Maria Zakharova sits down with Eva Bartlett. Zakharova weighs in on Syria, Crimea, the Moscow protests and more. ** -Eva Bartlett: In a simple meeting room at the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry building, Maria Zakharova gave me a generous hour of her time in a conversation peppered with bemused laughter at Western allegations about Russia and clear frustration at the West’s incessant vilification of all things Russia. I traveled to Moscow in August, where to my delight I had the opportunity to interview Zakharova. Given that Russia is the focus of obsessive and largely negative Western media reporting, and also the country’s role in eliminating the proliferation of terrorist groups that once controlled large swaths of Syria, I wanted to ask Zakharova for her take on a variety of topics related to both Russia and Syria. In our wide-ranging discussion, Zakharova spoke of the U.S. sanctions regime against Russia and of the Western interference in Russian domestic issues — such as the protests seen in Moscow in July and August. On Syria, she addressed the issue of exploitation of children in propaganda against Syria and Russia — notably Omran Daqneesh, a child whose image was splashed across newspapers and screens worldwide in 2016, incriminating Russia and Syria in an airstrike that was later proven to have never happened. An official apology from one of the most adamant perpetrators of that narrative, CNN’s Christian Amanpour, also never happened. One cannot discuss the war in Syria and related propaganda without addressing the massively-funded White Helmets. In discussing the group, Zakharova gave examples of its role in fomenting support for Western military intervention, including in pushing responsibility on the Syrian government for the alleged but unproven and, by most honest accounts, staged chemical attack in Douma, eastern Ghouta, in 2018. Footage of the attack included video starring the White Helmets and another exploited Syrian boy, Hassan Diab, whose testimony of the events ran in stark contrast to the allegations against the Syrian government that were being circulated in the Western media. Zakharova also addressed the inconsistencies around the Skripal case, the historic importance of Crimea’s referendum, and the U.K. “media freedom” conference of July 2019, where cases of imprisoned journalists like Julian Assange and Kirill Vyshinsky were notably not part of the conference program. My Related: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2019/09/13/mintpress-sits-down-with-russias-foreign-ministry-spokesperson-maria-zakharova/ https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2019/11/02/accused-of-treason-and-imprisoned-without-trial-journalist-kirill-vyshinsky-recounts-his-harrowing-time-in-a-ukrainian-prison/

October 2019: In November 2018, I became aware of the case of Kirill Vyshinsky, a Ukrainian-Russian journalist and editor imprisoned in Ukraine without trial since May 2018, accused of high treason. Soon after, I interviewed Vyshinsky via email. He described his arrest and the accusations against him as politically-motivated, “an attempt by the Ukrainian authorities to bolster the declining popularity of [then] President [Petro] Poroshenko in this election year.” Vyshinsky noted that his arrest was advancing the incessant anti-Russian hysteria now prevalent among Ukrainian authorities, as he holds dual Ukrainian and Russian citizenship. He noted that the charges against him, which pertain to a number of articles he published in 2014 (none of them authored by Vyshinsky), became of interest to Ukrainian authorities and intelligence services four years after they were published. To Vyshinsky, this supports the notion that neither the articles nor their editor were a security threat to Ukraine, instead, he says, they were a political card to be played. In early 2019, I traveled to Kiev to interview Vyshinsky’s defense lawyer Andriy Domansky about the logistic obstacles of his client’s case. Domansky viewed the Vyshinsky case as politically motivated and expressed concern that he could himself become a target of Ukraine’s secret service for his role in defending his client, an innocent man. Domansky told me at the time, The Vyshinsky case is key in demonstrating the presence of political persecution of journalists in Ukraine. As a legal expert, I believe justice is still possible in Ukraine and I will do everything possible to prove Kirill Vyshinsky’s innocence.” To the surprise of those following the case against Vyshinsky, in late August 2019 he was released with little fanfare after serving more than 400 days in a Ukrainian prison but still faces all of the charges brought against him by the Ukrainian government and is “obliged to appear in court or give testimony to investigators if they deemed it necessary.” By early September, Kirill Vyshinsky was on a plane to Moscow. Despite never being tried or officially convicted, he found himself the subject of a prisoner exchange between the Russian and Ukrainian governments. I interviewed Vyshinsky in Moscow in late September. He told me about his harrowing ordeal, the Ukrainian detention system, other persecuted journalists, and what lies ahead for him. He also touched on the inhumane conditions he experienced in Ukrainian prisons. He noted that a pretrial detention center as we know it in Western nations is a very different entity in Ukraine and that Ukrainian prisons were so over-crowded that it was common for inmates to sleep in three shifts in order to allow enough standing room for inmates crammed into a cell. Ukrainian prisons like a “concentration camp” Aleksey Zhuravko, a Ukrainian deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of V and VI convocations recently published photos taken inside of an Odessa pretrial detention center showing utterly unsanitary and appalling conditions. Zhuravko noted, “I am shocked at what was seen. It is a concentration camp. It is a hotbed of diseases.” Another Ukrainian journalist, Pavel Volkov, was subjected to the same types of accusations lobbed against Vyshinsky. Volkov spent over a year in the same pretrial detention center as Vyshinsky. He was arrested on September 27, 2017, after Ukrainian authorities carried out searches of his wife and mother’s apartments without the presence of his lawyer and with what he says, was a false witness. Volkov spent more than a year in a pretrial detention center on charges of “infringing on territorial integrity with a group of people” and “miscellaneous accessory to terrorism.” On March 27, 2019, he was fully acquitted by a Ukrainian court. Volkov shared his thoughts on the persecution of journalists in Ukraine, saying: The leaders of the 2014 Euromaidan movement, who subsequently occupied the largest positions in the country’s leadership, repeatedly stated that collaborators from World War II who participated in the mass extermination of Jews, Russians, and Poles are true heroes in Ukraine, and that the Russian and Russian-speaking population of Ukraine are inferior people who need to be either forcibly re-educated or destroyed. They also believe that anyone who wants peace with the Russian Federation, and who believes that the Russian language (the native language for over sixty percent of Ukraine’s population) should be the second state language, is the enemy of Ukraine. These notions formed the basis of the new criminal law, designed to persecute politicians, public figures, journalists, and ordinary citizens who disagree with the above. Since 2014, security services have arrested hundreds of people on charges of state treason; infringing on the territorial integrity of Ukraine; and assisting terrorism for criticizing the current government in the streets or on the Internet. People have been in prison for years without a conviction. And these are not only the journalists included in the ‘Vyshinsky list’. Activists from Odessa, Sergey Dolzhenkov and Evgeny Mefedov, have spent more than five years in jail just for laying flowers at a memorial to the liberators of Nikolaev [Ukrainian city] from Nazi invaders. Sergeyev and Gorban, taxi drivers, have spent two and a half years in a pretrial detention center because they transported pensioners from Donetsk to Ukraine-controlled territory so that they could receive their legal pension. The entrepreneur Andrey Tatarintsev has spent two years in prison for providing humanitarian assistance to a children’s hospital in the territory of the Lugansk region not controlled by Ukraine. Farmer Nikolay Butrimenko received eight years of imprisonment for paying tax to the Donetsk People’s Republic for his land located in that territory. The 85-year-old scientist and engineer Mekhti Logunov was given twelve years because he agreed to build a waste recycling plant with Russian investors. The list is endless. People often incriminate themselves while being tortured or under the threat of their relatives being punished, and such confessions are accepted by the courts, despite the fact that lawyers initiate criminal proceedings against the security services involved in the torture. These cases are not being investigated. The only mitigation that has happened in this direction after the change of government was the abolition of the provision of the Criminal Procedure Code stating that no other measure of restraint other than detention can be applied to persons suspected of committing crimes against the state. This allowed some defendants to leave prison on bail, but not a single politically-motivated case has yet been closed. Moreover, arrests are ongoing. The only acquittal to date from the so-called journalistic cases on freedom of speech is mine. However, it is still being contested by the prosecutor’s office in the Supreme Court. Ninety-nine percent of the media continue to call all these people ‘terrorists’, ‘separatists’, and ‘enemies of the people’, even though almost none of them have yet received a verdict in court.” Volkov’s words lay bare the true nature of the allegations made against Kirill Vyshinsky as well as the countless other journalists and citizens of Ukraine that have fallen victim to the heavy hand of Ukrainian authorities. https://www.mintpressnews.com/interview-journalist-kirill-vyshinsky-ukrainian-prison/262498/ https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2019/11/02/accused-of-treason-and-imprisoned-without-trial-journalist-kirill-vyshinsky-recounts-his-harrowing-time-in-a-ukrainian-prison/

Alon and I had an informal conversation yesterday which I think listeners will find very informative. -His father was born in Palestine, "before the catastrophic, disastrous, establishment of Israel." -He became disillusioned with Israel, what it stands for, what is Zionism, and what Western culture and colonialism really are and really stand for. -Zionism has become, "the most hated ideology on the planet, only survives by unending US support. When an ideology embraces an insane agenda, it is going to crumble, its unsustainable. Zionism is unsustainable. Israel is now in a situation where it can't survive without US support. Israel and Zionism are fiercely hated the world over." -The political opposition to Western colonialism is growing daily. -More people questioning the story of Israel: "there is a limit to how much you can mass murder children & cover it up with stories that you're only able to tell because you control the media." -Only hope for Syria lies in the decolonization of the middle east from Western forces. -"People remember the Iraq war, the assassination of Gaddafi, the chaos that the West unleashed on Africa and on Arab countries over the past generation, what it is doing in Gaza and in Syria. Western colonialism is reaching the end of its days, humanity is woken up to this. It is in a frenzy now, trying to set fire wherever they can, trying to create a huge war." -"The people in Gaza who are being massacred by Israel, most of them are refugees from Palestine, that Israel pushed into Gaza in 1948. Those people who lived in Gaza were being occupied, murdered, and humiliated by people who just came to Israel 10, 20 years ago from Europe and other places, and took their land, took their homes, and then came after them in the refugee camps in Gaza." Follow him: https://alonmizrahi.substack.com/about https://x.com/alon_mizrahi https://linktr.ee/AMizrahi My Related Links: https://opt2007.wordpress.com/category/my-entries-from-occupied-palestine-apr-dec-2007/ https://opt2007.wordpress.com/category/bilin/ https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2018/06/27/welcome-to-hadar-a-village-under-siege-by-al-qaeda-and-israeli-forces-alike/ https://ingaza.wordpress.com/syria/syria-my-published-articles-from-and-on-syria-2014-2022/ https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/observations-from-occupied-palestine-in-gaza/ https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/updates-and-excerpts/ https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/on-board-the-dignity-en-route-to-besieged-gaza/

I spoke with Ted Walter, International Center for 9/11 Justice, on why now, 23 years on, speaking about 9/11 is important. Excerpt: "I would encourage people to look at 9/11 as a possible opportunity to expose the true nature of the national security state, of the war machine. It's about becoming more educated so that it's harder for the powers that be to carry out future deceptions. People who dedicated their careers or spend much of their free time battling Western imperialism, battling the war machine, refuse to look at 9/11—which I think is the foundation of the current war machine. At 23 years, I think its time that people who have avoided it in the past, either for career-oriented reasons or because they themselves have fallen prey to the propaganda of the war machine that they are dedicated to taking down. Whatever it may be, now is the time to finally look critically at 9/11. If we don't understand 9/11, we really don't understand the world we live in." Related Links: https://ic911.org/ten-reasons/ on the “Hannibal Directive” https://x.com/Truth_InMedia/status/1810675316261838968 https://x.com/DoubleDownNews/status/1832855065092075676 https://x.com/RichardGage_911/status/1843157368479346912 https://electronicintifada.net/tags/hannibal-directive https://ic911.org/journal/articles/the-instantaneous-free-fall-of-world-trade-center-building-7-and-nists-attempt-to-hide-it/ 23 years later, you owe it to yourself to finally trust your eyes https://x.com/ic911justice/status/1833873999945781520 Perhaps these first responders can help you see what is actually going on here https://x.com/ic911justice/status/1858595704249446897 Peace, War and 9/11 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28757454/ https://www.ae911truth.org/evidence/technical-articles/articles-by-ae911truth/696-how-36-reporters-brought-us-the-twin-towers-explosive-demolition

This is a must-listen interview for those who think Russia “invaded Ukraine without reason”, and those who believe the West's propaganda about Russia “failing” in its objectives, and many other lies put out by Washington and parroted by Western corporate media. Former Swiss intelligence, Jacques Baud, on the Ukraine-NATO history that forced Russia to start its Special Military Operation in February 2022. He is the author of numerous books, including: “The Russian Art of War: How the West Led Ukraine to Defeat”and “Operation Z: The Hidden Truth of the War in Ukraine Revealed”.

Dr. Assal Rad, Middle East Historian & author, breaks down the manifold tactics media use to dehumanize Palestinians and Lebanese (among many others) and whitewash Israel when it bombs, starves and commits acts of terrorism against them. Follow her: https://x.com/AssalRad Related Links: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2024/07/24/the-uncounted-hundreds-of-thousands-of-palestinians-in-gaza-being-killed-by-israel/ https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2024/03/11/israel-is-now-killing-palestinians-in-gaza-by-starvation-media-downplaying-this-are-complicit-in-these-preventable-deaths/

Tarik is an author, a historian and an expert on international politics. He has a BA in Modern History from Oxford University, an MSc in International History from the LSE, and a PhD in History from Princeton University. Follow him at: https://substack.com/@tarikcyrilamar https://www.rt.com/op-ed/authors/tarik-cyril-amar/ https://x.com/TarikCyrilAmar

I spoke with Latin America correspondent for Press TV, Camila Escalante, about what she saw and heard on the ground in Caracas, Venezuela, before, during and after the recent Presidential Election. A well-travelled, longtime correspondent all over Latin America, Camila brings a deep understanding of the history of the country and region, and of the people. With ample experience in Venezuela in years prior, she speaks with first hand knowledge on the positive changes in the country, in spite of the brutal Western sanctions against the Venezuelan people. Follow Camilla at: X: camilapress Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/CamilaPress My Related Links: -My Venezuela (2019) playlist: https://rumble.com/playlists/YCmDnKNOVWc -The US is manufacturing a crisis in Venezuela so that there is chaos and ‘needed’ intervention https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2019/03/31/us-is-manufacturing-a-crisis-in-venezuela-so-that-there-is-chaos-and-needed-intervention/

Recently, on a prime time French television show, panelists discussed whether France should stop arming Ukraine. An online poll conducted during the conversation resulted in 76.7% of participants wanting an end to arming Ukraine. Bertrand Scholler, one of the panelists, outlined why he believes France should not be sending arms to Ukraine. RELATED LINKS: C'est Cyril Hanouna qui a le courage de le faire. Chapeau mec ! 76,7 % des Français sont opposés à continuer de livrer des armes à l'Ukraine Il est temps que nos députés SE RÉVEILLENT ! https://twitter.com/SinedWarrior/status/1582122560006672384 The French TV channel abruptly "lost touch" with the correspondent, who began to tell that Ukraine was striking at civilian infrastructure and even hospitals: https://t.me/dimsmirnov175/39107 https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2022/04/08/they-saw-and-heard-the-truth-then-lied-about-it-media-on-donbass-delegation-omitted-mention-of-ukraines-8-year-war-on-the-autonomous-republics/ https://www.mintpressnews.com/under-fire-from-ukraine-everyday-life-in-the-donetsk-peoples-republic/262363/ https://www.thepostil.com/the-military-situation-in-the-ukraine/ DPR Civilians On Why They Wanted A Referendum To Join Russia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWs8TQG5Ds8 Interviews With Donetsk Residents After Joining Russia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq-pM-JPBCQ "Il faut arrêter d'armer l'Ukraine pour la paix" déclare Bertrand Scholler, consultant politique https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn_pLpZsxoU&feature=youtu.be

I recently spoke with Larry C Johnson, formerly with the CIA and the State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism. Larry provided training to the US Military’s Special Operations community for 24 years. See his bio: https://sonar21.com/about-larry/ RELATED LINKS: *Larry on James Kuntsler's podcast https://kunstler.com/podcast/kunstlercast-358-a-conversation-about-ukraine-with-larry-c-johnson/ -The Military Situation In The Ukraine https://www.thepostil.com/the-military-situation-in-the-ukraine/ -Here’s what I found at the reported ‘mass grave’ near Mariupol https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2022/04/29/heres-what-i-found-at-the-reported-mass-grave-near-mariupol/ -Andrei Martyanov, Russian military expert https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/ -I’m on a ‘hit list’ Kiev allows to silence dissent & journalism. That’s all you need to know about Ukrainian ‘democracy’ https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2021/06/12/im-on-a-hit-list-kiev-allows-to-silence-dissent-journalism-thats-all-you-need-to-know-about-ukrainian-democracy/ -The Red Line and the Rat Line Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdoğan and the Syrian rebels https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/n08/seymour-m.-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line *Ghost of Kiev hoax https://kotaku.com/ghost-kyiv-russia-ukraine-invasion-viral-video-fake-pc-1848598266?utm_campaign=Kotaku&utm_content=1645893233&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=twitter *Bucha hoax https://waronfakes.com/bucha/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8moZ7S4voe4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hGmc4UGfWs https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2022/04/06/its-obvious-who-gains-from-bucha-massacre-but-there-hardly-any-media-left-to-say-it/ -Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre (US war crimes) https://documentaryheaven.com/fallujah-the-hidden-massacre/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3177876/ *Douma hoax https://www.rt.com/op-ed/429349-syrians-tell-terrorists-white-helmets/ https://twitter.com/johnpilger/status/1397901080864858114

I spoke with prolific Canadian journalist and author Yves Engler about Canada's unconditional support to Israel, even, or especially, as Israel has slaughtered up to nearly 200, 000 Palestinians in Gaza (Lancet), or potentially double that number (Gilbert). Yves lays out Canada's long history of support to Israel, including during the ongoing Israeli genocide of Gaza, and including over 7 decades ago with Canadian pilots participating in the Zionists' ethnic cleansing of Palestine. He talks about Canada's arms to Israel, and providing components to the fighter planes which bomb Gaza now, and about the Canadians fighting in the Israeli army, and those being recruited by various charities and organizations in Canada. Important information you won't hear on legacy media. Yves is author of 13 books, and publishes at yvesengler.com & https://www.foreignpolicy.ca/articles?author=57f2952659cc6814c896c9fa He tweets at https://x.com/EnglerYves Some of his books: https://www.barakabooks.com/?post_type=dd-product&s=yves+engler My blog post with related links: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2024/07/18/canadian-journalist-author-yves-enger-on-canadas-complity-in-israels-genocide-of-palestinians-in-gaza/

I spoke recently with Nick of Revolutionary Blackout Network on a variety of issues, including the on the ground community-building work he is involved in, supporting Palestine—especially Palestinian Resistance, and why average people have been conditioned to hate places like the DPRK (North Korea). A very interesting conversation, I'm grateful to Nick for his time. Follow him at: https://www.youtube.com/@revolutionaryblackout7315 https://www.revolutionaryblackoutnetwork.com/ https://x.com/SocialistMMA https://www.patreon.com/RevolutionaryBlackout Related Links: -The Palestinians’ inalienable right to resist. 22/06/2021, Louis Allday https://www.ebb-magazine.com/essays/the-palestinians-inalienable-right-to-resist n -Bilin & nonviolent resistance https://opt2007.wordpress.com/2007/06/16/protesters-take-rubber-bullets-to-head-and-stomach-at-bilin/ https://opt2007.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/good-ole-cnnenterprise/ https://opt2007.wordpress.com/2007/07/20/no-iof-love-for-bilin-non-violent-protesters/ https://opt2007.wordpress.com/2007/08/13/reflections-on-accountability/ -Bassem Abu Rahme, killed by Israeli army in Bil’in protest against the Wall https://opt2007.wordpress.com/2009/04/17/bassem-abu-rahme-killed-in-bilin-protest-against-the-wall-rest-peacefully/ -Great March of Return protests https://electronicintifada.net/tags/great-march-return -Deconstructing the NATO Narrative on Syria (regarding “nonviolent” “rebels” in Syria ) https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/deconstructing-the-nato-narrative-on-syria/ -My report from visit to the DPRK https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2017/10/28/photo-report-the-north-korea-neither-trump-nor-western-media-wants-the-world-to-see/ -We Went To North Korea To Get A Haircut https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BO83Ig-E8E Interview With The Makers of “The Haircut (2017) A North Korean Adventure” https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2018/02/15/interview-with-the-makers-of-the-haircut-2017-a-north-korean-adventure/ https://ingaza.wordpress.com/photos-and-videos-zionist-massacre-of-gaza-2008-2009/

In Moscow I spoke with Jeff Monson, a world-acclaimed American mixed martial arts fighter and political activist. Jeff travelled to the Lugansk People's Republic in 2016, and has returned to the LPR and neighbouring Donetsk People's Republic nearly a dozen times since, speaking with every day people about their lives under Ukraine's war on the Donbass. We spoke about his experiences in the Donbass and how they directly contradicted media claims, as well as his opening of dozens of sports schools in Russia and now in Donetsk. Monson, together with RT journalist Donald Courter, collaboratively-produced the independently-funded documentary “8 Years Before”, on the suffering that the people of the Donbass under Ukraine's 8+ years of bombings. [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM0VYkL_UI4 ]