By Aram Mirzaei for the Saker blog

In recent weeks, Western and Empire-aligned media outlets have been launching a misinformation offensive over an alleged agreement between Tehran and Moscow to remove Assad, apparently in an effort to “speed up the Syrian peace process”. An alternative version of this allegation insisted that Tehran was not part of the deal, rather it insisted that Moscow had had enough of “Assad’s incompetence and corruption” and decided to take matters into own hands by removing Assad by force if necessary. This would reportedly be met by Iranian resistance, hence why Putin and Netanyahu were allegedly cooperating in order to force “Iran out of Syria”, thus explaining why Moscow allegedly is relieved over the routine Israeli violations of Syrian airspace”.

As per usual with Empire media, sourcing and fact checking doesn’t seem to be something that’s on their priority list. Since Bloomberg’s pathetic article was published on April 28, tons of media outlets have spinned the story and added more speculations and wishful thinking.

The Empire’s media arm began digging into this “story” after a series of articles were published by a Russian media outlet criticising Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the “corruption of his regime”. One of them referred to a poll – supposedly conducted by the Foundation for Protection of National Values in Syria – in which only 32 percent of the respondents said they would vote for al-Assad in the 2021 presidential elections. The obscure media outlet, RIA-FAN, and the foundation are both believed to be linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman close to the Kremlin.

Bloomberg, citing Alexander Shumilin, another obscure Russian analyst writes: “Consumed at home by the twin shocks of collapsing oil prices and the coronavirus epidemic, and eager to wrap up his Syrian military adventure by declaring victory, Putin is insisting that Assad show more flexibility in talks with the Syrian opposition on a political settlement to end the nearly decade-long conflict, said four people familiar with Kremlin deliberations on the matter. Assad’s refusal to concede any power in return for greater international recognition and potentially billions of dollars in reconstruction aid prompted rare public outbursts against the Syrian president this month in Russian publications with links to Putin.”

Now, that same article, cites Dmitry Peskov, a Russian official, debunking the rumour and hearsay that the fellows at Bloomberg seem fixated on, yet Peskov’s denial of these rumors doesn’t seem to stop them from further speculation, since the words of some obscure Russian “analyst” seems to be more precious than the words of a Kremlin spokesman, because it fits better with their narrative. “Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Putin is unhappy with Assad for refusing to compromise with Syria’s opposition in negotiating a political settlement.”

The authors continue to claim that “Russia has pressured Assad behind the scenes for several years, without success, to agree to at least some token political concessions to win United Nations endorsement of his expected re-election in 2021. The openly voiced criticism of its ally marked a sharp change of approach.” Again, no source or proof can be presented for this bold claim.

Approximately at the same time as these articles were published, Syria’s wealthiest man and cousin of the president, Rami Makhlouf, released a video complaining about an anti-corruption investigation against one of his companies, Syriatel. One could argue that the timing of Makhlouf’s video release very conveniently coincided with the allegations of a Moscow-Damascus rift. Of course, Makhlouf’s discontent gave the Empire’s media more fuel to the fire they had already started.

The most interesting article was published by Al-Jazeera, known by many as “a serious media outlet representing the Arab voice”. Anton Mardasov really outdoes himself when he spends a large part of the article personally attacking Assad and sharing bizarre speculations on the Moscow-Damascus relationship while also admitting that these wishful thoughts are hardly ever going to be fulfilled. “But while Moscow-Damascus relations have always been a bit bumpy, it is unlikely that the Kremlin would be launching an anti-Assad effort just now. And if it really wanted to communicate something to him and his inner circle, Prigozhin’s obscure media outlet would not be the medium of choice.”

“The Russian government has more reputable and established platforms at its disposal, including state TV channels and high-profile print media. Furthermore, critical opinions about al-Assad expressed by the likes of Alexander Aksenenok, a former Russian diplomat, are also personal and do not necessarily reflect the general mood in the Kremlin.”

Having established that their speculations are nothing more than just speculations, the Presstitute journalists resort to rather unqualified guessing games on what Moscow’s interests in Syria may be. As per usual, they are dead wrong.

Bloomberg: “While Putin used his successful 2015 intervention in Syria to restore Russia’s Soviet-era influence as a major player in the Middle East, Assad has maneuvered between Moscow and his other main military backer, Iran, to retain his grip on power.”

TRTworld: “In all of this, the thought that Moscow may consider ousting Assad is not far fetched. A ‘reformed’ version of the Syrian regime – one without Assad and his circle of cronies – could permit Putin to transform Syria into a client state over which Russia presides as the uncontested patron. In addition, it would enable Putin to secure reconstruction aid from the West, which has made finance contingent on a political transition, a process that Assad has insidiously undermined for years.”

I would argue that the Empire’s media arm is blind and arrogant. These so called “journalists” ignorantly assume that every other major power in the world think and act like their masters in Washington. They assume that players such as Russia, China or even Iran are no different from Washington in their quest for world dominance. This is why they view Syria as a “client state” of Moscow’s, because they cannot understand what an actual alliance looks like. Decades of watching how Washington treats its “allies” has made them actually believe that other countries are as evil and psychotic as their US masters. I’ll explain this further later on.

Moscow and Damascus both denied these allegations made by the Presstitute media. Moscow perfectly hit the nail on the head when the Russian ambassador in Damascus, Alexander Yevimov, indicated that the presstitute lies are meant to sow division between Moscow and Damascus.

Yevimov stressed that the relations between his country and Syria are stronger today than they were at any time in the past, denying all claims about removing Assad.

Yevimov said in an interview with the newspaper Al-Watan that these relations are “friendly and strategic in nature, and aim to achieve common goals for the benefit of the Russian and Syrian people.”

Yevimov described the rumors and hints currently circulating about the differences in Russian-Syrian relations as having no basis, saying that “those who insist on reading cooperation between Moscow and Damascus in a way of lying and falsifying facts are carrying out a process of media sabotage only.”

The Russian ambassador used the phrase “let the dogs bark and the convoy is walking” in describing the promoters of these rumors, and stressed that “these attempts will fail if we do not say that they have failed, and will not be allowed even to approach the intended results.”

Yevimov explained that “the anti-Syrian and Russian players, after failing to achieve their destructive goals in a military manner, are trying to exert political pressure on Damascus and strangle it with unprecedented economic sanctions” and said that these “are still empty hands until now, and they use all possible means, including their pathetic attempts to find there are “imperfections” that are not found in the relations between Russia and Syria in order to separate the two countries.

But just like Peskov’s words didn’t matter, Yevimov’s words won’t be taken seriously by the Presstitute media either. It doesn’t matter how many time Russian or Syrian officials deny these sick lies, or how many friendly visits Putin and Assad make to each others capitals, the Presstitute media has made up its mind and they’ve decided that this is the narrative they want to play.

Now, let’s dig into the question – if not even the Empire’s media are convinced of their own fake news, why even publish it in the first place? Why the media frenzy on “Russia’s rocky relationship with Assad” if they themselves don’t even believe in it? This is where the Western media and their parrots prove themselves to be nothing more than propaganda tools.

We’ve seen this before, these pathetic claims of a “rift” between Putin and Assad have been around since at least 2016. https://www.ft.com/content/735b4746-c01f-11e5-9fdb-87b8d15baec2

Every time the Russian-Syrian-Iranian alliance has succeeded in confronting the threats it faces, the Empire’s media arm must make up stories about how “divided” and “problematic” the alliance is. They can’t have you running around believing that anything else than Washington’s ideas of bilateral ties work, can they? Often presstitute journalists try to make a point by citing the different goals that Moscow and Tehran have in Syria – again this proves that Presstitute journalists do not understand what an actual alliance looks like. Had they understood it, they would’ve known that most alliances that are built on mutual respect will always have different parties with different interests. This is just how mutual cooperation between two or more sovereign states look like. It is absolutely insane to believe that Washington’s “allies” do not have different interests, the difference in Washington’s alliances is that their allies (vassals) aren’t allowed to express and pursue their own interests and are forced to even supress them in favor of Washington’s orders. Let’s for example take Washington’s campaign of terror in Syria – since the start of the war, European vassals have supported Washington’s aggression, even when it has been directly harmful for them- this was most true during the 2015 refugee crisis when the EU had to pay the price for Washington’s adventures in Syria. Yet still the EU has no voice of its own to at least ask Washington to help share the burden they created.

These flawed analyses are done by two types of people working for the Empire’s media arm. The first group of people, seeing how the Moscow-Damascus alliance differs in many ways compared to the aforementioned “alliances” of Washington’s, actually believe that the Moscow-Damascus alliance is fragile and weak because it doesn’t have the typical characteristics of a Master-Vassal relationship. The other group of “analysts” intentionally lie and spread disinformation despite knowing the reality of Moscow’s relationship with Damascus. They do this fully aware that they are lying and when confronted about their lies, often resort to smearing campaigns or banning critics from their social media outlets.

Another factor playing part in the Presstitute media’s lies about Syria is self-consolation. The Syrian war seems to be stirring up some passionate emotions on all sides, not least among the Presstitute journalists and mainstream “think tank” analysts who all share a deep hatred for Damascus. Seeing how their dreams and fantasies about a jihadist run Syria is becoming more and more unrealistic as each day passes, they need to console themselves by making up lies and keep up the morale among the jihadists and their supporters. This is where we are today after 9 years of war. Having lost all hope of toppling Assad through the use of proxy terrorists, the Empire’s desperation shows as they resort to information and psychological warfare.

One must understand the absolute catastrophe that the Empire has created for itself in Syria. Remember that the plan was to topple Assad and in turn weaken both Iran and Hezbollah. This would also marginalize Russia in the region since Damascus is the last true ally of Moscow’s in the Arab world. This plan has failed so miserably on all fronts as Moscow today stands as a very real and viable alternative ally for many countries who are tired of being bullied by Washington, the Islamic Republic and the Resistance Front are stronger than ever before and the threat to Washington’s beloved Israel is ever more imminent. This is why they must lie, to save themselves from the absolute embarrassment of admitting defeat. For the Presstitute clowns, selling their fantasies and dreams to the public as being “the truth” seems a whole lot easier than accepting that they bet on the wrong horse.