Russian Trolls Denied Syrian Gas Attack—Before It Happened

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-trolls-denied-syrian-gas-attackbefore-it-happened?ref=home

 

The conspiracists introduced claims about rebels using chemical weapons just as the Trump administration’s frustration was rising over the Assad regime’s use of chlorine gas.
Adam Rawnsley
ADAM RAWNSLEY
04.12.18 5:05 AM ET
Weeks before the world saw the bodies of men, women, and children dead from an apparent Syrian military chemical attack in Douma, Syria, the Russian military was already spreading bizarre conspiracy theories about an impending “false flag” chemical attack carried out by rebels.

Russian conspiracy propaganda and truther chum have been a staple of official discourse whenever Moscow wants to cover up bad behavior by its allies in Damascus. When the Assad regime used sarin nerve agents on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in 2017, Russian officials accused Syrian first responders—a group known as the White Helmets—of fabricating the attacks—saying it was impossible to explain otherwise how the group “managed to work for such a long period of time and remain alive without gas masks and special protection equipment” while documenting the attack.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia has dredged up the same talking points now to label Douma a “pretext” that was “eagerly provided by the White Helmets’ provocateurs.” But this time, the propaganda campaign got a head start—and they’ve even tried to remix old children’s plays and spy novels to make their point.

“What’s perhaps interesting in this one is the way that Russian officialdom started building the narrative on a false flag a month ago,” Ben Nimmo, a researcher at Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab who studies disinformation campaigns, told The Daily Beast. “There’s a measure of foresight and forethought there which is quite interesting.”

Beginning in early March, Russia’s ministry of defense began to claim that it had picked up intelligence about “provocations” planned by Islamist militant groups outside Damascus designed “to accuse government troops of using chemical weapons in the Eastern Ghouta against civilians.” Defense ministry officials later elaborated that the conspiracy to mount false-flag chemical attacks involved a whole cast of characters ranging from U.S. special operations forces operating in the Syrian desert to Free Syrian Army members in the south of the country to al Qaeda members in Idlib Province.

The anticipatory claims about rebel chemical weapons provocations coincided with mounting frustration in the Trump administration over the Assad regime’s continued use of chlorine gas attacks in and around East Ghouta. Reports of Syrian military chemical attacks died down in the months after the Trump administration struck a Syrian air base in retaliation for the sarin attack on Khan Sheikhoun, but began to increase as the Assad regime pressed an operation to take back the northeastern suburbs occupied by rebels.

 

Russia’s announcement of the false flag conspiracy followed a late February meeting by the Trump administration to consider a potential military response to Syria’s ongoing chemical weapons use, according to The Washington Post.

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12 minutes ago, Il Mango Dulce said:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-trolls-denied-syrian-gas-attackbefore-it-happened?ref=home

 

The conspiracists introduced claims about rebels using chemical weapons just as the Trump administration’s frustration was rising over the Assad regime’s use of chlorine gas.
Adam Rawnsley
ADAM RAWNSLEY
04.12.18 5:05 AM ET
Weeks before the world saw the bodies of men, women, and children dead from an apparent Syrian military chemical attack in Douma, Syria, the Russian military was already spreading bizarre conspiracy theories about an impending “false flag” chemical attack carried out by rebels.

Russian conspiracy propaganda and truther chum have been a staple of official discourse whenever Moscow wants to cover up bad behavior by its allies in Damascus. When the Assad regime used sarin nerve agents on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in 2017, Russian officials accused Syrian first responders—a group known as the White Helmets—of fabricating the attacks—saying it was impossible to explain otherwise how the group “managed to work for such a long period of time and remain alive without gas masks and special protection equipment” while documenting the attack.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia has dredged up the same talking points now to label Douma a “pretext” that was “eagerly provided by the White Helmets’ provocateurs.” But this time, the propaganda campaign got a head start—and they’ve even tried to remix old children’s plays and spy novels to make their point.

“What’s perhaps interesting in this one is the way that Russian officialdom started building the narrative on a false flag a month ago,” Ben Nimmo, a researcher at Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab who studies disinformation campaigns, told The Daily Beast. “There’s a measure of foresight and forethought there which is quite interesting.”

Beginning in early March, Russia’s ministry of defense began to claim that it had picked up intelligence about “provocations” planned by Islamist militant groups outside Damascus designed “to accuse government troops of using chemical weapons in the Eastern Ghouta against civilians.” Defense ministry officials later elaborated that the conspiracy to mount false-flag chemical attacks involved a whole cast of characters ranging from U.S. special operations forces operating in the Syrian desert to Free Syrian Army members in the south of the country to al Qaeda members in Idlib Province.

The anticipatory claims about rebel chemical weapons provocations coincided with mounting frustration in the Trump administration over the Assad regime’s continued use of chlorine gas attacks in and around East Ghouta. Reports of Syrian military chemical attacks died down in the months after the Trump administration struck a Syrian air base in retaliation for the sarin attack on Khan Sheikhoun, but began to increase as the Assad regime pressed an operation to take back the northeastern suburbs occupied by rebels.

 

Russia’s announcement of the false flag conspiracy followed a late February meeting by the Trump administration to consider a potential military response to Syria’s ongoing chemical weapons use, according to The Washington Post.

I knew it was Syria with cover by Russia and Iran all along because this is their MO, and there is no other faction in the area that they can blame it on.

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