Leaked Files Expose Syria Psyops Veteran Astroturfing Breadtube Star to Counter COVID Restriction Critics

By covertly recruiting popular YouTube influencer Abigail Thorn to counter growing opposition to UK gov’t Covid restrictions, psy-ops pros are bringing home the tactics they honed in the Syrian dirty war.

Kit Klarenberg
Max Blumenthal
By Kit Klarenberg
And Max Blumenthal

The Grayzone -- Leaked documents have revealed a state-sponsored influence operation designed to undermine critics of the British government’s coronavirus policies by astroturfing a prominent founder of the BreadTube clique of “anti-fascist” YouTube influencers. The project aims to conduct psychological profiling on British citizens dissenting

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Syria Rebuilds Relations with Regional Foes Despite Ongoing US Opposition

Investigative reporter Vanessa Beeley joins us to help get us up to speed with the war that was once the focus of mainstream coverage pushing a humanitarian interventionist narrative.

Mnar Adley
By Mnar Adley

 Welcome to MintCast, the official MintPress News podcast featuring dissenting voices the establishment would rather silence. Today MintCast host Mnar Adley is joined by Vanessa Beeley, an independent investigative journalist and war correspondent based in Damascus, Syria. While the U.S. military occupies a third of Syria -- mostly in the

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How the US Trained the Afghan Mujahideen To Produce War Propaganda

Behind The Headlines’ Dan Cohen explains a little known effort to train Afghan Islamic fundamentalists in propaganda, and how that effort created a blueprint for the White Helmets in Syria.

Dan Cohen
By Dan Cohen
Afghan War Propaganda Feature photo

By now, everyone knows about the White Helmets – the State Department’s propaganda operation to manufacture consent for the U.S.’s dirty war on Syria. But long before the White Helmets were the Afghan mujahideen. Quick review: The White Helmets were presented as laudable rescue teams who operated in opposition-held territory in Syria. They

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Jessica Ashooh: The Taming of Reddit and the National Security State Plant Tabbed to Do It

How and why did a hawkish young mandarin hothoused at elite universities and in the halls of state power end up an executive at an anarchic messageboard site with an anti-establishment reputation?

Alan Macleod
By Alan Macleod
Jessica Ashooh Reddit Feature photo

SAN FRANCISCO -- Reddit is one of the world’s most influential news and social media platforms. The website attracted over 1.2 billion visits in April 2021 alone, making it the United States’ eighth most visited site, ahead of other leviathans like Twitter, Instagram and eBay. Now majority-owned by a much larger corporate publishing empire, Reddit

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Dan Kovalik on Elections, Rebuilding and the Ongoing Proxy War in Syria

Despite the Western reaction, Assad, in power since 2000, looks set to govern for seven more years. His major task will be attempting to break armed opposition groups in Idlib and to repair a nation destroyed by 10 years of war and crippling sanctions.

Mnar Adley
By Mnar Adley
Dan Kovalik Syria Feature photo

Amidst a decade-long war that has devastated the country, Syrians went to the polls last week in an election that gave another seven-year term to current leader Bashar al-Assad. With a turnout of over 78%, Assad achieved an overwhelming victory against his nearest opponent, Mahmoud Ahmad Marei. Supporters of the president took to the streets in

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After 10 Years of Civil War in Syria, US (Quietly) Declares Defeat but Won’t Go Home

After a decade of bombing, invasions, exoduses and economic strife, it is clear that there are precious few winners in the Syrian Civil War — or from the rest of the Arab Spring, for that matter.

Alan Macleod
By Alan Macleod
Syria Media Bias

DAMASCUS, SYRIA -- This March marks the 10-year anniversary of the Arab Spring and the protests that rocked Syria, which were a starting point for the ongoing civil war. That conflict has led to over half a million deaths and nearly 13 million people displaced, according to some estimates. Now, after 10 years of attempts to topple the government

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