Influential accounts have a responsibility to their audience to perform due diligence before sharing their opinion about extremely sensitive news items like this one.
You're right, but the difference is that I'll correct myself when I get something wrong, either in upcoming analyses or in comments on social media upon being asked about it, whereas a lot of Alt-Media figures will never do so. And you're totally right about Pepe lol
I don't think this article is fair to those you have targeted. You could easily have written a piece (like many you have before), providing correct analysis without targeting the mentioned individuals.
The reason I highlight this is because I have detected your sense of disapproval to alt-media (thus everyone in it) and your penchant for always trying to discredit them. I believe they have a part to play just as much as you do, afterall, if we purely relied on MSM or official accounts, then the global audience would still be the most informed and easily bamboozled by dubious narratives directing geopolitics.
To be fair, if one takes into consideration the number of foreign leaders and dignitaries that have been assassinated in the past 3 years alone, that's not to include the numerous Russian ones, then the psychological fatigue that creeps up whenever such events happen, doesn't mean Lord Bro, or Pepe are entirely wrong in their assumptions. I always find it's best to hold one's tongue until a few weeks past by for a clearer picture to manifest. It always does. Then all accounts start to change their tune. It could be a fact the TTP was involved in targeting police, it could also have caught wind of an upcoming convoy carrying dignitaries and decided to target the police on that occasion knowing the police would surely pass (where you claimed an IED could have been planted much earlier) or they could have figured they could hit two birds with one stone for maximum effect. Point is, I think it was not fair to target the Professor, Pepe or Lord Bebo.
With that said, I hope you would do a write up on the TTP (origins, purpose), who or what they are, interests they represent and why the Afghan Taliban support them and their connection with Pakistan. Thanks.
Hey Alfred, I brought them up because they're influential among the AMC and should have done their due diligence before jumping to conclusions blaming the West and NATO. They can and should do better because they risk misleading people about complex issues.
I don't discredit anyone either: all that I do is call out misleading and sometimes outright false claims by leading figures or inaccurate narratives that have become prevailing within the community. Few others want to do this since many of these influencers are all friends.
I also never implied that anyone should rely entirely on the MSM or official accounts. Everything that I've done is with a view towards improving the community that I feel a part of and appreciate for its support. They're constructive critiques to catalyze long-overdue reforms.
As for Pepe, he admitted on video to being in cahoots with at least two foreign intelligence agencies, which is highly suspicious to say the least but could partially account for why he sometimes says the most outlandish and ultimately false things:
That's the video excerpt where he proudly boasted about his foreign spy ties
"Contrary to what the earlier cited top influencer previously wrote: Russia never considered a blockade-busting naval convoy with Turkiye that would be protected by its military assets in Syria; there’s no “near consensus” among the Russian deep state that “Israel may be a de facto enemy” of their country; Russia still remains neutral and never “pivoted to Palestine”; its aid to Palestine is purely humanitarian and doesn’t involve the “military spectrum”; and it’s not plotting to prosecute Israel for war crimes."
And that's my most notable example of how wrong he was with his predictions, none of which he's ever accounted for, which in my opinion makes him a very dishonest individual who for some reason transformed from a journalist/pundit into a bonafide propagandist.
I don't have any such criticisms of "Lord Bebo" or Professor Marandi, but I also haven't followed them anywhere near as closely so perhaps they've made even more ridiculously wrong predictions that neither ever accounted for either.
On this subject, we know for a fact from official police sources cited by Pakistani and Western media that the attack targeted the security services, not the foreign dignitaries. That's altogether different than implying that it targeted just the Russian Ambassador.
They turned this story into something else entirely by -- giving them the benefit of the doubt -- misreading or simply assuming what happened without doing any further reading at all and then passing off their opinions as authoritative and factual.
The larger subject of the TTP was analyzed in the pieces that I hyperlinked to in this analysis. It should hopefully answer your questions. Pepe has first-hand regional experience, but it's either outdated or he's being deliberately deceitful again by blaming the CIA.
I explained why that claim was false at the time and then shared those two follow-up news items from earlier this month as further proof that he was mistaken, yet as could have been predicted, he never accounted for it and I'm pretty sure he never will.
To wrap it all up, I'm not "targeting" anyone: I'm referencing examples that many members of the AMC might have come across due to "Lord Bebo" and Professor Marandi's high standing in the community to explain why those two got it wrong and what really happened.
Referencing Pepe was required in order to partially explain why they might have jumped to the conclusions that they did since he's also a good friend of Professor Marandi's, who might closely follow his work or perhaps even regularly correspond with Pepe about regional issues.
Pakistan is an incredibly complex country, and I know that for a fact since my PhD from MGIMO (run by the Russian MFA) is on Russian-Pakistani relations and I've been there 5 times before, but not in the journalistic context that Pepe was decades ago.
That's why it's so disappointing that he'd just casually dismiss the latest upsurge of terrorism there as being due to the CIA , which in the past did play a large role (as did regional actors), but it's now the near-exclusive domain of the Afghan Taliban as I explained in my analyses.
That's why I concluded that he's either relying on outdated information after naively assuming that the same trends remain intact, perhaps because he never bothered to update himself about everything since 2021, or he's being deliberately deceitful.
Remember, he humiliated himself by putting forth the conspiracy theory earlier this year that Russia shot down a nuclear-armed Israeli F-35 over Jordan, which never happened but he insists that it did and manipulated many naive people into believing it too:
Even I, someone who wised up to his game months prior as proven by the earlier cited analysis pointing out how wrong he was about Palestine, was shocked by the chutzpah that it took to launder that lie and then boast about being in cahoots with two foreign spy agencies.
The guy's a shadester and a one-man fake news factory, but his writing style has "charmed" some important people here, and I personally suspect that he might be used as a back channel of sorts with some of these foreign spy agencies that he colludes with.
Anyhow, that's just my opinion and why I believe what i do. I appreciate you being respectful instead of personally attacking me like a lot of people do, which is why I devoted the time to fully explain everything to you in order to reciprocate the respect.
I might not have time to respond in the same length or perhaps at all (I'm super busy juggling work and family matters), but I hope that you're satisfied with my response even if you still disagree with my rational and motives.
"...blame the West or NATO..."
Low-hanging fruit; kinda hard to resist: take the easy way out, rather than spending too much of a Sunday doing the hard work to find out more.
"Influential accounts have a responsibility to their audience..."
Oh, they joys of being a nobody, like me: say what you like and get it all wrong with delightful impunity!
1. Everyone is wrong about news a day analysis sometimes. That includes you and I.
2. That said, Escobar in particular appears to live in a fantasy world.
You're right, but the difference is that I'll correct myself when I get something wrong, either in upcoming analyses or in comments on social media upon being asked about it, whereas a lot of Alt-Media figures will never do so. And you're totally right about Pepe lol
Your PhD interest clears it up. You def have more insight than I imagined. Your reply forced me to make changes to my perspective.
Sorry meant to say uninformed
I don't think this article is fair to those you have targeted. You could easily have written a piece (like many you have before), providing correct analysis without targeting the mentioned individuals.
The reason I highlight this is because I have detected your sense of disapproval to alt-media (thus everyone in it) and your penchant for always trying to discredit them. I believe they have a part to play just as much as you do, afterall, if we purely relied on MSM or official accounts, then the global audience would still be the most informed and easily bamboozled by dubious narratives directing geopolitics.
To be fair, if one takes into consideration the number of foreign leaders and dignitaries that have been assassinated in the past 3 years alone, that's not to include the numerous Russian ones, then the psychological fatigue that creeps up whenever such events happen, doesn't mean Lord Bro, or Pepe are entirely wrong in their assumptions. I always find it's best to hold one's tongue until a few weeks past by for a clearer picture to manifest. It always does. Then all accounts start to change their tune. It could be a fact the TTP was involved in targeting police, it could also have caught wind of an upcoming convoy carrying dignitaries and decided to target the police on that occasion knowing the police would surely pass (where you claimed an IED could have been planted much earlier) or they could have figured they could hit two birds with one stone for maximum effect. Point is, I think it was not fair to target the Professor, Pepe or Lord Bebo.
With that said, I hope you would do a write up on the TTP (origins, purpose), who or what they are, interests they represent and why the Afghan Taliban support them and their connection with Pakistan. Thanks.
Hey Alfred, I brought them up because they're influential among the AMC and should have done their due diligence before jumping to conclusions blaming the West and NATO. They can and should do better because they risk misleading people about complex issues.
I don't discredit anyone either: all that I do is call out misleading and sometimes outright false claims by leading figures or inaccurate narratives that have become prevailing within the community. Few others want to do this since many of these influencers are all friends.
I also never implied that anyone should rely entirely on the MSM or official accounts. Everything that I've done is with a view towards improving the community that I feel a part of and appreciate for its support. They're constructive critiques to catalyze long-overdue reforms.
As for Pepe, he admitted on video to being in cahoots with at least two foreign intelligence agencies, which is highly suspicious to say the least but could partially account for why he sometimes says the most outlandish and ultimately false things:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEqFkpFUXyI&t=180s
That's the video excerpt where he proudly boasted about his foreign spy ties
"Contrary to what the earlier cited top influencer previously wrote: Russia never considered a blockade-busting naval convoy with Turkiye that would be protected by its military assets in Syria; there’s no “near consensus” among the Russian deep state that “Israel may be a de facto enemy” of their country; Russia still remains neutral and never “pivoted to Palestine”; its aid to Palestine is purely humanitarian and doesn’t involve the “military spectrum”; and it’s not plotting to prosecute Israel for war crimes."
https://korybko.substack.com/p/clarifying-lavrovs-comparison-of
And that's my most notable example of how wrong he was with his predictions, none of which he's ever accounted for, which in my opinion makes him a very dishonest individual who for some reason transformed from a journalist/pundit into a bonafide propagandist.
I don't have any such criticisms of "Lord Bebo" or Professor Marandi, but I also haven't followed them anywhere near as closely so perhaps they've made even more ridiculously wrong predictions that neither ever accounted for either.
On this subject, we know for a fact from official police sources cited by Pakistani and Western media that the attack targeted the security services, not the foreign dignitaries. That's altogether different than implying that it targeted just the Russian Ambassador.
They turned this story into something else entirely by -- giving them the benefit of the doubt -- misreading or simply assuming what happened without doing any further reading at all and then passing off their opinions as authoritative and factual.
The larger subject of the TTP was analyzed in the pieces that I hyperlinked to in this analysis. It should hopefully answer your questions. Pepe has first-hand regional experience, but it's either outdated or he's being deliberately deceitful again by blaming the CIA.
I explained why that claim was false at the time and then shared those two follow-up news items from earlier this month as further proof that he was mistaken, yet as could have been predicted, he never accounted for it and I'm pretty sure he never will.
To wrap it all up, I'm not "targeting" anyone: I'm referencing examples that many members of the AMC might have come across due to "Lord Bebo" and Professor Marandi's high standing in the community to explain why those two got it wrong and what really happened.
Referencing Pepe was required in order to partially explain why they might have jumped to the conclusions that they did since he's also a good friend of Professor Marandi's, who might closely follow his work or perhaps even regularly correspond with Pepe about regional issues.
Pakistan is an incredibly complex country, and I know that for a fact since my PhD from MGIMO (run by the Russian MFA) is on Russian-Pakistani relations and I've been there 5 times before, but not in the journalistic context that Pepe was decades ago.
That's why it's so disappointing that he'd just casually dismiss the latest upsurge of terrorism there as being due to the CIA , which in the past did play a large role (as did regional actors), but it's now the near-exclusive domain of the Afghan Taliban as I explained in my analyses.
That's why I concluded that he's either relying on outdated information after naively assuming that the same trends remain intact, perhaps because he never bothered to update himself about everything since 2021, or he's being deliberately deceitful.
Remember, he humiliated himself by putting forth the conspiracy theory earlier this year that Russia shot down a nuclear-armed Israeli F-35 over Jordan, which never happened but he insists that it did and manipulated many naive people into believing it too:
https://korybko.substack.com/p/was-pepe-escobar-duped-by-a-foreign
Even I, someone who wised up to his game months prior as proven by the earlier cited analysis pointing out how wrong he was about Palestine, was shocked by the chutzpah that it took to launder that lie and then boast about being in cahoots with two foreign spy agencies.
The guy's a shadester and a one-man fake news factory, but his writing style has "charmed" some important people here, and I personally suspect that he might be used as a back channel of sorts with some of these foreign spy agencies that he colludes with.
Anyhow, that's just my opinion and why I believe what i do. I appreciate you being respectful instead of personally attacking me like a lot of people do, which is why I devoted the time to fully explain everything to you in order to reciprocate the respect.
I might not have time to respond in the same length or perhaps at all (I'm super busy juggling work and family matters), but I hope that you're satisfied with my response even if you still disagree with my rational and motives.