as “the day of judgement” really think they are talking about? Let us, amid atrocities, keep a sense of proportion here. Auschwitz & the Jewish Holocaust & the Rwanda genocide & the Armenian Holocaust & the countless mass murders of the 20th century (we might discreetly remember Russia’s losses at the hands of Hitler’s hordes) were a lot closer to the “day of judgement” than Ghouta. To compare this terrible siege with the crimes against humanity of the past century is to dishonour millions of innocent victims of far worse crimes.”

Fisk article (warning: you will need an exorcism after reading): http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/ghouta-siege-syria-death-toll-civilians-armed-attack-rebel-aleppo-latest-a8221086.html

(Photo of recovery efforts in Eastern Ghouta from White Helmets)

Placard at a protest today in Srinagar, Kashmir in solidarity with Asifa, the little girl so monstrously tortured, raped, & murdered in Jammu. The protest is to demand the police end the whitewash & do a proper investigation of all who perpetrated this crime against a small child.

Today also commemorates the 2006 death of four children in Dudipora, Kashmir who were shot dead by the Indian army while playing cricket. There has not yet been justice in that case. But there are no statutes of limitation on justice.

(Photo by Faisal Khan)

Once again, my wall is getting trolled by Assad supporters whose intemperate language masks Islamophobia by referring to “head-chopping jihadis” & Wahhabis, masks anti-Semitism by talking about Zionists laying siege to Syria, & doesn’t bother to mask misogyny by calling me a whore, bitch, & other such names. Coincidence they sound just like Indian nationalists about Kashmiris or white supremacists about Blacks, Latinos, & immigrants? Hate is the character of fascism & hate is incapable of cogent elaboration.

(PS: I’m deleting most of it since there isn’t much to learn from haters.)

Assad propagandists, including his stable of fascists like Bartlett & Beeley, & fellow travelers & hacks like Patrick Cockburn & Jeff Mackler, are managing to write about military events in Eastern Ghouta without mentioning that 400,000 civilians are under carpet aerial bombardment. There are hundreds of videos & photos pouring out of the area documenting the undeniable. But they go all geopolitical or talk about “head-chopping jihadis” at the gates of Damascus.

Just asking for some friends–these little kids getting treated at hospital in Eastern Ghouta: are these the “head-chopping jihadis” that the Assad regime is afraid of? Is that why he’s bombing Eastern Ghouta to smithereens?

Stand with the Syrian people & demand the immediate cessation of Syrian, Russian, & US coalition bombing of Syria & the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign military forces from Syria.

(Photo by Mohammed Badra/EPA)

Watch our pain, LIVE

–by Syrian artist Hala Al-abed

The latest estimate is that 400 people have been killed in Syrian & Russian carpet bombing in Eastern Ghouta since Sunday night. There is no current estimate of the number injured, including loss of limbs. Medicines Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) reports 13 hospitals & clinics they support have been damaged or destroyed in just the last three days leaving bombing victims like this boy in this kind of situation. It is also reported that ambulances are being bombed. The UN human rights head has risen to the occasion & said the Assad regime is engaged in a “monstrous campaign of annihilation.”

Meanwhile Assad propagandists are heralding the Syrian Army as freedom fighters & pulling one of their switch & baits by refusing to denounce Syrian & Russian bombing of civilians in Eastern Ghouta & Idlib & pretending Damascus is under siege by barbarians & “head-chopping jihadis” at the gates.

Stand with the Syrian people in their fight against dictatorship. Demand the immediate cessation of Syrian, Russian, & US coalition bombing of civilians & the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign military forces from Syria.

(Photo from Medicines Sans Frontiers)

Bashar al-Assad

–by Syrian artist Hala Al-abed

Reveal

–by Syrian artist Hala Al-abed

Just learned that a mold problem from a leaking pipe under the kitchen sink has been causing the respiratory problems four of my dogs & I have been having. I went to town on self-pity for about half an hour. Then I watched videos of masked White Helmets rescuing people in Eastern Ghouta & got a grip on myself. War makes other stuff look like small potatoes.

Eastern Ghouta, Syria: this is war using rockets & barrel bombs against unarmed civilians. It is a war to defend the Assad dictatorship, not a war against paramilitary terrorist groups as Assad propagandists claim. There are 400,000 civilians in Eastern Ghouta now coming under aerial & artillery assault. Just in the past four days, 250 civilians have been killed & over 1,200 have been injured, including hundreds of children. This woman is running for cover, trying to get the kids out of the field of Syrian bombers.

The only principled demands are for the immediate cessation of Syrian, Russian, & US coalition bombing of civilians & for the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign military forces from Syria.

(Photo by Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP/Getty Images)