Lies and Damned Lies

Back in April, the world teetered on the edge of war. In the west, we were told that "chemical weapons, including sarin gas" had been used in Syria and the the civilized world could not stand by and watch innocent civilians die in agony. It was a compelling and frightening story. It also wasn't true.

First, some history. On April 4, 2018, President Trump made a surprise announcement that he was prepared to wind down the American presence in Syria and "bring the troops home in a few months". For a summary, here's a New York Times article from that day: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/world/middleeast/trump-syria-troops.html

It was just three days later that and event occurred in Douma, Syria that would soon force Trump to backtrack. In a rush to judgment, it was quickly concluded that Syrian President Assad had ordered a chemical weapons attack on the Damascus suburb, allegedly to defeat a "rebel stronghold" there: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/08/world/middleeast/syria-chemical-attac...

So, over the course of about 72 hours, the US goes from full withdrawal from Syria to perhaps full engagement, all because of an alleged chemical weapons attack...a chemical attack that seemed oddly timed as Assad had very little to gain from staging such an atrocity just after the US president had disclosed his desire to withdraw American forces from his country. (How and why the US even has uninvited military forces in Syria in the first place is a topic for another day.)

The rush toward American military action that followed the alleged chemical attack was remarkable in its near-unanimous support from politicians, media and military leaders alike. Nearly every public voice called for an immediate US military response to the "outrage" and "atrocity" committed by the "animal" Assad. A handful of pundits and citizens tried to slow the rush to war but nearly all who chose to speak out were slandered as "unpatroitic" and "Assad/Putin apologists". There was this "prediction" from Steve Cox, an independent candidate for Congress from California: https://www.voteforcox.com

Courageous, well-written articles came from political opposites like Caitlin Johnstone (https://medium.com/%40caityjohnstone/we-all-need-to-unite-against-war-in...) and Pat Buchanan (https://buchanan.org/blog/trump-prisoner-of-the-war-party-129140)

But the most famous bit of "resistance" came from TV host, Tucker Carlson. Before you proceed, I encourage you to watch this clip from his program which aired on April 9:

As we now know, the US went ahead and launched a cruise missile barrage into Syria on April 13 (US time). A few buildings were destroyed and this action was alleged to have "set back Assad's chemical weapons programs". Fortunately for the entire world, no one was injured and no Russian retaliation followed: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/world/middleeast/trump-strikes-syria-...

And that was that. But here's the thing. It was all bullshit.

Back on Friday, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) released their preliminary findings on the April Douma event. What do you suppose they found? In a word, nothing. Oh, they did state that some "various chlorinated organic chemicals" had been found, but that's not unusual since one of the test sites was near a damaged hospital and hospitals are certainly known to keep stores of chlorine for sterilization programs. However and most important, the OPCW did not find any "organophosphorous nerve agents or their degradation products". What does that mean? Simply stated, the OPCW did NOT find any evidence of sarin or any other nerve agents that had allegedly been used by Assad back in April. You can read the entire news release here: https://www.opcw.org/news/article/opcw-issues-fact-finding-mission-repor...

In short, what does this mean? That the War Party and its sycophant media have been caught red-handed. A false narrative was created in the hours after President Trump announced his intention to withdraw US troops from Syria. This narrative was shamelessly promoted by politicians and media from Paris to London to Washington and anyone who doubted this version of events was slandered and ostracized. The US, Britain and France soon responded militarily and, in the 90 days since, all talk of US de-escalation in Syria has dissipated.

At this point, though, you're probably asking yourself why this matters and why these events should be of concern to a precious metals website? It's simple. If your government, politicians and media are willing to lie and deceive regarding critical matters such as life, death and war, then why is it so hard to believe that these same institutions aren't misleading you in regards to market manipulation and price suppression?

In need of endless conflict to support the War Party? Simply create the narrative and have the media legitimize it. As an example:

In need of gold price suppression and management? Create alternative forms to physical ownership and have the media legitimize it: https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974LONDON16154_b.html

Same approach, same results. A gullible public swallows whole the lies and misinformation disseminated by their supposedly free press and everything that follows disappears into the fog of history. Can this ever change? Only through an informed and educated populace will the truth ever prevail. Unfortunately, the events of last April demonstrate once again that we as a society are nowhere near reaching that objective.

About the Author

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Key Economic Events Week of 3/18

3/19 BoJ meeting
3/19 8:30 ET Housing starts
3/20 2:00 ET FOMC fedlines
3/20 2:30 ET Jerry's presser
3/21 ECB meeting
3/21 8:30 ET Philly Fed
3/21 9:45 ET S&P flash PMIs
3/21 10:00 ET LEIII
3/21 10:00 ET Home sales
3/22 8:00 ET Some random Goon
3/22 9:00 ET Jerry public event

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