Patrick Worsnip explains how the West is "harassing" Syria

3,500 people murdered by the Assad regime in Syria and the world is standing idly by. 

Reuters has been tossed out of the country by Assad and has only one correspondent, Khaled Yacoub Oweis, reporting on the daily mass killings.  With penetrating journalistic insight however, Patrick Worsnip, Reuters UN correspondent, has identified the West's secret weapon:

Western governments have called on Assad to leave power and have waged a campaign of diplomatic harassment, for example by keeping Syria off the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Yes, we're certain Assad is quivering in his jackboots under that intense pressure.

Reuters is consistent

One thing we can say about Reuters: the agency is consistent.

Consistent in its use of classic propaganda techniques to obfuscate history and reality when writing about the Middle East conflict.

Take for example, this story by correspondent Patrick Worsnip about a comment by UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Lynn Pascoe, before a monthly meeting of the Security Council.

Pascoe reportedly called for peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs to resume so as to advance the much ballyhooed "two-state solution" proposed by the Quartet.

Note first how Worsnip trumpets Pascoe's talking point as an official statement by the United Nations:

(Reuters) - The United Nations called on Thursday for "bold and decisive steps" to relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process as the region awaits a possible new initiative by U.S. President Barack Obama.

As we've previously noted, Reuters clearly identifies and lauds the UN when representatives of the august body issue declarations consistent with Reuters own political agenda.  This, in an effort to give the declaration greater authority and an aura of universality.  On the other hand, when the United Nations issues an official finding or passes a resolution unpalatable to Reuters correspondents, agency stories regularly conceal or downplay the broad authoritative and consensual nature of the decree, alternatively characterizing it as a product of "the West".

Worsnip is consistent as well, in his use of card stacking to portray Israel as intransigent and culpable for failed negotiations with the Palestinians.

Peace talks opened last September with the aim of an accord in one year but quickly broke down after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to extend a partial freeze on Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank.

No mention of course, that the freeze on Jewish settlement building in Judea and Samaria represented a unilateral and unprecedented concession to the Palestinian Arabs by Israel nor that the concession went unrequited as the Palestinians refused to enter into negotiations until three weeks remained in the 10-month freeze.

Reuters (inadvertently) comes clean

In our post just below, we noted that despite the fact the Utopian-sounding World Court has no binding authority to rule on the legality of Jewish settlements, Reuters repeats ad nauseam, the propaganda mantra that the body considers Jewish settlements illegal.  This, in an effort to give weight to the agency's own partisan political views.

Ironically, just a few hours ago, Reuters published a story by correspondent Patrick Worsnip which cedes to and underscores our point.

Writing about British and French efforts to impose a "no-fly" zone over Libya and the length of time it takes to to get such a resolution through the United Nations Security Council, Worsnip is quite clear on international law:

Here are some facts about the council and its resolutions to help explain why the procedure can be so cumbersome.  

WHAT IS THE SECURITY COUNCIL?

The council is the only U.N. body whose resolutions have the force of international law and is mandated to tackle situations deemed to threaten international peace and security. It can impose sanctions on countries or send in peacekeeping forces with varying rules of engagement.

Thank you, Patrick, for acknowledging the facts.  Now, if only your colleagues in Jerusalem would do the same with respect to Jewish rights in international law.

Reuters continues to suppress news of Hezbollah rearmament

As Lebanon continues to violate UNSCR 1701 by facilitating the massing of tens of thousands of Hezbollah missiles throughout the country, UNIFIL, the United Nations security force charged with assisting the Lebanese government in its obligation to prevent this rearmament continues to look the other way.  And the largest global news agency, Reuters, continues to run interference for Lebanon, UNIFIL, and Hezbollah by downplaying news of the rearmament and UNIFILs complicity in the same. 

Reuters is however, on the job when it comes to reporting on personal relations between UNIFIL and the modest folks in south Lebanon: 

Villagers in south Lebanon have blamed French peacekeepers for the recent confrontations in the south, saying their patrols had become provocative and intrusive, including taking photographs of people inside their houses. Some Western diplomats say Hezbollah was involved, which the group denies.

Not to worry however, we are now assured that things have been patched up and all is well:

A U.N. envoy to Lebanon said on Wednesday he believed trouble between U.N. peacekeepers and villagers in south Lebanon that has led to confrontations in recent weeks had now been sorted out...

"I can confirm that the situation in the south is now much better, that I believe that calm and stability have been returned," special coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams told reporters after briefing the Security Council.

(Williams you may recall, was formerly UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's personal representative to the PLO.)

Glad we got that little misunderstanding cleared up.

Cat got your tongue?

Reuters simply cannot bring itself to say an unkind word about Hamas.  In a story on the United Nations agreeing to deliver the Gaza aid cargo currently in Israeli storage, Reuters comes close but manages to avoid noting that the reason the UN has had to step up and deliver the aid is because Hamas has thus far refused to accept it.

Perhaps correspondent Patrick Worsnip wants to make sure he doesn't lose his invitation to the next Ismail Haniyeh bash at Roots.