CNN's War on Democracy.

On Friday (24/2/17) the Geneva Process talks on Syria resumed in, well, Geneva, Switzerland. Frustratingly I can't really talk about these talks whilst they're taking place.

However very early on Friday morning (European time) - there was an extremely alarming contribution to those talks from the US broadcaster CNN.

CNN ran an exclusive story about the White House asking the FBI to publicly dismiss an earlier story about links between US President Trump and Russia. The implication being that President Trump was trying to use the FBI as some sort of party political secret police.

I don't think I need to tell anyone that the relationship between the US and Russia is at its lowest point since the Cold War. This is despite former President Obama beginning his term with a promise to improve relations with Russia - the 2009 "Re-Set."

The reason for the current division between the US and Russia is quite simple. It's the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Under Obama the US supported ISIL while Russia opposed them. So the two nations have parted ways.

When broadcasters like CNN - who incidentally testified on ISIL's behalf at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) - talk about Trump's links to Russia they're not upset about Russia. What they're upset about is Trump's opposition to ISIL - the Russian position. If CNN just came out and openly said that they supported ISIL and urged others to support the group they would simply be arrested.

So in the timing of Friday's story CNN were trying to send a message to pro-ISIL delegates at the Geneva talks. That message was simply that they could ignore whatever the US delegation was saying because they, CNN would make sure that despite the election the US continued Obama's policy of supporting ISIL.

If you actually look at the facts of Friday's story they are very different from the "alternative facts" that CNN are trying to spin.

On February 14th (14/2/17) CNN and the New York Times ran another exclusive story. This one claimed that they had anonymous sources within the FBI claiming the bureau could prove that Trump's Presidential campaign had close links to Russia's intelligence services.

Obviously once the story broke the White House asked the FBI if this were true. The FBI immediately informed the White House that the story was completely false. CNN and the New York Times' anonymous source had either lied to them or they had simply made up this source. After all with it being anonymous there's no way for anyone to check that the source actually exists.

The White House then asked the FBI if they would mind saying publicly that CNN and the New York Times' story was completely false and made up. The FBI responded that it is against their policy to comment publicly on counter-intelligence matters. After all talking about those matters risks exposing methods reducing the US' ability to conduct future counter-intelligence operations.

However on February 17th (17/2/17) the FBI did brief Congress on the matter. You will notice that all the members of Congress who were vocally decrying Trump's claimed links with Russia on February 16th (16/2/17) have suddenly gone very quiet.

The February 14th (14/2/17) CNN and New York Times story led to the ousting of Michael Flynn - the President's National Security Adviser.

Micheal Flynn has long been a target for the likes of CNN and the New York Times because he has previously described radical Islamism like that practiced by ISIL as a cancer on Islam. You will notice that he did not say that Islam is a cancer.

Instead Flynn said that the groups like ISIL who use violence and Islam as weapons to further their political aims are a cancer on Islam. This is a pretty common opinion within Islam - particularly amongst the millions fighting ISIL. However radical Islamism is apparently the only form of Islam that US Democrats will permit.

So Friday's (24/2/17) scandal is actually that CNN and the New York Times falsified a story to oust a member of the elected President's national security team because they did not like his opposition to ISIL. They doubled down on the story to promote their political agenda at the Geneva talks at the expense of the agenda of America''s democratically elected government.

That a small, unelected cabal of journalists and government employees think they can subvert the policy of an elected government is extremely serious stuff that borders on treason.

If I was talking about this in somewhere like Egypt or Turkey I would have to refer to them as a; "Parallel State."  However in those nations parallel states have long existed to prevent radical Islamists from staging coups against democracy. The US' parallel state seems dedicated to staging a coup against democracy on behalf of radical Islamists.

In response on Friday (24/2/17) the White House declined to invite CNN and the New York Times to a press briefing. Not only was this a completely reasonable response I actually thought is was too moderate.

Press access to the White House is not an automatic right. There are plenty of news organisations that want White House access but don't make the cut.

If CNN and the New York Times are going to continue to wage war against not just the current President but the US' entire system of government surely they can't expect to be granted the special privilege of access to the White House.

12:10 on 25/2/17 (UK date).