Caitlin Johnstone

Understand The OPCW Scandal In Seven Minutes

One of the annoying things about continuing to write about the OPCW/Douma scandal in the near-total absence of mainstream media coverage is the fact that it’s difficult for a new reader to just jump in on this developing story without having followed it from the beginning. There are a lot of details to go over…

Caitlin Johnstone
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One of the annoying things about continuing to write about the OPCW/Douma scandal in the near-total absence of mainstream media coverage is the fact that it’s difficult for a new reader to just jump in on this developing story without having followed it from the beginning. There are a lot of details to go over to introduce someone to the story, and if I repeat them every time I write an article on the subject I’m twelve paragraphs in before I get to the new developments, and by that time I’ve bored all the readers who didn’t need the introduction. I’m sure other alternative media figures commenting on this story have encountered the same problem.

Fortunately for us, In The Now and journalist Dan Cohen have stepped up to the plate and put together a concise, easy-to-follow video on both Twitter and Facebook explaining the OPCW scandal in a way that enables anyone to familiarize themselves with the story in seven minutes. This article exists solely to draw attention to this excellent resource.

Cohen has been really great about quickly getting concise, quality videos out to help people make sense of specific developing stories which the haze of western propaganda makes difficult to understand; his recent videos on the Bolivia coup and the Hong Kong protests were very helpful in the same way. He uses robust arguments and independently verifiable facts to clearly show that there’s much more to these stories than the mass media have been letting us know.

I’ll definitely be linking to this video in my articles going forward to enable anyone who hasn’t been following the OPCW scandal closely to quickly familiarize themselves with the story. The more of these lucid, accessible resources we’ve got circulating within the information ecosystem, the better.

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51 responses to “Understand The OPCW Scandal In Seven Minutes”

  1. Godless Nihilist Avatar
    Godless Nihilist

    In this totally up is down world, the only network personality actually reporting on the OPCW scandal is Tucker Carlson. Yep, the neo-nazi, Trump fanboy is doing what Rachael Maddow, Jake Tapper, and the NYTimes won’t do. I guess if they ran with the story, at some point, they would have to admit that Tulsi Gabbard was right all along and they were wrong.

    1. Richard Wicks Avatar
      Richard Wicks

      They weren’t wrong.

      They are propagandists. Being wrong would mean they made an error, they lie.

      The United States stopped having a functioning media once George W. Bush lied us into the Iraq War – actually before that. There is no “mainstream” news media at all. We have pure propaganda and Carlson is only allowed to tell the truth if it fits the narrative that “the other side of the aisle == BAD!!!”

      Both parties are garbage and run by complete criminals. Why do you think all of DC got their knickers in a double Gordian knot when Trump was elected? He can destroy them all, by simply telling the truth, because it’s rampant with corruption. That’s what the accusations of the “25th amendment” were all about because in this world, if you start explaining the naked truth of just how corrupt the US Federal government is, well, you’d have to be crazy because we live in an insane society now.

      Every single war since AT LEAST Iraq was predicated on a complete, total, lie.

      1. VF Avatar
        VF

        Every war since at least Vietnam was predicated on a complete and total lie.

        1. Gregg Senne Avatar
          Gregg Senne

          You could arguably push that back to the Mexican War, which was little more than a land grab. Even the so-called Revolutionary War was in some ways a farce. One might more accurately call it The War To Preserve Slavery In What May Soon Be A Former British Colony.

  2. pretzelattack Avatar
    pretzelattack

    that tweet by Ms. Johnstone about iraq was excellent, captured the way i’ve been feeling about the iraq war for a long time. fucking bush eating bon bons with michelle obama in a skybox, mueller being portrayed as the protector of our democracy as he conducts another witch hunt; it just boggles my mind.

  3. Smedley Avatar
    Smedley

    The pro-war propaganda in America constantly tells the audience about how the ‘honor code’ at the military academies prohibits any cadet from ‘lying’. In the propaganda, this honor code is extended out to all serving officers and military personel, so the audience is routinely told that their ‘code’ prohibits them from lying.
    Sean Spicer, former Press Secretary for Trump was just named to the Board of Visitors to the US Naval Academy. The Board of Visitors “reviews morale, discipline, curriculum and finances” of the Naval Academy, according to the article on corporate news.
    The article mentions that other members of the board include Members of Congress.
    ———
    So, we have a known Liar, who proudly lied for the Biggest Liar in the World, along with Members of Congress who are also Professional Liars, all serving to review Morale and Discipline at an Academy that we are constantly told has an honor code that prohibits lying. I’m guessing that this ‘honor code’ is pretty much a “nudge, nudge, wink, wink” sort of thing, given the people who supervise the Academy.
    ———
    But the Propaganda says we’ve just got to trust anything that anyone in uniform tells us about things like the OPCW and Chemical Weapons in Syria and violent counter coups against democracy in Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, etc. They can’t be lying, not with the Honor Code.

  4. ron campbell Avatar
    ron campbell

    The highest function of the teacher consists not so much in imparting knowledge as in stimulating the pupil in its love and pursuit.- Henri Frederic Amiel
    Sometimes, now, when I read articles I think to myself, Ms Johnstone writes like this. Please peruse this article and see for yourself:
    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/12/02/children-of-the-children-of-plenty-are-rising-in-anger/

    1. Smedley Avatar
      Smedley

      All of this has happened before, and it will happen again.
      🙂
      So say we all!

      1. Gregg Senne Avatar
        Gregg Senne

        FRAK!

    2. cutthecord Avatar
      cutthecord

      i find luongo and ehret to be two best writers on strategic culture forum. no pretension and just clear forceful analyses that are funded by no interests.

    3. cutthecord Avatar
      cutthecord

      i find luongo and ehret to be two best writers on strategic culture forum. no pretension and just clear forceful analyses holding nothing back.

  5. xkeyscored Avatar
    xkeyscored

    I work with people who are by no means socialists, radicals, revolutionaries or whatever. They are thoroughly sceptical of the USA’s actions, motives and justifications in matters like this, even if many of the details would be news to them. Basically, they don’t believe a word of it either.
    The problem doesn’t seem to be persuading them of facts, but motivating them to do something. But what?
    PS Not a US citizen, not in a western country. Maybe US citizens swallow it all, I don’t really know, though I doubt it.

  6. James Avatar
    James

    All of these gas attacks attributed to Assad were committed by US proxy head choppers. Theodore Postol debunked the first attack in Gouta by pointing out the missile used for the delivery of poisonous gas had a range that precluded the possibility that it was launched from any area held by Assad forces. It was launched by imported sunni/wahhabi terrorists funded and supported by the US, Israel and the Saudis

    1. ron campbell Avatar
      ron campbell

      Getting used and abused by the ” Evil Empire ” and its allies is always par for the course. Please peruse this article:
      http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52640.htm

    2. Smedley Avatar
      Smedley

      I think you might have your false-flag chemical attacks mixed up.
      The attack with the ‘rockets’ that lacked the necessary range was during Obama in 2014, and used to promote his drive to take the US directly into the Syrian War. That drive was stopped when Obama tried to vaguely follow the constitution and get one of those Congressional fig-leaf authorizations to kill, maim and torture human beings …. and failed as both the UK parliament voted No and the US Congress was becoming very reluctant.
      Dr. Postol has also debunked later false-flag chemical attack claims, but the details were different from the rockets that lacked the necessary range in the 2014 fake.

    3. Gregg Senne Avatar
      Gregg Senne

      Webster Tarpley reported in the US/Saudi backed insurgency years before the mainstream and alternative media picked it up. I’ve always considered him to be something of a wingnut. However, on the effort to topple Syria he was spot on.

  7. Kurt Avatar
    Kurt

    Life in the Land of the Free ….. I was looking through online ads to see if anything I needed was on sale during these Black Days. I wanted a Christmas light for the window that said “Peace on Earth”. Or maybe a wreath. Something I could display and make my point during this season of Peace on Earth and Goodwill towards Humans.
    So, I typed “peace” into the site’s search function. I found one wall sign and one throw pillow which had the phrase “Peace on Earth”. Nothing at all that was Christmas related. However, the search returned more than a page of results, as it found a wide selection of violent movies that all used the word “peace” in the title.

    —

    In the Land of the Free, saying “Peace On Earth” for Christmas is not supported. But you can find lots of violent movies where we are told that the way to Peace is a selection of Hollywood fight scenes and lots of stuff blowing up.

  8. ron campbell Avatar
    ron campbell

    Daring to utter the truth takes real courage, nowadays. Daring to utter truths about the Central Intelligence Agency is liable to get you killed in a hurry. I just read this article and I am completely stunned by it.
    Why a Second American Revolution Is Necessary for the Entire World by Eric Zuesse
    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/12/01/why-second-american-revolution-necessary-for-entire-world/

    1. J.B. Avatar
      J.B.

      Ron, an excellent, exceptionally accurate article. A friend just pointed out that in a couple decades we are on the verge of destroying what mankind has take 2 millenia to create. He’s spot on too.

      1. ron campbell Avatar
        ron campbell

        Whenever I wake up, my first thought is; the idiots have not blown it all up yet! I do not have hope for my species or this planet; I hope that I am wrong, but I do not expect to be. Look a just how many people have the means at their fingertips to wipe out everybody. Then take a look at their egos and join me.

  9. mike k Avatar
    mike k

    You have correctly ascertained Caitlin, that the information war will determine the future of mankind. Please continue your fight for truth amid the blizzard of lies trying to define our reality.

  10. ron campbell Avatar
    ron campbell

    Hillary Rodham Clinton is a fantastic manipulator and a murderous criminal ring leader of global proportions, a fact alone which should explode any old fashioned (or conversely, feminist) bigotry that women are not capable of such.
    But as a candidate and public face, she is reviled. She has earned that too, by the way, but this has not stopped her from putting herself out there, to the detriment of her own aims. The sinking of the HRC ship was also the sinking of the DNC ship, and the peak arrogance at the moment of total destruction is the very definition of hubris in Greek tragedies.–Joaquin Flores Peruse the entire article here:
    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/12/01/frontrunners-werent-biden-why-buttigiegs-race/

  11. ron campbell Avatar
    ron campbell

    So what is our ” government up to “? Are you ready for ” dark secrets “? Please peruse this article:
    https://www.truthdig.com/articles/americas-darkest-secrets-are-laid-bare-in-the-report/
    So why is the ICC not charging countries with ” war crimes ” any more? Please peruse this article:
    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/11/30/will-icc-prosecute-perpetrators-of-war-terror/

    1. pretzelattack Avatar
      pretzelattack

      the u.s. withdrew from icc jurisdiction under reagan, and has a seat on the security council, so it just vetoes any attempt to hold it responsible if such were ever even made. if things get dicey it can always threaten the kids of icc judges.

  12. Neville J. Angove Avatar
    Neville J. Angove

    That the gas attack did not occur was obvious from the first reports. What amazed me was not the speed of the US response, but the fact tat for all its intensity, it was ineffectual, as if it was designed to show Trump was responding but actually was just going through the motions to appease some influential people.

  13. Piero Colombo Avatar
    Piero Colombo

    Many thanks for this. Well-written as far as I could follow (approx. 2 minutes) but the video has a major defect for many people who are unable to focus on a line of thought while music is playing in the so-called background.

    1. luke Avatar
      luke

      I put it to you that the defect isn’t in the video…

    2. Paula Avatar
      Paula

      Yes, I suffer greatly from music overpowering the discourse I want to hear. I originally thought it was intentional on the part of the mainstream media to further muddy the waters, but I find even decent outlets do it. My defect is being older and having hearing difficulties, and music is a way to exclude older people. This is ageism.

  14. ron campbell Avatar
    ron campbell

    Ms Johnstone your readers might like these articles. The first article brings back the slimy way our politicians backstabbed our troops to get into World War II. Peruse it here:
    https://www.fff.org/2019/11/29/empire-intervention-and-the-intentional-sacrifice-of-u-s-soldiers/
    The second article is a prelude to what is liable to happen in two weeks when the ” political firestorm ” is unleashed on the still asleep United States public. Peruse it here:
    https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/the-turnaround/
    Someone is liable to do something very stupid, real soon; it is the gut feeling of impending doom before the shit hits the fan!

    1. J.B. Avatar
      J.B.

      John, I read a book that was written and self-published by a good ol country boy from Nolan in Nolan County Texas of his ordeal in being a Japanese prisoner in the S. Pacific. It’s a horrendous read and he hates the govt. of the US as much as the Japs because they could all have been rescued in plenty time.

      I’d like to get permission to re-publish it again. It’s in his words so it sounds uneducated but there’s no doubt it’s the real thing.

      1. ron campbell Avatar
        ron campbell

        The Japanese in WWII and the North Koreans in the Korean civil war made sure that every American prisoner wished that they were dead instead of captured. The governments of countries at war do not give a rats ass about their own troops as is evident by the lousy medical attention they receive.

      2. Kurt Avatar
        Kurt

        Well, at least he didn’t have an Atomic Bomb dropped on him, like some other Allied POW’s.

        1. J.B. Avatar
          J.B.

          Probably there were times he didn’t care. Yes, it was that bad.

  15. Ishkabibble Avatar
    Ishkabibble

    Now, how many of those wonderful D candiates for POTUS are going to congratulate THESE whistleblowers who are blowing the lid off another in a long line of US false flags? Or are THESE TRUE ANTIWAR whistleblowers going to be Assanged, Snowdened, Draked, Ellsberged, or Kiriakoued into poverty, social ostracism or prison?
     
    Speaking of Julian Assange, how many D candidates have said that they would immediately pardon him should they become POTUS?

    1. Kurt Avatar
      Kurt

      Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has ….
      (sorry for the corporate media link)

      “Tulsi Gabbard Says She Would Drop Julian Assange Charges and Pardon Edward Snowden”
      https://www.newsweek.com/tulsi-gabbard-julian-assange-edward-swowden-pardon-dropped-charges-joe-rogan-1425802

  16. ron campbell Avatar
    ron campbell

    Ms Johnstone is having an effect on this subject that the MSM continues to ignore. Please peruse this:
    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/11/29/douma-looks-increasingly-like-a-staged-chemical-attack-by-the-west/

    1. J.B. Avatar
      J.B.

      Excuse me. I meant Ron.

  17. Barbs Avatar
    Barbs

    Meanwhile, the Big Story on the corporate propaganda channels all week long has been……. Will the big balloons of cartoon characters fly during Macy’s “Please come shopping” parade on Celebrate Genocide Day?
    And of course, the Big Story today is that the blow up cartoon characters were successfully flown, undoubtedly due to heroic efforts.
    That’s what the Corporate propaganda wants people to know and talk about.
    It will probably be the topic of the next Democrat debate!

  18. J.B. Avatar
    J.B.

    I’m really sick of lies by news. Teddy Roosevelt said to the nation 5 times that the US getting involved in WWll would NOT have US soldiers fighting it. The pledge of allegiance was written and forced down everyone’s throat in 1942 and has been changed to include, “Under god”. And people chanted that crap my entire life growing up while I took the blows and threats of not standing and taking my hat off and bowing to tyranny.

    I noticed though, that in high school, the assistant coach that taught civics and asked the class what they knew about Vietnam and nobody said anything, it was a wake up call for everyone. I’ve always had a good bullshit detector and it served me well back then. It also served every male in my class well too I guess since not a single one entered the armed forces. I wonder how many classes could have said that. Well, we had 3+ years to figure it out even though uncle kept sending us invitations, especially after the Tet Offensive, to come over and play some. No takers but there were girls in the class that were eager for us to go. How does that work? Caitlin, did you have to take the red pill or was it something your bullshit detector nosed out early in life? You’re good at what you do. Just curious.

    1. Smedley Avatar
      Smedley

      I realized when I was in high school that none of the ‘reporters’ talking on Tv knew anything about what they were talking about.
      I was a geeky science kid in high school. There was a lot of pushing for nuclear power then, and I was interested and learned a lot about it. Then Three Mile Island happened.
      It was very obvious on TV that the reporters were clueless. They’d talked to someone who knew something. They’d tried to take notes. But, when they did their Stand Up routine for the evening news, they got the words they’d written down correctly into their stand up routine. But those words were all used in the wrong context, and they were all scrambled, out of order, and really complete gibberish to anyone who’d read anything about the subject.
      That taught me the lesson that both teachers and reporters are only ‘educated’ in teaching an journalism. They really don’t know anything beyond those specialties. They try to fake it, but sometimes it is quite obvious that they don’t have the slightest clue what they are talking about.
      Thus, by the time I escaped from high school, I was fully convinced that ‘they’ were lying. Once you have that idea on one topic about which you know a little bit more than the average bear, it spreads and grows and it becomes very obvious across the board that its all a pack of lies.

    2. George Critch Avatar
      George Critch

      Only because you mentioned Vietnam will I write something today. Last night at the family gathering my (H.S. Junior) granddaughter said to me, PopPop, I haven’t been taught anything about the Vietnam War in school. I asked why she is bringing it up now and who mentioned it? She answered that her English teacher likes to talk about things other than English. I asked her what she thought about the war. She said why haven’t we been taught these facts? I said the empire doesn’t like to bring up losses. I will say only one thing, in Washington D.C. is a monument to the war. The monument has the names of the servicemen and women that died in the war. There over 58,000 names on the wall and of those names over 33,000 were just 18 years old or younger. I said when you go back to school, look at your classmates and think about how could they be ready to die just to have their name on a wall. There is no memorial to the 2 million civilian deaths (collateral damage) or the million or so Vietnamese soldiers that fought and died against us. So, sweetheart try and understand when I say ‘There is no way to peace, Peace is the way’. You must remember to always try to find the truth not necessarily what you are taught. Okay PopPop.

  19. BuelahMan Avatar
    BuelahMan

    Is there another link to the videos. I don’t do Facebook or Twitter (Twitter banned me long ago).

    1. Caitlin Johnstone Avatar
      Caitlin Johnstone

      Just click the video on the embedded tweet. You don’t need a Twitter account to watch it.

      1. Smedley Avatar
        Smedley

        Yep, as a Non-Twit, I do that all the time.

        In this case, it was my security plugins in the browser that caused problems. I eventually got it to play, but I had to give both twitter.com and twimg.com access to my computer to get it to play from the Twit link. That was enough to make the Twit link play the video.
        The FB link was completely blocked to me as it demanded that I log into their surveilence and monitoring service to see the video. Which of course I was unable to do as I left FB years ago.
        A non-google search didn’t turn up any other locations for this video, so the Twit link appears to be the only option for viewing. (This Caitlin article was the first response to a search on “Dan Cohen OPCW”!)

        1. xkeyscored Avatar
          xkeyscored

          If you download the “Video DownloadHelper” thingy for Chrome or Firefox (I’ve never tried the Chrome one), you can save the video. It usually works where all else fails, but it’s a bit fiddly to use.
          https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-downloadhelper/
          https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/video-downloadhelper/lmjnegcaeklhafolokijcfjliaokphfk

    2. dregeye Avatar
      dregeye

      Mr. Cohen’s video is now available for viewing here:
      https://youtu.be/9c170kE9elw
      How long it will be allowed to remain is in question.
      Please download it, archive it and display it wherever and whenever possible.
      Thank you, Ms. Johnstone, for bringing this important information to our attention.
      The U2b channel hosting this video has other content that may be of interest.

  20. John McClain Avatar
    John McClain

    Dear Caitlin, as a two decade retired U.S. Marine, I’ve been pursuing these issues since a decade before I retired, having realized I had been lied to about our operations, where, why, and who, for the first decade of service.
    I retired in 97, with multiple sclerosis, and found it a Godsend, for having missed out on three totally evil wars, and one mostly evil one. I spent the last decade of serving, teaching my Marines to survive, to hold our code first, last, always, and walk away from “unlawful orders”, something I paid the price for several times, but have a clear conscious, because of.
    I’ve seen “the civilian view” since 9-11, knowing it wasn’t right, not enough data to know what was wrong, having been on “instructor duty” at the time, and not being deployed out of view, out of news, and kept ignorant. I’d been one who deployed at every chance, and seldom saw “news” true or lies, and began exploring when the “narrative” of our landing in Beirut, August of 82, didn’t sit right, and I discovered it was Israel, not Iran, that satchel charged four 707 airliners, blowing off main landing gear, to shut down the airport.
    I watched those two “supposed chemical bombings”, knew from the t.v. they were frauds, as does everyone who has been “in country” and seen shit bombed. You are a voice of reason, it is of the utmost importance, voices the world over, protest, Americans have no control over our government, and it is completely out of control. I really appreciate your finding such videos, and ensuring they get widespread notice. “We, the People of the World” are the sole power sufficient to stop the soulless bastards.
    Semper Fidelis,
    John McClain
    GySgt, USMC, ret.
    Vanceboro, NC, USA

    1. Lloyd Avatar
      Lloyd

      Thank you Gunnery Sergeant McClain for many years of still continuing faithful service. Yes, Caitlin here is delightful ray of sunshine.
      Illegitimi non carborundum,
      Lloyd

      1. Smedley Avatar
        Smedley

        If Sgt. McClain has not found and read “War is a Racket”, he should as he’d find it rather familiar. Despite the fact that it was written in the 1930’s. The author is a USMC General who was looking back at a military career of basically serving as the ‘muscle’ for a ‘mob’.
        https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.pdf
        Here’s how it begins …..
        “WAR is a racket. It always has been.It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.
        A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what itis about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”

    2. HelenB Avatar
      HelenB

      Hello John … good to see you posting here on Caitlin’s articles. I always enjoy reading your perspective. Your last sentence says it all. Respect.
      Helen B

  21. KT Avatar
    KT

    Much appreciated, Caitlin.

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