Scandal deepens around CNN’s Clarissa Ward staging Syria prison scene
By Wyatt Reed · The Grayzone · December 16, 2024
Footage showing CNN’s regime change-crazed correspondent supposedly freeing a forgotten prisoner from a Syrian jail has been exposed as a scandalous fraud, yet the network continues to re-air it, while defending its correspondent.
“In nearly twenty years as a journalist, this was one of the most extraordinary moments I have witnessed.”
That’s how veteran CNN journalist Clarissa Ward described her foray into a Syrian prison on December 12, where she promptly claimed to have rescued a forgotten inmate after three months in jail. But there was just one problem with the “extraordinary moment”: a review of a dramatic story depicted by CNN reveals a number of glaring inconsistencies, the greatest of which is that the man stands accused of being an impostor.
After countless social media users shredded CNN’s story, a fact-checking organization with ties to the US government has exposed the prisoner seemingly liberated in Ward’s theatrical performance turns out to have been a low level Syrian intelligence official jailed for corruption and abuse charges.
CNN finally addressed the deepening scandal on December 15, declaring that it would investigate the subject of Ward’s piece. However, the network continues to protect the correspondent responsible for the journalistic flim-flam, while rebroadcasting the staged report for its viewers day after day.
With Ward still stationed in jihadist-held Damascus, it appears that her bosses are refusing to allow any editorial standards or professional ethics get in the way of a successful Western-backed regime change operation.
“It moved! Is there someone there?”
In CNN’s original Dec. 11 video report, Ward enters a jail she says was previously operated by Syrian Air Force intelligence, which she claims was “one of many secret prisons across [Damascus]” – and was “specifically tasked with surveillance, arrest, and killing of all regime critics.” Ward was apparently searching for signs of Austin Tice, an American journalist who the US government claims was being held by the Assad government prior to its fall.
“We don’t find any hints of Tice,” Ward insists in a voiceover, “but [we] come across something extraordinary.” At this point, “the guard makes us turn the camera off while he shoots the lock off the cell door,” she says. Viewers are not shown their entrance. Afterwards, Ward and her entourage appear in a clean but windowless cell, where a blanket lies heaped on the ground.
“It moved!” Ward exclaims, before asking the blanket, in English: “Is there someone there?”
Upon being prodded by her armed rebel guide, a man crawls out from under the blanket, revealing himself to the CNN crew. Eyes widened, he raises his arms. “‘I’m a civilian,’ he says, ‘I’m a civilian,’” Ward translates. “He tells the fighter he is from the city of Homs and has been in the cell for three months.” Ward is shown pacing in the background, hand clasped dramatically to her chest.
“He clutches my arm tightly with both hands,” she intones, her voice quivering with emotion. She then asks breathlessly: “Does anyone have any water?” Someone off-screen produces a bottle, which the man drinks quickly. As he walks outside, he looks up. “My God, the light,” he says, while staring directly and unflinchingly at the sky. “Left alone for days without food, water or light, the man was unaware Bashar al-Assad’s regime had fallen,” Ward declares gravely.
By her stated estimation, he had been left for dead and deprived of all food and water for at least four days. A 2022 study published in Science determined that “despite adaptations to minimize dehydration, humans can survive for only ~3 days without consuming water.” The Mezzeh Air Force intelligence prison in question was reportedly overtaken by anti-government militants on Dec. 6, a full five days before the report was published.
Yet rather than immediately seeking medical care for the man after his release, a rebel fighter pulls up a chair, and the CNN crew elects to conduct an interview with the supposed former prisoner. At some point, someone hands him a plate of food, and he collapses into Ward’s arms after taking a bite. “He can barely lift it to his mouth. But his body can’t handle it,” Ward declares mournfully.
The segment ends as the man, who Ward identifies as “Adil Gharbal,” is guided into an ambulance by men wearing Red Crescent jackets. “It is the end of a very dark chapter for him and for all of Syria,” Ward concludes.
And perhaps it would be – if it actually happened. But it now appears the man rescued by CNN’s Clarissa Ward was a corrupt Syrian government official, not an innocent political prisoner.
US government aligned site exposes CNN’s Syria prison theater
According to a Western-backed fact-checking organization known as Verify, “Adil Gharbal” is actually Salama Mohammad Salama, who they identified as “a first lieutenant in Syrian Air Force Intelligence,” a figure they claim was “notorious for his activities in Homs.”
Verify, which describes itself as “a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checker Network (IFCN) and a trusted partner of Facebook in the MENA region since 2019,” writes that “residents of the Al-Bayyada neighborhood identified him as frequently stationed at a checkpoint in the area’s western entrance, infamous for its abuses.”
Per Verify, Salama was imprisoned due to his involvement in “theft [and] extortion,” and “his recent incarceration—lasting less than a month—was due to a dispute over profit-sharing” of “extorted funds.”
The IFCN’s parent group, the “Poynter Institute,” has taken huge sums from organizations including George Soros’ Open Society Foundation (OSF) and the CIA cutout National Endowment for Democracy. In 2017, Poynter took in a whopping $1.3 million from OSF and Omidyar Foundation, the main vessel for spending by Democratic Party-aligned billionaire Pierre Omidyar. Given its US-aligned financial ties, Verify has very little incentive to undercut CNN’s regime change narratives.
Alongside hundreds of social media users, Verify has also pointed out that the timeline described by CNN simply defies belief. As geopolitical analyst Arnaud Bertrand noted, “most humans cannot survive without water for 4-5 days, especially if it’s without food either and in stressful prison conditions. At the very minimum, they would have extremely dry, cracked lips and mouth, severely sunken eyes, a very tight grayish skin and they wouldn’t be able to speak coherently.”
The man CNN claims to have liberated shows no signs of long-term incarceration, however, and instead appears well-fed, neat, and relatively clean-shaven. Another popular post drew attention to “the manicured nails of a man who was in a Syrian dungeon without light for 3 months until CNN rescued him.”
Anti-imperialist commentators weren’t the only ones to push back on CNN’s gratuitous propaganda. One Kurdish activist wrote that the incident “raises some serious serious questions about journalistic integrity” because “the air force intelligence prison was entered by the Syrian rebels and all cells [were already] opened” two days before CNN showed up. “The prison has been liberated for days now; several Syrian reporters were there already – families have come to look for the remains of their family members – prisons were searched by search teams [sent] by the Turkish government; yet somehow all of them ignored this 1 prison cell? – with exactly 1 prisoner inside despite this being a prison cell for multiple prisoners?”
The same activist pointed out that even journalists affiliated with Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the US-designated terrorist group which largely oversaw the overthrow of the Syrian government, were mocking CNN’s coverage in a post on Telegram: “if it wasn’t a play to achieve a scoop for CNN and laugh at the West’s stupidity, it is more likely that one of the detainees has no place to go and prefers to stay in prison and sleep there.”
Others, who claim to have been jailed by the former Syrian government also questioned the report, with one commenting: “I was detained twice in Syria. I think this is staged. CNN should investigate. Happy to be proven wrong.” Another suggested the video piece did a disservice to those who had actually been jailed: “CNN journalist Clarissa Ward fabricated a scene showing a prisoner inside Syria’s notoriously brutal prisons. This is demeaning and exploitative to Syrian detainees. As a former Syrian detainee, I call for boycotting her and exposing her actions.”
Ward’s history of shameless regime change cheerleading, collaboration with AQ figures
It’s certainly not the first time Ward has been accused of fabricating a story and staging a scene to boost her ratings. While covering Israel’s post-October 7 assault on Gaza, Ward earned widespread mockery when she fell to the ground and took cover from a Hamas rocket attack, when, in fact, no munitions were falling anywhere in her vicinity.
Two weeks later, Ward’s lopsided coverage of the Israeli genocide in Gaza provoked a viral confrontation by Egyptian journalist Rahma Zein, who lambasted the CNN correspondent in a viral video: “Cover this! Say the truth! We understand… You’re just a puppet, you’re just a mouthpiece,” she proclaimed, but in many ways, “you represent your government.”
“We’re watching an occupation” and it’s “the result of your silence,” Zein concluded.
Ward’s presence in Damascus, where jihadist militias have taken control while Israeli forces seize Syrian territory without a fight, represents the culmination of over a decade of propagandizing for regime change.
Back in 2012, Ward claimed to have “sort of slipped off into an alleyway in the [Damascus] old city, put a headscarf on, and went and lived with some activists for a week.” She returned with a de facto commercial for the Free Syrian Army, the Contra-style militia created with CIA arms and support.
CNN’s Clarissa Ward, then of CBS, with the FSA in 2011
In 2017, Ward was granted special entry to Idlib, the Al Qaeda carveout in Northwestern Syria protected by the Turkish military. To gain access to jihadist leaders, Ward hired Bilal Abdul Kareem, an American who joined the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda in 2012 and subsequently served as its top English language propagandist, as her fixer. When Ward won a Peabody Award for her report inside Idlib, Kareem took to Twitter to complain that CNN “barely mentioned my name! I’m telling you, somehow CNN must have forgotten that I was the one that filmed it, I guess they forgot that.”
Ward appeared soon after at the UN Security Council as a guest of the United States delegation. There, she described “the Islamist factions” in the Idlib province as “heroes on the ground” who have “filled the void” in the war to overthrow the Syrian government.
In 2019, when The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal posted a Twitter thread containing non-staged photos and videos documenting his visit to Damascus, including his interviews with Syrians who had been wounded or tortured by Western-backed opposition forces, Ward flew into a petulant frenzy, claiming she was “getting palpitations” that graduated to “spasms of rage,” even wondering if Blumenthal’s critical reporting was driven by drug addiction.
Sober or not, when Ward participated in a clearly staged prisoner rescue – what she called “one of the most extraordinary moments” in her media career – she was clearly drunk on her own entitlement and obsession with advancing the priorities of the US regime change machine. And though her network appears to be protecting her, it seems the morning after has finally arrived.
Bashar Al-Assad Says Remained in Damascus Until Last Moment, Contrary to Claims of a Planned Departure
Al-Manar | December 16, 2024
In his first statement following the opposition’s takeover of Syria, the former Syrian president, Bashar Al-Assad, clarified that his departure from the country was never planned, nor did he leave during the final hours of combat. He remained in Damascus, fulfilling his duties until the early hours of Sunday, December 8, 2024.
“As terrorism expanded within Damascus, Al-Assad coordinated with Russian allies to relocate to Latakia to oversee military operations. Upon reaching Hmeimim base, he found all frontlines abandoned and the last military positions lost, with escalating attacks on the Russian base itself,” the statement declared.
Al-Assad stressed that he never sought personal power but saw himself as leading a national project backed by people who believed in him. He rejected any offers for personal escape, instead standing with his troops on the front lines, facing the enemy directly in the most intense and dangerous combat zones. He maintained that during these events, neither resignation nor refuge was ever an option—only continued resistance against the terrorist assault.
He also addressed the international rumors regarding his fate, stating that amidst the terrorist expansion in Syria, false narratives were spread, further fueling the international process of designating the violence as a “Syrian liberation revolution.”
“In such a critical historical moment for the nation, the truth must have its place. There are important matters that need clarification through a brief statement, but due to the circumstances and the subsequent complete communication breakdown for security reasons, it was not possible to deliver it. These key points do not replace a full account of everything that transpired, which will be shared when the opportunity arises,” Al-Assad concluded.
West pushing Russia beyond ‘red line’ – Putin
RT | December 16, 2024
The West’s support for Ukraine is pushing Russia to the point where it cannot help but retaliate, President Vladimir Putin has said, while warning the US against deploying medium-range missiles.
Speaking at a meeting of top Russian Defense Ministry officials on Monday, Putin accused the US of seeking “to weaken our country and inflict a strategic defeat” on Moscow by continuing “to pump a de facto illegitimate ruling regime in Kiev with weapons and money, sending mercenaries and military advisers, thereby encouraging further escalation of the conflict.”
Washington is instilling fear in Americans by resorting to “simple tactics,” Putin stated. “They push us to the red line… we begin to respond, and then they frighten their population,” he added, suggesting that the US used the same approach during its rivalry with the Soviet Union.
The Russian president also slammed the West for what he described as attempts to impose its own rules on the rest of the world while waging “hybrid wars” against anyone who resists, including Russia.
In this vein, NATO is boosting its defense spending and forming “strike groups” near Russia’s borders, he added. “The number of American service members in Europe has already exceeded 100,000 troops,” he noted.
NATO is ramping up its presence not only in Europe but also in regions that have never seen this type of military footprint, particularly the Asia-Pacific, Putin said, voicing particular concerns over US plans to deploy missile systems with a range of up to 5,500km.
Putin was referring to a type of weapon previously banned by the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The US unilaterally pulled out of the treaty in 2018, citing Russian non-compliance – an allegation Moscow has denied.
The Russian president stressed that despite Washington’s withdrawal from the INF Treaty, Moscow made a unilateral and voluntary commitment not to deploy medium- and short-range missiles unless the US deploys such weapons anywhere in the world.
However, “if the United States begins to deploy such systems, then all our voluntary restrictions will be lifted,” Putin warned.
FDA Advisers Bullish on RSV Shots for Kids, Even as Safety Signals Shut Down Moderna Trials
By Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. | The Defender | December 13, 2024
Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) met Thursday to discuss the future of pediatric respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines after Moderna was forced to abruptly halt clinical trials for its mRNA RSV vaccine in children ages 5-23 months.
Clinical trial data released earlier this week in an FDA briefing document showed that rather than preventing RSV disease in small children, Moderna’s vaccine likely caused higher rates of severe RSV illness in its Phase 1 clinical trial.
Moderna halted the trial in July after it was informed that two babies in the vaccine group had developed severe RSV disease. The company didn’t publicly announce that the trial was discontinued until September.
The data presented Thursday at the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting showed that 12.5% of vaccinated children developed severe RSV disease as compared to just 5% of children in the placebo group.
Among the children who developed symptomatic RSV disease, 26.3% in the vaccinated group progressed to severe disease, while only 8.3% of those in the placebo group did.
These results were concerning given the history of past attempts to develop an RSV vaccine for infants. In the 1960s, an experimental formalin–inactivated RSV vaccine for children led to two toddler deaths, and 80% of vaccine recipients required hospitalization for severe RSV.
The illnesses were attributed to vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease (VAERD) — a phenomenon that occurs when vaccination promotes immune responses that exacerbate the disease caused by subsequent infection with the pathogen the vaccine was meant to protect against.
In light of that history, and because the mechanisms that cause VAERD are still largely unknown, the FDA convened the advisory committee to discuss the implications of Moderna’s trial outcomes for other pediatric RSV vaccines.
The committee did not vote on Thursday or make any formal recommendations. Members watched presentations from consultants, the FDA, and pharmaceutical companies and discussed the risks and benefits of developing RSV vaccines for children.
They also commended Moderna for reporting its results and the existing clinical safeguards for recognizing early safety signals in pediatric RSV trials.
Vaccine makers developing 26 different RSV vaccines or monoclonal antibodies
The briefing document stated that the FDA was halting enrollment for all investigational trials for RSV vaccines for infants and toddlers under age 2 and children ages 2 through 5 who haven’t previously had RSV.
The FDA clarified at the outset of the meeting that the hold does not apply to vaccine candidates that use live attenuated vaccines, because there is no evidence that vaccines developed on this platform cause VAERD.
Advisers seemed to agree, except for Dr. Karen Kotloff who voiced concerns there was not enough information to assume that live attenuated vaccines don’t carry the same potential risk.
Dr. Pedro Piedra, who presented on clinical and non-clinical aspects of RSV vaccine safety shared a slide listing RSV vaccines and monoclonal antibodies currently in trials.
There are five pediatric vaccines other than Moderna’s — which Moderna’s Christine Shaw, Ph.D., definitively stated is no longer moving forward — in the pipeline. Four of them are for live-attenuated vaccines.
Vaccine makers are developing 26 different RSV vaccines or monoclonal antibodies for all age groups, all vying to enter a rapidly expanding market.
PR Newswire projected in 2023 the global RSV vaccine and antibody market would be worth $2.61 billion dollars in 2024 and rise to $13.59 billion by 2030.
Piedra — who began his presentation with the quick disclosure that he has grants for RSV prevention research from GSK, Icosavax and Merck and is a paid consultant in the field for Merck, Moderna, Pfizer and Sanofi — presented an optimistic picture of RSV vaccine development, citing protection offered by recently approved maternal vaccines and monoclonal antibodies.
Moderna’s results did raise some platform-specific concerns, Piedra conceded.
He listed the types of safety concerns that could be associated with different vaccine platforms — febrile seizures with adjuvanted or high-dose vaccines or when RSV vaccines are co-administered with other vaccines, autoimmunity that could be associated with new adjuvants, respiratory issues with intranasal vaccines, and systemic illnesses with vector-based or mRNA vaccines.
‘Unmet need’ as justification to push for more RSV vaxes for small children
Presenters repeatedly stated that there was an “unmet need” for pediatric RSV vaccines, especially for children between 8 months and 2 years old.
RSV usually causes mild cold-like symptoms, but in some cases can lead to hospitalization and death in infants and the elderly. By age 2, 97% of all babies have been infected with RSV, which confers partial immunity, making any subsequent episodes less severe.
The disease burden for infants can be serious. In the U.S., RSV infection is the leading cause of infant hospitalization among those younger than 6 months, although a very small percentage of children with the virus will die.
An FDA representative said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 100-200 infants die per year from the disease. However, internist Dr. Meryl Nass told The Defender that even those low numbers may overestimate mortality.
Nass pointed to a CDC study analyzing RSV deaths in infants between 2005 and 2016 and found a total of 314 deaths in children under age 1, or 25 on average per year, Nass reported. Only 17 of those deaths per year listed RSV as the underlying cause of death.
The FDA also said that maternal vaccines and monoclonal antibodies had begun to reduce those numbers, but emphasized there is still an “unmet need” for a vaccine for children going into their second RSV season — even as it presented data showing hospitalizations in that season are lower.
Moderna said this “unmet need” drove them to develop their failed vaccine. A Sanofi representative, who gave an update on their live-attenuated RSV virus, said the company sought to meet that “unmet need” for children in their second RSV season.
Sanofi also sells nirsevimab — brand name Beyfortus — the monoclonal antibody shot the CDC recommends for all newborns to protect them in their first RSV season.
Sanofi and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are collaborating on the live-attenuated virus vaccine platform. The NIH developed 16 different vaccine candidates that it trialed in children and currently has one SP-125 in Phase 3 clinical trials.
These vaccines have not shown VAERD after one season of surveillance, the Sanofi representative said. The safety trials showed no safety concerns and SP-125 is currently being tested for efficacy in toddlers 6-22 months of age, but it is not yet fully enrolled.
During the “public comments” section of the meeting, three other vaccine makers promoted their vaccines to the committee.
Goal is more RSV shots for kids to provide passive immunity followed by ‘active immunity’
FDA asked the committee members to discuss existing evidence on whether infants and toddlers could eventually get sequential administration of RSV monoclonal antibodies followed by RSV vaccines.
That would mean even more shots on the childhood immunization schedule. The monoclonal antibodies or maternal vaccination would provide babies with “passive immunity” — antibodies to fight the virus that weren’t created by their own immune systems.
Then, in this schema, a two- or three-shot course of an RSV vaccine could protect babies from RSV in the second season, giving them “active immunity.”
Most committee members said more data were necessary to evaluate the safety of such a plan, but they generally agreed that it was a good direction to move in.
Watch the meeting here.
This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.
RFK Jr. and the Samoan Measles Outbreak
By David Marks | Brownstone Institute | December 15, 2024
When the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary comes before the Senate, the specter of the Samoan measles outbreak of 2019 will dramatically be invoked to challenge him. Kennedy’s critics have repeatedly relied on this topic, citing stories that claim he was responsible for an epidemic in 2019 that caused at least 83 children to die due to vaccine hesitancy. In recent articles, reporters quote previous news coverage relying on unsubstantiated and minimal data to justify their analysis.
These stories repeat dubious assertions, fail to discuss any pathological analysis, and dismiss Kennedy’s considered support of healthcare in Samoa. He had assisted the Samoan government in developing a system for health officials to assess the efficacy and safety of medical interventions or drugs, including vaccines.
In November 2019, while the deaths of Samoan children were rapidly increasing, Kennedy wrote a comprehensive letter to the Samoan Prime Minister, presenting some possible causes of the unprecedented, virulent outbreak of measles. His concerns about the epidemic in Samoa highlight striking anomalies that were apparent to a few investigators at the time, although they remain unexplained.
The most convenient and generally accepted explanations of the outbreak claim the epidemic was the result of hesitancy, causing the population to be under-vaccinated. Measles vaccination rates were low due to the previous deaths of two infants given improperly formulated injections, which had nothing to do with Kennedy’s views.
Any considered analysis of the accessible facts soundly contradicts the conjecture that the high death count was related to low vaccination rates.
In most measles epidemics, mortality is on average one in one thousand, and dying children are often malnourished or immunocompromised. From October through December of 2019, over one in a hundred Samoan children with the disease died, ten times more than any previous outbreak in the world. No accounting for this overt statistical deviance has been published.
Despite the presumptions of those who attack Kennedy, there was never any investigation into any aspect of this baffling tragedy. Edwin Tamasese, a health advocate who questioned Samoan government policies during the outbreak, gave Kennedy some insight into what was happening.
Tamasese was concerned about the number of sick and dying Samoan children and began to assist families whose children were severely ill. He and his colleagues encountered conditions that contradicted the government’s narrative.
While the press condemned him as an anti-vaxxer, Tamasese’s interventions and observations are revelatory. In an interview after the outbreak subsided, he said, “We were very careful to take statistics when we were going in to try to identify trends. When we assessed our numbers, 98 percent of those who were getting ill had been vaccinated consistently six to seven days prior to illness. The excuse was that the vaccine did not have time to become effective. However, according to an immunologist on the team, the six to seven-day period was also the length of time it would take an under-attenuated vaccine to make the recipient sick.”
Doctors in hospitals also reported that the very ill and dying children did not have symptoms consistent with normal cases of measles. When the outbreak began, blood from the first thirty-nine cases had been sent to Australia; only seven samples were positive for measles.
The government stopped testing to confirm the cause of these deaths in early November 2019. Without scientific confirmation, illness and mortality were attributed to low immunization rates. Samoan health authorities continued to claim that the only remedy for the deadly epidemic was a drive to increase vaccination; however, the campaign appeared to increase the number of measles cases.
Neighboring Pacific island countries, Tonga and Fiji, which had concurrent outbreaks of the virus — and had a different source of the measles vaccine — did not suffer the same dramatic mortality rates. This should have raised concerns, yet there hasn’t been an inquiry into why the Samoan government switched vaccine sourcing from India to Belgium midway through the crisis.
A renewed effort to vaccinate with this alternate supply began in the first week of December 2019; it was hailed as the reason the outbreak subsided. Measles vaccines take at least 10 days before creating an immune response. There has been no explanation for the data confirming that the onset of cases dropped dramatically two weeks before this vaccination drive could have had any effect.
The government response was not driven by factual analysis; the effort focused on promoting the vaccine and silencing those questioning authority.
With Samoan officials and the press deriding his work and views, Tamasese was arrested and charged with incitement of a government order and treating children without a license. Although this was deemed appropriate justice by the international news media as they echoed the government’s praise of the vaccine, reporters again failed to present the questions raised by the outbreak.
The prosecution’s primary witness against Tamasese was a nurse whose child had measles. He had suggested that administering vitamins A and C could be helpful — and standard medical treatment for measles patients. She had taken his advice and admitted that her child recovered soon afterward.
Tamasese reported that when the nurse left the courtroom, the judge, in throwing out the case, said, “That witness may as well have represented the accused.” There was relative silence from the news media when all charges against him were dismissed.
While worldwide attention on Samoa ignored dramatic inconsistencies, Kennedy was one of the few people who asked detailed and important questions. His views were marginalized; it was easier and politically correct to blame the tragedy on low rates of vaccination.
The relatively few details known about the Samoan measles outbreak indicate that forces intent on presenting vaccines as an infallible, unquestionable remedy will not tolerate scrutiny or admit failures. This continuing devious tactic is applied internationally and is eagerly supported by most governments and the press.
Analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic has only recently vindicated those who were scorned for questioning the response. The parallels to the unfolding of the epidemic in Samoa are not obscure, and support Kennedy’s contention that vaccine development, manufacturing, and application need much more effective evaluation and monitoring to prevent complications and death.
When the US government assures the public that any vaccine or medication is safe and effective, this must come from an independent, thorough, and transparent process, rather than relying only on the words and actions of those with vested interests.
The current criticism of Kennedy is an endeavor to make him look dangerously ignorant and irresponsible to sway members of the Senate. Much to the chagrin of those who vilify him, his efforts to understand and assist in the Samoan measles outbreak exemplify his thoughtfulness and capabilities.
RFK, Jr. is at the forefront of healthcare oversight; his confirmation as HHS Secretary will ensure that Americans benefit from his experience and knowledge.
‘Disease X’ Situation Update
Coordinated fear campaign, possible malaria, and “poor quality” samples as cases continue to rise.
By Nicolas Hulscher, MPH | Courageous Discourse | December 12, 2024
In the last few weeks, an unidentified flu-like illness has been detected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo amidst warnings from the Biopharmaceutical Complex about imminent pandemics. Ever since, the mainstream media and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have coined the illness as “Disease X”:
This indicates that the corporate media and biopharmaceutical complex have already launched a coordinated fear campaign to hype up their long-awaited Disease X. Strangely, we still don’t have concrete answers as to what this ‘Disease X’ actually is, even after Jean Kaseya, the head of Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters on December 5th that more details about the disease should be known in the next two days. However, it took five days for the first results to be shared: on December 10th, the World Health Organization said “Of the 12 initial samples collected, 10 tested positive for malaria, although it’s possible that more than one disease is involved.”
Today, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention live streamed a special briefing regarding the so-called ‘Disease X’. In the briefing, they shared that the samples they received “are of poor quality” and were “poorly preserved”. As a result, the lead investigator stated, “Therefore, I don’t think we will obtain any relevant information.”
The Africa CDC briefing also reported an increase of 147 cases since last week, bringing the total case count to 527. 32 deaths were recorded in health facilities, while 44 were reported at the community level.
While initial lab results suggest this could simply be malaria, the coordinated fear campaign persists. Even the most recent Africa CDC briefing overlooks the possibility that it could be malaria. This raises questions about whether something else might be at play. We will continue to monitor the situation closely.
Nicolas Hulscher, MPH
Epidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough Foundation
Germany’s AfD leader questions NATO membership
RT | December 15, 2024
Germany must ask whether NATO membership “is still useful for us,” Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Tino Chrupalla has said, arguing that the US-led military bloc forces Europe to act in America’s interests.
”Europe has been forced to implement America’s interests. We reject that,” Chrupalla told German daily Welt on Sunday.
”NATO is currently not a defense alliance,” he continued. “A defense community must accept and respect the interests of all European countries, including Russia’s interests. If NATO cannot ensure that, Germany must consider to what extent this alliance is still useful for us,” he explained.
West Germany joined NATO in 1955, at the height of the Cold War. Accession to the bloc meant that Bonn could focus its spending on post-WWII reconstruction and welfare while outsourcing defense to the US. However, NATO’s first secretary general, Britain’s Lord Ismay, reportedly remarked that the bloc’s purpose in Europe was to “keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”
While the AfD’s platform has never called for an outright withdrawal from NATO, Chrupalla has previously argued that the bloc’s confrontational stance toward Russia was “driving a wedge into the continent of Europe” and precluding reconciliation with Moscow, which, he said, would be vital “to ensure lasting peace and prosperity” on the continent.
With snap elections in February looming, the AfD is currently polling at around 18%, ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ Social Democrats at 15% but behind the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at 32%. However, even if the AfD were to emerge as the largest party after the vote, all of Germany’s other mainstream parties have ruled out entering a coalition with the right-wingers.
The AfD nominated co-leader Alice Weidel as its candidate for chancellor earlier this month, marking the first time in its 11-year history that the party has put a name forward for the position.
Speaking to reporters after the nomination, Weidel promised to introduce drastic immigration restrictions, to roll back Scholz’s climate policies, and to cut off military aid to Ukraine.
“We want peace in Ukraine,” she said. “We do not want any arms supplies, we do not want any tanks, we do not want any missiles.”
Speaking to Welt, Chrupalla said that “Russia has won this war,” and that “reality has caught up with those who claim to want to enable Ukraine to win the war.”
Hungary dismayed at ‘unprecedented gesture in diplomacy’ by Zelensky
RT | December 15, 2024
The Ukrainian leadership turned down a phone-call request from Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban in a manner that was “unprecedented” in nature, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has revealed. The rebuff followed an hour-long conversation between Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In an interview with public broadcaster Kossuth Radio on Sunday, Szijjarto said that he had approached Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga and Vladimir Zelensky’s top aide Andrey Yermak, asking for the authorization of a telephone conversation between Orban and the Ukrainian leader.
”In a gesture that was quite unprecedented in diplomacy,” the request was refused in “a somewhat strained” manner, Szijjarto said, as quoted by the Magyar Nemzet newspaper. Hungary’s top diplomat did not elaborate on the exact wording used by the authorities in Kiev.
Hungary has tried “everything” during the past six months of its EU presidency to use it “for a good cause, to initiate a ceasefire and peace negotiations,” Szijjarto noted. Budapest has held the rotating presidency of the EU Council in the second half of this year.
Earlier this week Orban said he’d put forward a proposal for a Christmas ceasefire and a major prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine.
”One side accepted it, the other rejected it,” the Premier told Kossuth Radio on Friday.
Zelensky, in turn, claimed that the Hungarian leader was only trying to “boost personal image at the expense of unity” in the EU in terms of supporting Ukraine.
The authorities in Kiev have sent mixed messages about their readiness for negotiations with Russia.
On Wednesday, Zelensky’s top adviser Mikhail Podoliak said Kiev could engage in talks with Moscow if they are not based on Russia’s conditions.
Andrey Yermak said on Friday that Ukraine was not ready to start any talks with Russia as there is insufficient support from the West to conduct negotiations from a position of strength.
Moscow has repeatedly stressed that it’s ready to resume the negotiations. It has urged Kiev to accept the new realities “on the ground,” with President Vladimir Putin citing the complete withdrawal of all Ukrainian forces from all Russian territories as a key prerequisite for peace talks.
Algeria condemns French ambassador over ‘hostile plans’
Al Mayadeen | December 15, 2024
Algeria summoned French Ambassador Stephane Romatet for what it dubbed “hostile plans” by the French intelligence service, Algerian media reported on Sunday,
Romatet was summoned to the Foreign Ministry last week to answer allegations of French intelligence participation in destabilizing efforts in Algeria, according to the state-run publication El Moudjahid.
The summoning came following reports that the French intelligence service had recruited former Algerian terrorists to destabilize the country’s security.
It referenced the instance of Mohamed Amine Aissaoui, who recently made a live confession on Algerian television about a suspected plot orchestrated by French intelligence.
Algerian officials told the French envoy that such measures “won’t go unanswered” and that they will not stand idly by in response to “attacks on its sovereignty,” according to the newspaper.
There was no French response to the Algerian media claim.
This event adds to Algeria and France’s already difficult ties, which have been hampered by disagreements over historical memory, migration, and the Western Sahara conflict.
Last month, the Algerian Association of Banks and Financial Institutions banned all import and export transactions with France in reaction to its acknowledgment of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara.
Morocco primarily controls Western Sahara, but the Polisario Front has advocated for the territory’s independence since before Spain, its colonial ruler, withdrew in 1975. The United Nations classifies it as a “non-autonomous territory.”
Rabat, which governs around 80% of the territory, supports a plan for limited autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty. In contrast, the Polisario Front is demanding a UN-supervised referendum on self-determination, which was intended to be established following the ceasefire in 1991 but has yet to be implemented.
USS Harry S. Truman Leads American Naval Deployment to Middle East
Sputnik – 15.12.2024
The USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group arrived in the Middle East on December 14, entering the US Central Command’s (CENTCOM) area of responsibility. The deployment was announced by CENTCOM on the social media platform X.
The group includes the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, Carrier Air Wing 1 with nine aviation squadrons, the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (Ticonderoga class), and two guided-missile destroyers, USS Stout and USS Jason Dunham (Arleigh Burke class).
Earlier in November, US F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets were deployed to the region from the United Kingdom, reinforcing the American military presence in the Middle East.
The deployment comes amid heightened regional tensions and US President-elect Donald Trump’s earlier remarks promising to avoid “starting wars” once he officially takes office.
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From the Archives
The 9/11 “Double-Cross” Conspiracy Theory
BY LAURENT GUYÉNOT • UNZ REVIEW • SEPTEMBER 6, 2022
Is it true that “9/11 was an inside job”? Yes, insofar as Israel is “inside” the U.S. But for the 9/11 truthers who have identified Israel as the main perpetrators, “9/11 was an inside job” is at best a half-truth, and at worst an integral part of the Zionist operation, like a secondary flag sewn as a lining under the false flag of Islamism. Victor Thorn (1963-2017) wrote in his book 9/11 made in Israel: The Plot Against America (2011): “In essence, the ‘9-11 truth movement’ was created prior to Sept. 11, 2001 as a means of suppressing news relating to Israeli complicity. . . . The slogan ‘9-11 was an inside job’ was quite possibly the greatest example of Israeli propaganda ever devised.” In milder terms, it is “controlled opposition”.
A genuine truth movement would have pointed to Israel as the prime suspect from the start. From day one, it was obvious who would benefit. … continue
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