Willy Wimmer, former Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and former Secretary of State for the Federal Minister of Defense, is not surprised that the UN, as well as the Western leading media, are spreading “fake news” about the development in Aleppo. These media have long accepted to support NATO’s war policy, he says.
Sputniknews: Mr. Wimmer, on Tuesday the UN published a report stating that in East Aleppo civilians were massacred, kidnapped and tortured by government forces. Where the information comes from is not clear, the report merely refers to “trustworthy sources”. How is such a report to be assessed?
Willy Wimmer: Unfortunately, we have to assume that reports of this kind are being written in the US or Anglo-Saxon interests for many years beginning with the OSCE over the Red Cross and up to the United Nations. We saw in the international organisations that the otherwise objective reports had to be presented to the American ambassador or chief delegate before publication, so that the American view of the world’s things could be presented.
On the background of this experience, one must assume that this is a continuous pattern. I also refer to the International Committee of the Red Cross because, in my opinion, the main financier of this important organisation is the United States and that European states contribute just one or two percent. If one really wanted to know what would happen in different parts of the world, the astonishing audience would have to assume that these reports are fair. The experience of the past 20 years shows, however, that this expectation is usually not justified.
What is the goal of the UN at this time?
The only states that are engaged in accordance with the international law in Syria are the legitimate Syrian government itself, the Russian Federation and Iran. However, in the context of developments over the last five years, they have not encountered any significant support from the United Nations. From the Yugoslav war we know that the United Nations have become the aggressive instrument of NATO. This is a common thread through all of this undermining the necessary trust of the international community and the global population in such important institutions as the Red Cross, the OSCE and the United Nations. This is where war policy is pursued in American or Anglo-Saxon interest, and there are enough forces at the United Nations that are not afraid to play on this piano.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has already responded to the report and said that aid organisations on the ground cannot confirm the atrocities reported. In the Western media, however, the UN report is more widely disseminated. How do you interpret that?
This is the Western warfare we have had since 1999 and the war against Belgrade. The Western leading media are oriented to support offensively the war politics of NATO or the war powers United States, Great Britain and France. There is not the slightest doubt to be found in the pages – a doubt which would have previously existed – if such phenomena had been involved. We also see organisations, such as the Observatory for Human Rights acting from Great Britain, or the white helmets, which are traded internationally as an aid organisation, but which themselves are subject to the greatest doubt, what caprioles the West is now ready to accept. This, of course, destroys international trust, and our own populations do not believe our governments any more.
Albrecht Müller, editor of “NachDenkSeiten”, has also shown in a detailed article how one-sided Western media reporting is. For example, “Spiegel online” published videos with alleged requests for help by people arrested in Aleppo, whose authenticity has not been clarified, while Russian observation cameras in real time showed the evacuation of civilians and insurgents. How can this imbalance be justified in the German media?
This is government policy, which is offensive NATO policy. We know that NATO’s communications director is the unfortunate Jamie Shea, who has been beaten the public into war day by day and has done everything he can to maintain this readiness to stay in war. In such a situation, you cannot assume in the West that there is fair reporting. At least since the second Iraq war and the lies we have been told about Kuwait we must assume that the stories are essentially from American PR agencies.
When, for the first time in modern German history, the Federal Office attention is focused on the employment of so-called spin-doctors, and then one knows where the journey is heading to. Does anybody still believe these messages? Actually no, nobody; they themselves do not believe anything!
On Sputnik’s request, the leaders of the UN report did not want to name their sources; it was called for reasons of source protection. Should the UN not be obliged to present its sources in a transparent manner in the case of such serious accusations?
The United Nations must regain its old character in the context of international peace. As long as they need to be seen as an aid organisation for NATO, no one believes them anyway. Against this background, it is also more than inevitable that Sputnik and others, who want to know what the matter is, get such flimsy justifications.
At the EU summit in Brussels, Chancellor Merkel has openly accused Russia and Iran of crimes. Can she allow herself to do that presently?
Obviously, the lady can allow herself all. But one must only listen to the German public opinion in order to find out that this is entering at one ear and leaving at the other ear again without major impact. This also has to do with the fact that in Germany and other European states all know that it was the Americans, the British and the French, who have fuelled the development in Syria with special forces so that a five-year conflict has started. Where was the voice of the German chancellor when this happened – driven by our allies? Where did Ms Merkel call for the abolition of this shameful act? And one must also say that those who are responsible for violations of international law in this area, like Tony Blair, have in fact become European representatives for the Middle East. In other words, one makes the perversion systematic. And, of course, you have to ask, where did Mrs Merkel help to bring the British Prime Minister to the International Criminal Court in The Hague? This is the starting point of the development with which we are dealing now. And this is what many people see in Germany. •
Source: <link https: de.sputniknews.com politik>de.sputniknews.com/politik/20161216313802241-wimmer-aleppo-berichterstattung/ from 16.12.2016
(Translation Current Concerns)
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