Days after @TheGrayzoneNews reported explosive new leaks on OPCW's Syria cover-up (thegrayzone.com/2020/12/07/opc…), OPCW Director General Fernando Arias is appearing before the UN Security Council.
Russia's UN ambassador has asked OPCW Director General Arias multiple questions, including whether he will finally meet with the Douma probe inspectors whose findings were suppressed, and let them air their concerns:
Russian UN Rep. also asks Arias about June 2018 attempt to doctor the OPCW Douma team's original report & replace it with a bogus version. He cites an OPCW email published by @TheGrayzoneNews admitting the censorship but claiming it wasn't done at "behest" of Arias' predecessor.
Russian Amb. Vasily Nebenzya asks OPCW chief Arias about his claim that bulk of Douma probe was conducted after the departure of Inspector B (Brendan Whelan), author of the original report & leading dissenter against the censorship. Arias' claim, Nebenzya says, is not factual:
Arias is asked if: letter came from OPCW; he stands by its claims; & it will be investigated.
Russia asks OPCW chief Arias about a recent leaked email, published by @TheGrayzoneNews. An OPCW exec praised Whelan, the dissenting inspector, but feared that challenging the suppression of the Douma probe would help the "Russian narrative." (thegrayzone.com/2020/12/07/opc…)
After a series of questions from Russia about the suppression of the OPCW's Douma probe, OPCW Director General Fernando Arias appears to complain that these questions were posed in public, rather than in closed session. (Arias' answers were later delivered in closed session).
Before the UNSC meeting went to closed session, China's UN Ambassador encouraged OPCW chief Fernando Arias to provide a "prompt" response to Russia's "targeted" questions about the Syria probe controversy. (The session is now closed, so we can't hear Arias' response).
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I recommend The Intercept's newsletter just for their hilariously disingenuous fundraising emails. This billionaire-funded news outlet that employs some of the most overpaid people in the business has "Devastating News" -- it needs your money to save journalism:
The Intercept says it needs to raise $900,000. A few ideas:
-TI's editor in chief, a "Soft, Loose Collusion" Truther (
) who oversaw Reality Winner & other debacles, makes close to $500,000
-James Risen makes $305,000 to write Russiagate fan fiction
-They pay additionally obscene salaries for other columnists and op-ed writers that few people read
-The rent on their Park Avenue office -- with 360-degree panoramic views of New York City (I've sent it, it's lovely) -- would by itself sustain many mid-sized news outlets
BBC podcast "Mayday" tries to repair the reputation of Syria's White Helmets & their late founder. It also tries to discredit the OPCW whistleblowers. It does so with glaring falsehoods & omissions. Host @chloehadj pledged to answer my Qs, but hasn't yet: thegrayzone.com/2020/11/30/que…
I have outlined here just some of the major falsehoods, leaps of logic, and omissions in @chloehadj's series. If the BBC stands by this reporting, then I expect that it will welcome the opportunity to answer my questions.
.@JHWeissmann claimed Roger Stone/Trump camp “coordinated” w/ Wikileaks; mocked Russiagate critics; & asked: “what do they think they were right about?”
When we answered his Q by pointing out that his Stone claim is 100% bullshit, he complained about us being in his mentions:
.@JHWeissmann’s cowardly complaint is joined by @ryanlcooper, who will emerge from his #BlueAnon hole to take digs at us on here and in error-ridden columns but then scurry away whenever challenged to substantiate the xenophobic Russiagate conspiracy theory he’s bought into.
Really incredible to see a top US official admit, and then top US journalists celebrate, that the elected President was deliberately misled on troop levels in order to help continue the US military occupation in Syria.
Spoke to Tucker Carlson on Fox News last night about why James Jeffrey's open admission of undermining Trump's call for a US withdrawal from Syria is all the more reason for Trump to carry one out before he leaves office:
Here is the May 2020 comment of the now former US envoy James Jeffrey that I referenced, in which he described his job in Syria as follows: "My job is to make it a quagmire for the Russians."
.@ggreenwald on the absurdity of ex-colleagues' smears: "The Intercept is a place probably more so than anywhere else in media where you make an obscene amount of money, for doing very little if you want... Money is the reason to stay at the Intercept."
The point here is not to criticize anyone for working at The Intercept, even their insanely overpaid writers who produce shitty and/or very little work. The point is to rebut criticism that Glenn left The Intercept for financial reasons or a "marketing opportunity."
In fact, a side issue here is that there are hard-working reporters at The Intercept who make relatively small salaries, compared to more well-known personalites earn hundreds of thousands of dollars for producing little work, & in the case of James Risen, Russiagate fan fiction.