Thursday 6 October 2011

Dead Wrong: Living 'victim' talks on TV



In Syria, at least six people are reported to have been killed in the latest clashes between protesters and security forces. Human rights groups continue to sound the alarm over multiple arrests and killings - but one high-profile victim has made an amazing reappearance. Ivor Bennett reports on the media's quickfire reactions at the expense of fact-checking.

Shocking Video: Syrian opposition violence



Torture, booby-trapped cars, machine-guns shooting in the air -- RT has come into the possession of a video that deals with episodes of the day-to-day life of members of the Syrian opposition. It shows members of the opposition wielding various weaponry -- from sickles to pump-action shotguns -- and using it, as well as some results of their actions. Parts of it contain too much violence to be reproduced for an unprepared audience, the rest is available to demonstrate the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe Syria is dealing with. ­Meanwhile, Russia has declared its readiness to continue working on a new resolution on Syria and expects two delegations of the Syrian opposition to visit Moscow for negotiations in October. While a massive group of Western countries last week proposed two resolutions, both of which included sanctions against current President Bashar al-Assad's regime if violence against the opposition continues, Russia and China opposed any kind of sanctions. Russia has condemned the Western resolutions as being designed to force a regime change in Syria, which, according to numerous statements made by Russia's Foreign Ministry, will only encourage violence.