US can't win in Syria so they've resorted to drowning the world in propaganda instead

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US can't win in Syria so they've resorted to drowning the world in propaganda instead

The success of the ongoing Russian airborne campaign in Syria has prompted Washington to launch an information war against Moscow.

While Moscow proposed that all warring sides in Syria declare a ceasefire starting on March 1, the US continues to insist on an immediate cessation of hostilities, claiming that Moscow is stalling in order to allow the Syrian army to complete its ongoing offensive.


Also, on February 10 US warplanes carried out an airstrike against the Syrian city of Aleppo, with Washington immediately blaming Russia for the deed. 

According to Araik Stepanyan, executive secretary of the Presidium of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, faced with the success of the Russian airborne campaign in Syria the US resorted to information warfare.

"We need to understand that an information war was declared against Russia, so such statements shouldn't come as a surprise," Stepanyan told Radio Sputnik. "The fact that these statements are easy to refute matters little for the US leadership because its goal is to create an information phantom for the electorate. They're well versed in the art of fooling the masses; the creed of their propaganda is 'the more terrifying the lie is, the more people believe in it'."

Stepanyan added that the US had to resort to this strategy because its own campaign in Syria has so far failed to produce any meaningful results. He also mentioned the recent incident when TV Channel France 2 showed footage of Russian airstrikes in Syria as the work of the US-led international coalition, remarking that apparently the US can now claim credit for Russia's successes.

"These are all elements of hybrid warfare, its integral component — psychological warfare," he concluded. 

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama sought to increase the budget of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the US federal agency responsible for the Voice of America and Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe, among others, requested a substantial budget increase. If the newly proposed budget for fiscal year 2017 is approved, the agency will receive nearly $778 million - a vast sum, especially compared to Russia's foreign media budget.


For example, MIA Rossiya Segodnya, the parent company of Sputnik News, operates on a budget of $75 million, including both domestic and foreign media — 10 times less than the BBG.

Welcome to New Reality: Russia and China Challenge US Naval Supremacy

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Welcome to New Reality: Russia and China Challenge US Naval Supremacy

Russia and China have achieved remarkable success in their efforts to develop advanced navies, which presents a challenge to America's naval supremacy at a time when the US Navy is trying to adapt to the changing security environment, US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson said.

"For the first time in 25 years, the United States is facing a return to great power competition. Russia and China both have advanced their military capabilities to act as global powers," he stated in a report, titled "A Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority."

Both countries possess a "growing arsenal of high-end warfighting capabilities," designed to exploit the US Navy's "vulnerabilities" and "to leverage the maritime, technological and information systems," the document noted.

Russian Pacific Fleet warships during a naval parade in the Peter the Great Bay marking the wrap-up of the "Joint Sea 2015 II" Russian-Chinese naval drill

In addition, Russia and China "continue to develop and field information-enabled weapons, both kinetic and non-kinetic, with increasing range, precision and destructive capacity."

"The Russian Navy is operating with a frequency and in areas not seen for almost two decades, and the Chinese PLA(N) is extending its reach around the world," the report added.

Timeline of Major Events Leading to N Korea’s First Ever H-Bomb Test

The document, released on Tuesday, also mentioned other players, who are trying to acquire "advanced technology, including military technologies that were once the exclusive province of great powers." Richardson listed North Korea, Iran's "advanced missiles, proxy forces and other conventional capabilities," as well as international terrorist organizations as a threat to the US.

"Coupled with a continued dedication to furthering its nuclear weapons and missile programs, North Korea's provocative actions continue to threaten security in North Asia and beyond," the document stated.


Incidentally, on Wednesday, Pyongyang announced that North Korea successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. Russia condemned the move as a violation of international law and urged all stakeholders to look for a diplomatic solution to the issue.

Destroying Cultural Sites: Something ISIL and US Army Have in Common

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Destroying Cultural Sites: Something ISIL and US Army Have in Common

A former US Foreign Service employee reveals the scale of the destruction of ancient artifacts in Iraq during the occupation of the country.

ISIL Destroying 2,000-Year-Old City of Hatra in Iraq – Kurdish Official

As Iraqi officials are estimating the extent of the damage done by the Islamic State militants to one of the country's UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the ancient city of Hatra, a former US Foreign Service employee, Peter van Buren, has revealed that the US Army also wrought a lot of damage to some of the country’s historical landmarks.

On Saturday, Islamic State militants started destroying the 2,200-year-old site, having looted all of the ancient gold and silver coins that had been preserved.

Several days earlier, the Iraqi government said that ISIL fighters had attacked the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq and bulldozed it with trucks.

But as it turns out, the ISIL fighters are not the only ones who damaged sites in the Tigris and Euphrates valleys.

A former US Foreign Service employee, Peter van Buren, who was embedded with the US Army in Iraq in 2009, has revealed that the US also contributed to the destruction of ancient places.

A Polish soldier walks back to his tent just outside the ancient City of Babylon, 80 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq on Wednesday July 16, 2003

“Early in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, US Marines built a helicopter pad on the ruins of Babylon,” van Buren writes in his article for the Reuters. “They filled sandbags with archaeological fragments, pulverized ancient pottery and bricks engraved with cuneiform characters and christened the place Camp Alpha.”

“The scale and intent were obviously different from what the Islamic State is doing, but a loss is a loss, in big bites or small ones,” he adds.

Peter van Buren also wrote about how the country’s ancient villages, which he calls “tells”, attracted the US soldiers, who would sometimes drive their military SUVs there, doing “donuts” and enjoying kicking up dust plumes.

Razing of Ancient City in Iraq by ISIL Constitutes War Crime, UN Says

“People said that when the US Army first built the forward operating base and dug up truckloads of dirt, soldiers found ancient skulls and long bones,” he wrote. “You could sometimes still spot old bones in the earthen barriers protecting the base. The Army used one ancient tell nearby for artillery practice, blowing off most of its top. As one soldier said, 'If it’s old and already broken, why does it matter if we shoot at it?' That same area was turned over to the Iraqis, who use it today as a live-fire exercise zone. Forward Operating Base Hammer is still open for business, now as a depot for the M1A1 tanks the United States is selling to the Iraqis. I’m not sure of the status of what’s left of the on-base archaeological site.”

On Monday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the reported destruction of Hatra by Islamic State extremists a war crime, and called on the international community to protect cultural artifacts.

But nobody so far commented on the leftovers from the US Army. Baghdad's Iraqi Museum was plundered in 2003 shortly after the city capitulated to American troops, prompting widespread censure that nobody had taken steps to protect its world-class collection of Sumerian and Babylonian artifacts.


The museum, which re-opened several weeks ago, estimates that approximately 15,000 items were taken in the chaos. Only one-third have been recovered.