Help me untangle Aleppo?

December 15, 2016 12:06 PM

I'm looking for credible unbiased sources for information about what is happening in Aleppo. In this video, Eva Bartlett states that the White Helmets are not, in fact, helping on the ground. What is true?

Many of my friends are posting on social media encouraging people to donate funds to the White Helmets as one of the only concrete ways they feel they can help. I also want to help, but it looks like there's some kind of propaganda war going on... and I just don't have a solid enough grasp of geopolitics or the history of this conflict to separate fact from fiction. I don't want to spread disinformation, and I do want to be a good human.

Can you point me to some real information? Am I being incredibly naive? Are Vanessa Beeley and Eva Bartlett a good place to start?

posted by lizifer to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

Best answer: I thought this was a pretty thorough explanation by the NY Times. This is from Upworthy, but lists several places to donate money, perhaps some less controversial. That one discusses the White Helmets this way: "Some critics of the organization argue that the group hides a political mission, which advocates for regime change and policies that have exacerbated the violence. But right now, they're saving lives, and in a crisis moment, that matters more."
posted by LKWorking at 12:15 PM on December 15, 2016 [5 favorites]

Bartlett has written for Russia Today and her work is often on other Russian propaganda sites. The closest I can find to a real outlet bearing her name is a blog from new Internationalist in 2011.

She is not even close to what I would call a journalist, and even calling her an activist might be a bridge too far. There is no reason to assign what she says any weight at all.
posted by smoke at 12:37 PM on December 15, 2016 [13 favorites]

In addition, I would consider what forces might be propelling a "journalist" with no experience, or expertise, come up from virtually nowhere, all over the Internet supporting the regime's taking points at a time when virtually no one else is. "journalists" like her do not usually make headlines for opinion pieces.
posted by smoke at 12:40 PM on December 15, 2016 [6 favorites]

Response by poster: This is a helpful perspective. Thanks folks, I was getting overwhelmed.
posted by lizifer at 12:50 PM on December 15, 2016

One thing you can do - sit on the idea of donating anything until matters are a little clearer. It is unlikely that donating money right this very minute is going to change things on the ground, and in fact it is easy for small organizations to become overwhelmed by a huge, rapid donation of cash in the middle of a disaster. Put the money aside or earmark it in some way, do a little more research in the next couple of weeks and then donate.

As far as reliable news sources go, in the longer run Democracy Now is a source I'd trust - they don't have any coverage on this particular aspect of the Aleppo situation right this minute, but I'm sure they will have reliable information as things develop. They might conceivably make mistakes and they're definitely a left-leaning site (a plus for me) but they will tell the truth to the extent that they can discover it.
posted by Frowner at 12:52 PM on December 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

Best answer: it's also worth comparing some of the negative pieces about White Helmets and it's founder to some other older articles, like this one from Men's Journal 2014. A lot of hit pieces kind of rely on simple trigger keywords to inspire a negative reaction -- "Western funded", "founded by famous contractor/mercenary James Le Mesurier" but are short on corroborating detail and then just focus on hairsplitting critiques of the Netflix documentary.

Whereas the Men's Journal piece goes fairly deep on background and facts and mentions, among other things, that the White Helmets founder worked for the UN and NATO in peacekeeping operations then went on to work for former Bush counterterrorism czar, Richard Clarke. Then recall that Richard Clarke was one of the few members of that administration who stood up against the drive of war to Iraq and was openly critical of the administration. That's all to the good, from my POV.

I mean, is the fact that the White Helmets are trained and funded by Westerners less than ideal? Probably. But that may also be a result of the fact that every other Syrian who could have trained is a war casualty. I think that Western involvement in any NGO deserves some scrutiny, but it shouldn't turn into outright condemnation.
posted by bl1nk at 12:53 PM on December 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

This piece from the independent lays out why there is such a lack of credible information - the tl;dr is that in a theater too dangerous for independent western journalists reliance on second hand information leaves most reporting susceptible to partisan framing or outright misinformation.

Maybe im being a neoliberal sucker, but in a scenario where both the Assad regime and rebel groups are probably guilty (though not equally) of war crimes and civilian manipulation, supporting a group trained by outsiders and not aligned with either makes a lot of sense.

Its not clear what is happening in Aleppo, except that a lot of innocent civilians are being used, hurt, and killed. A shame on all of us.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:18 PM on December 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Snopes has a detailed examination of some of the claims made by Eva Bartlett in that video.
posted by Catseye at 1:23 PM on December 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

Best answer: The video is being used Russian propaganda, as in it is being spread in the English-speaking world by the Russian Government through media funded to promote Russian interests with no particular standards for independence or journalistic integrity. See this Buzzfeed story posted today: This Quirky New Viral Video Channel Is Funded By The Russian Government, which also discusses the response from the "destroyed" journalist.

That's not to say everything RT produces is entirely inaccurate, and there's a significant lack of reliable journalism coming out of Aleppo due to the danger, but it's important to be aware of who is responsible for spreading this.
posted by zachlipton at 1:04 AM on December 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

For a general take on the journalistic situation in Aleppo I'd suggest reading this piece from Andrew Cockburn:

There was a period in 2011 and 2012 when there were genuinely independent opposition activists operating inside Syria, but as the jihadis took over these brave people were forced to flee abroad, fell silent or were dead

And a qoute I saw on twitter and made me stop and think for a moment:

Sure-fire sign you've been successfully propagandized: you think propaganda is something only "the enemy" does.

posted by kmt at 4:07 AM on December 17, 2016