Monday 28 July 2014

Washington's 'evidence'

Another State Department Hoax?

Paul Craig Roberts

 

Paul Craig Roberts,

27 July, 2014

I have an email that purports to be from the State Department Press Office. It is dated today, Sunday, July 27, 2014 at 8:45 AM EDT

It reads:

State Department Press Corps:

Sharing with you the attached document with DNI images — evidence of Russia firing into Ukraine.

Regards,

State Department Press Office

There is a 1.1MB file attached with pictures and a few words saying that the pictures indicate Russian firing into Ukraine territory.

As one with news and government experience, I am confident that information as important as this purports to be would not be released in this way. For several days reporters have been asking State Department press office spokeswoman Marie Harf for evidence to back her claims that Russian military is attacking Ukrainian forces. Harf has told the reporters that she cannot provide evidence. In other words, Harf’s evidence is like John Kerry’s evidence that he could never provide that Assad had used chemical weapons.

Suddenly the evidence appears in an email and is spread via social media. This is not credible. Such evidence if it actually exists would be released in a Washington press conference by top government officials with experts present to explain the meaning of the photos to the journalists and to answer questions. No real journalists, if any are left, are going to believe that such hot information would be released in an email. Moreover, the photos are meaningless to the uninitiated, and there is no way to judge their authenticity.

Additionally, it is not credible that such important information would be released at a news dead time–8:45 AM EDT on a Sunday morning when the West Coast is still asleep.

What are we to make of this?

One explanation is that kids, unaware of the seriousness of the matter, concocted a hoax for fun.

Another explanation is that unable to substantiate any of its charges against the Russian government, the State Department decided to use social media to spread disinformation in behalf of its propaganda assault on Russia.

As of 5:45PM EDT Sunday, no State Department official of which I am aware has verified that this is a State Department news release. Indeed, email on Sunday morning is such an unprofessional way to release important news that I do not believe even the incompetent Marie Harf could be responsible.

The import of the “news release” is to use social media to build the image of a dangerous Russia among an unsophisticated public independently of having to convince reporters. Once this image is created, Washington can use it to build public support for its purposes, such as more military spending or sending US troops to Ukraine.

In my opinion, it is reckless for Washington to convince Russia that Washington is going to continue to lie in order to discredit Russia in world opinion and to continue to dismiss out of hand Russia’s protests. Washington is conveying to Russia that Washington has launched a very aggressive propaganda campaign against Russia, a campaign that could easily push the world to war.

In my day, if Washington had such information as the email purports to be, Washington would have used the information to defuse the situation. The Russian ambassador would have been called in and asked to explain. The ambassador would understand that he needed to tell the Kremlin to back off or the information would be released in a news conference.

Today, with the Obama regime seeking confrontation with Russia, the regime would have released the information in a press conference with all the important bureau chiefs present. For journalists of my vintage, releasing it in an indiscriminate email targeted to social media would have completely discredited the information.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.

US Releases Satellite Images 


Allegedly Proving Russian 


Shelling Of East Ukraine



27 July, 2014

A week after Russia revealed photos of Ukraine deploying Buk missiles in the east as well as radar proof of Ukraine warplanes in the vicinity of MH-17, the US has yet to present any of the incontrovertible evidence supposedly in its possession that proves it was the separatists who shot down the plane, a narrative which has already propagated through western media. Instead, several hours ago the US. Office of the Director of National Intelligence released satellite images taken by the private civilian company Digital Globe (and thus not government sourced), which US officials say offer proof that Russian forces have been shelling eastern Ukraine in a campaign to assist rebel groups fighting Ukraine’s government in Kiev.








The grainy photographs, taken between Wednesday and Saturday, are labeled as indicating fire from multiple rocket launchers inside Russia and targets they have struck inside Ukraine. The Pentagon and State Department first accused Russian artillery of firing directly into Ukraine on Thursday. The charges were repeated Friday, although no evidence was offered.
The high-altitude images released Sunday “provide evidence that Russian forces have fired across the border at Ukrainian military forces, and that Russia-backed separatists have used heavy artillery, provided by Russia, in attacks on Ukrainian forces from inside Ukraine,” according to labels on the pictures by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The most recent photograph, taken Saturday, shows what is described as “blast marks” from rocket launcher fire on the Russian side of the border, and “impact craters” inside Ukraine.
A photograph labeled as taken Wednesday shows a row of vehicles described as “self-propelled artillery only found in Russian military units, on the Russian side of the border, oriented in the direction of a Ukrainian military unit within Ukraine.” On the other side of the border, “the pattern of crater impacts near the Ukrainian military unit indicates strikes from artillery fired from self-propelled or towed artillery, vice multiple rocket launchers,” it said.



One image dated July 25/26 shows what DNI claims is “ground scarring” on the Russian side of the border from artillery aimed at Ukrainian military units in Ukraine, as well as the resultant ground craters on the Ukrainian side of the border:
 A slide from a day earlier is said to show self-propelled artillery on the Russian side of the border oriented toward Ukraine, with impact areas near Ukrainian military units:

Another of the DigitalGlobe photos released by the Obama administration:


Curiously, the US State Department is urging those seeking objective data on this unfolding development to follow the US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, the same person who was intercepted in plotting thedownfall of the former Ukraine government in a leaked recorder conversation with US assistant secretary of state, Victoria Nuland, of "Fuck the EU" fame:

Follow @GeoffPyatt for new images of evidence of Russia firing into ; go to http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/  for more info on the situation.

And from Pyatt:


Imagery: evidence Russian forces have fired across border at Ukr forces, and separatists have used artillery provided by Russia in attacks.

Nonetheless, one does have to wonder: why would the ODNI, which shares intelligence with the NSA, have to resort to private-sector satellite imagery as proof? If there is anyone who has definitive evidence of anything happening in the world at any given moment and as seen from space, it would be the NSA.

To be sure, Russia once again promptly responded:



A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, charged Sunday that the United States is getting most of its intelligence data on the Russian military from social media and suggested it turn to more “trustworthy” information, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
Konashenkov denied recent U.S. statements that Russia, after first decreasing the number of troops it has deployed along the Ukrainian border, has now increased them to at least 15,000. Regular international inspections under the international Open Skies Treaty, he said, “have not registered any violations or undeclared military activity on the part of Russia in the areas adjacent to the Ukrainian border.”


The bottom line is perhaps best summarized by WaPo: "As the ground war between Russia-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine and government troops has escalated this past week, charges and countercharges between Russia and the West have reached fever pitch."


So while the "evidence" of the downing of MH17 by separatists will at this point likely not be forthcoming with the event having taken place over a week ago (at least not from the US State Department) aside from administration assurances that it is "common sense" that the rebels fired the missile, expect the "evidentiary" campaign to refocus back on the hostilities in east Ukraine, where as has been the case from the beginning of the conflict in March, it will be merely a continuation of the "he said, she said" propaganda war waged on both sides that the whole world has by now grown accustomed to, and where it is increasingly becoming clear that just like in the Syria conflict, the underlying motive is a very simple one: gas.


US releases satellite images 

'proving' Russia is firing into 

Ukraine


RT,

27 July, 2014

The US State Department has released satellite images via email which it says act as “evidence” that Russia is firing rockets at Ukrainian troops across the border. The images were posted on Twitter by the US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt.

The US State Department has released satellite images via email which it says act as “evidence” that Russia is firing rockets at Ukrainian troops across the border. The images were posted on Twitter by the US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt.
The four-page emailed document, titled 'Evidence of Russian Shelling into Ukraine,' contains four satellite images, all dating between July 21 and July 25/26.
Monochrome satellite images taken by civilians are said to be indicating fire from multiple rocket launchers “on the Russian side of the border” and “artillery strikes within Ukraine.”
The slides were prepared by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), and came supplied with a short description. Thus, a slide dated July 25/26 shows what US officials claim to be “ground scarring at a multiple rocket launch site on the Russian side of the border oriented in the direction of Ukrainian military units within Ukraine.”

Multiple Rocket Launcher Strikes within Ukraine (25/26 July)

The slide taken on July 23 is said to show self-propelled artillery “oriented in the direction of a Ukrainian military unit within Ukraine.” It said that “the pattern of crater impacts near the Ukrainian military unit indicates strikes from artillery” fired from self-propelled or towed artillery, vice multiple rocket launchers “only found in Russian military units, on the Russian side of the border.”

Courtesy of US State Department
Courtesy of US State Department

Courtesy of US State Department
Courtesy of US State Department

Taken on July 21, the last image is said to be illustrating a “wide area of impacts near the Ukrainian military” that “indicates fire from multiple rocket launchers.” 



The bottom impact crater inset shows impacts within a local village,” DNI claimed.
Courtesy of US State Department
Courtesy of US State Department


The US State Department made no official statement – to the press or on its website – linked to the email release, but directed its followers on Twitter to the microblog account of Geoffrey Pyatt, ambassador to Kiev, who uploaded “new images of evidence.” 

Pyatt did share images on his Twitter account, but did not include any additional information.

Washington also said that more details would be available on the website of its embassy in Ukraine. However, at the moment of publication, there were no updates to be found on the embassy's site or on Pyatt's blog on the same page.

Follow @GeoffPyatt for new images of evidence of Russia firing into ; go to http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/  for more info on the situation.
Paul Craig Roberts, columnist and head of the Institute for Political Economy, told RT that he doubts the credibility of the photographs released by the State Department. 

“I can state with complete confidence that information this important would not be released in this way,”Roberts said. “If this was released by the State Department which I doubt, it is so unprofessional; it would mean that the State Department is trying to spread propaganda about Russia on social media. Now the way this type of information would be released would be at a press conference with a high level of government officials addressing the bureau chiefs of the major news organizations .” 

He added that experts would explain the meaning of the photographs and their validity. 

“The US government has been desperate to produce information to back up its claims. It would not release information in this way,” he said, adding that anyone can spread information on social media.

Russia has been repeatedly criticizing the US for accusations made by the State Department without any sustainable evidence. Washington directly blamed Moscow for building up troops close to the border, as well as for the “firing of Russian heavy weapons from the Russian side of the border at Ukrainian military personnel.” 

On Sunday, however, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that international inspectors who have been coming to check the state of Moscow's troops along the Ukrainian borders have found no violations. 

“It has come to our attention that new allegations by top US officials as to the alleged amassing of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border have been voiced,” the ministry said.
The ministry listed the international makeup of those inspections, which include representatives from the US, as well as NATO and Ukraine. 

“No instances of violations by Russia along the Ukrainian border had been registered by the inspectors,” the ministry said. “Frequent action by the Ukrainian military taking place on the Russian border has hindered our own ability to perform similar inspections and flybys along our border,” it continued.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.