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Aaron Maté
Maté in 2021Maté in 2021
BornVancouver, British Columbia, Canada
OccupationJournalist
NationalityCanadian
EducationConcordia University (BA)
GenreNon-fiction
Political commentary
SubjectsU.S. politics,
Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections,
Douma chemical attack
Years active2005–present
Notable awardsIzzy Award (2019)
Parents
  • Gabor (father)
  • Rae (mother)

Aaron Maté is a Canadian journalist and a reporter for The Grayzone. He is a former producer of Democracy Now! and a contributor to The Nation and RealClearPolitics. He hosts the show Pushback with Aaron Maté on The Grayzone.

Early life

Maté was born and raised in Vancouver to Rae Maté, a visual artist and an illustrator of children's books, and Gabor Maté, a physician, author, columnist, and Holocaust survivor.

While a student, Maté was vice president of the pro-Palestinian student union at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and he was among the main subjects featured in the National Film Board of Canada documentary Discordia. The film depicts Maté's struggle with his Jewish identity on campus while condemning Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. Maté was arrested during the Concordia University Netanyahu riot on September 9, 2002, after stepping between protesters and police, for which he faced expulsion. Later, Maté was cleared of wrongdoing by the school.

Journalism

Beginnings

Maté moved to Brooklyn, New York, and worked as a reporter and producer for Democracy Now!, Vice, The Real News, and Al Jazeera.

Special Counsel Investigation

Using the term "Russiagate", in much of his reporting for The Nation Maté criticized the mainstream media coverage of the Special Counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and links between Trump associates and Russian officials. He earned an Izzy Award in April 2019 for his work challenging press coverage of special prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation.

In October 2017, Maté discussed the media coverage of the investigation in The Nation, stating that "unverified claims are reported with little to no scepticism… developments are cherry-picked and overhyped, while countervailing ones are minimised or ignored. Front-page headlines advertise explosive and incriminating developments, only to often be undermined by the article’s content, or retracted entirely". Maté said use of social media by Russia had no effect on the election: "To suggest 200 accounts out of 328 million could have had an impact is as much an insult to common sense as it is to basic math". "A $100,000 Facebook ad purchase seems unlikely to have had much impact in a $6.8 billion election". In a July 2018 article in The Nation following the 2018 Russia–United States summit in Helsinki between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, he defended Trump against the statements made against him, such as the claim the summit had triggered an American "national security crisis". He described the Trump administration as "one of the most dangerous administrations in US history" and Russiagate as a "willful and heedless diversion" from issues such as "Trump’s new threats of war on Iran". Maté pointed to the non-existence of Iraqi Weapons of mass destruction as a reason to be skeptical of unverified claims from mostly unnamed sources. Of the "12 Russian military-intelligence officers" indicted by Mueller for hacking Democrat servers, Maté wrote that "we have yet to see the basis for the allegations that Mueller has lodged. As with any criminal case, from a petty offense to a cybercrime charge against a foreign government, a verdict cannot be formed in the absence of this evidence." In May 2017, Bob Cesca wrote on the Salon website: "Both Maté and Beauchamp go to great lengths to characterize speculation about the Trump-Russia connection, which I would describe as small-C conspiracy theories, as being on a similar level as Alex Jones’ loony big-C conspiracy mongering."

In December 2017, Maté interviewed Luke Harding on The Real News about Harding's just published book about the Russian interference to help Trump, Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win. Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting said Harding failed to give any evidence of collusion during the interview and "disconnected the interview prematurely" when Maté pressed him. Vanity Fair described Maté as "a polite but dogged skeptic who administered a memorable vivisection" to Harding during the interview.

After the Mueller report did not present evidence of direct conspiracy between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia, Glenn Greenwald cited Maté among what Axios characterized as the "resistance to the resistance". MediaVillage columnist Erich J. Prince wrote that Greenwald, Max Blumenthal, Ben Norton, Matt Taibbi, and Michael Tracey made up an influential unified political clique that he called "the Aaron Maté Club", a group skeptical of the media coverage of the Trump-Russia story, critical of moderate Democrats, and an influential political force with a combined 2.28 million Twitter followers. Writing in CounterPunch, Stansfield Smith said Maté was one of the journalists who "have spoken out against this Russiagate McCarthyism".

In November 2019, Maté suggested John Brennan, former director of the CIA, had suspicious reasons for the investigation into Russian links. "C.I.A. officials might have somehow tricked the F.B.I. into opening the Russia investigation", he wrote in a November 2019 article for Real Clear Investigations. According to the Washington Monthly Brennan (and Maté) had been open in a Congressional hearing in May 2017, which the Senate Intelligence Committee shared. Maté wrote in his article: "A close review of facts that have slowly come to light reveals that he was a central architect and promoter of the conspiracy theory from its inception."

In May 2020, Maté stated: "All of the available evidence showed just how baseless was". He said those who resisted Trump's administration were distracted by the "conspiracy theory that he conspired with or was blackmailed by Russia".

Douma and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

Maté has written extensively on the claims made by Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspectors that the OPCW doctored a report on the Douma chemical attack in order to place blame on the Syrian government and to justify missile strikes against Syrian government forces by the US, UK, and France. In February 2020, Fernando Arias, the director-general of the OPCW, said the two inspectors had "manifestly incomplete information on the Douma investigation" and "their views were not backed by evidence".

In July 2020, Maté wrote in The Nation that no major American media outlets reported on the WikiLeaks Douma archive and "even progressive, adversarial outlets that have traditionally defended whistle-blowers and challenged US wars have shunned this story". In September 2020, Maté testified at the United Nations at an Arria meeting hosted by the Russian Federation and China, about the alleged cover-up by the OPCW. Willem de Lint, professor in criminal justice at Flinders University, wrote in his 2021 book, Blurring Intelligence Crime: A Critical Forensics, that "it is independent investigative journalists such as Aaron Maté who offer the strongest evidence-based criticism of the official narrative . Maté’s reporting was prominently displayed in The Nation, but the story is also primarily an observation that American media is 'ignoring' evidence of an OPCW 'whitewash'".

In May 2021, he accompanied Paul Larudee and other members of the Syria Solidarity Movement to observe the 2021 Syrian presidential election. They concluded that "the re-election of President Bashar al-Assad, of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party and the National Progressive Front, was the legitimate, democratic expression of the Syrian people." Maté himself did not endorse this statement, although he did win the pro-regime Serena Shim Award. In response, a letter was signed by Syrian academics and intellectuals, condemning the "the emergence of pro-Assad allegiances in the name of 'anti-imperialism' among some who otherwise generally identify as progressive or 'left'".

Other journalism and commentary

In November 2020, Maté said that the appointment of Antony Blinken as Secretary of State and the possible appointment of Michèle Flournoy as Defense Secretary, showed that President-elect Joe Biden was "continuing with the hawkish playbook" he had followed throughout his career.

In February 2021, Maté was the first to report that Amnesty International had removed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny's status as a prisoner of conscience "given the fact that he advocated violence and discrimination and has not yet retracted such statements". Oliver Carroll wrote in The Independent that The Grayzone had "amplified" criticism of Navalny and "appears to have been privy to lobbying around the Amnesty decision". Amnesty reversed its decision in May, issuing the following statement: "We recognise that an individual's opinions and behaviour may evolve over time. It is part of Amnesty's mission to encourage people to positively embrace a human rights vision and to not suggest that they are forever trapped by their past conduct. Some of Navalny's previous statements are reprehensible and we do not condone them in the slightest. By confirming Navalny's status as prisoner of conscience, we are not endorsing his political programme, but are highlighting the urgent need for his rights, including access to independent medical care, to be recognised and acted upon by the Russian authorities".

Maté was critical of President Biden's response to Israel's attack on Gaza in May 2021. Maté said Biden's telephone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which Biden expressed his "unwavering support" for Israel's "right to defend itself", was "a green light for Netanyahu to continue massacring Palestinian civilians".

References

  1. "Aaron Maté – LinkedIn". linkedin.com. LinkedIn.
  2. ^ Gessen, Masha. "Why Won't Amnesty International Call Alexey Navalny a Prisoner of Conscience?". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
  3. Homan, Timothy R. (19 June 2020). "Journalist Aaron Maté says Democrats are responsible for giving John Bolton publicity". TheHill. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  4. "Why Putin supports Marine Le Pen and tries to thwart Emmanuel Macron". The Georgia Straight. 2017-04-23. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  5. "Children's Books About Cats and Dogs". The New York Times. 2011-05-13. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  6. O'Malley, JP (21 December 2019). "Addictions guru channels survival of the Holocaust into self-help empire". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  7. Scheib, Ronnie (2004-07-21). "Discordia". Variety. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  8. ^ Aaron Maté (2002). Discordia. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved May 3, 2021. NFB title:Discordia
  9. Schwartz, Stephanie (2012). Double-Diaspora in the Literature and Film of Arab Jews (PDF) (Thesis). University of Ottawa.
  10. "e.Peak (16/9/2002) news: national: Violence erupts at Concordia". peak.sfu.ca. 2003-05-16. Archived from the original on 2003-05-16. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
  11. "Transcript from CBC's The National, January 15 2003". Segacs's World I Know. 2003-01-15. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
  12. "Aaron Maté". The Intercept. 2017-04-12. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  13. "2019 Izzy Awards Honor Earth Island Journal, Laura Flanders, Aaron Maté & Dave Lindorff". Democracy Now!. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2021. Independent journalist Aaron Maté—formerly a Democracy Now! producer—consistently challenged the media's coverage of the Russia-Trump campaign collusion story,
  14. Keller, Sydney (20 March 2021). "Park Center for Independent Media holds 11th annual Izzy Awards". The Ithacan. Retrieved 11 May 2021. Maté also spoke about the President Donald Trump and Russia conspiracy. He said he believes the mainstream media has been promulgating a false narrative that Trump colluded with the Russian government during the 2016 campaign.
  15. O'Connor, Kelsey (16 April 2019). "Independent journalism highlighted with annual Izzy Awards". The Ithaca Voice. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  16. Fernandez, Madison (30 March 2021). "Park Center for Independent Media announces Izzy Award winners". The Ithacan. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  17. "Izzy Award 2019". Park Center for Independent Media. 2 September 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  18. Maté, Aaron (6 October 2017). "Russiagate Is More Fiction Than Fact". The Nation. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  19. Camilleri, Joseph. "US approach to security is deeply troubling – and it's not just about Trump". The Conversation. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  20. Tveten, Julianne (11 October 2017). "How the "Fake News" Scare Is Marginalizing the Left". In These Times. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  21. ^ Maté, Aaron (28 July 2018). "The Elite Fixation With Russiagate". The Nation. Retrieved 27 May 2021. For declining to endorse US intelligence claims that the Kremlin meddled in our election and faulting both countries for the poor state of US-Russia relations, Trump was roundly accused of 'shameful,' 'disgraceful,' and 'treasonous' behavior that has sparked a full-blown 'national security crisis'.
  22. Hunter, Jack (16 August 2018). "What If Russiagate Is The New WMDs?". The American Conservative. Retrieved 27 May 2021. The Nation's Aaron Maté believes liberals are overreaching, and that's putting it mildly:'From the outset, Russiagate proponents have exhibited a blind faith in the unverified claims of US government officials and other sources, most of them unnamed. ...The record of US intelligence, replete with lies and errors, underscores the need for caution. Mueller was a player in one of this century's most disastrous follies when, in congressional testimony, he endorsed claims about Iraqi WMDs and warned that Saddam Hussein 'may supply' chemical and biological material to 'terrorists'.'
  23. Cesca, Bob (23 May 2017). "No, the Russia scandal isn't fake news or conspiracy theory — it's a national crisis we don't fully understand". Salon. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  24. MacLeod, Alan (3 December 2018). "Misreporting Manafort: A Case Study in Journalistic Malpractice". FAIR. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  25. "Where's the 'Collusion'?". The Real News Network. 23 December 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  26. Frank, T. A. (25 March 2019). "The Hard Truths and High Cost of the Russiagate Scandal". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  27. "The resistance to the resistance". Axios. 25 March 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  28. Prince, Erich (10 January 2020). "Unifying Narratives, Part 1: The Soleimani Strike and the Aaron Maté Club". MediaVillage. Retrieved 5 May 2021. Maté would spend the rest of the night, and the days following, sending out countless tweets (and hosting podcasts) hitting on his favorite themes: American imperialism, the use of false flags to justify foreign intervention, and his absolute favorite talking point: the complicity of Democrats in war, while only nominally opposing the interventionist wing of the Republican Party.
  29. Smith, Stansfield (23 November 2018). "Russiagate McCarthyism Led to Internet Censorship of the Anti-War and Social Justice Movement". CounterPunch.org. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  30. ^ LeTourneau, Nancy (19 November 2019). "Republicans Will Launch a Campaign to Lie, Distract, and Blame". Washington Monthly. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  31. ^ Maté, Aaron (15 November 2019). "The Brennan Dossier: All About a Prime Mover of Russiagate". Real Clear Investigations. Retrieved 28 May 2021. Brennan, by his own account, has already outed himself as a key suspect.
  32. Halperin, Daniel; Dunlea, Reed; Halperin, Daniel (15 May 2020). "Useful Idiots: Aaron Maté on New #Russiagate Bombshells". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 13 May 2021. All of the available evidence showed just how baseless was, and it was pretty clear that once it collapsed, it would hand Trump two gifts. First of all, it would give him the gift of throughout however long it took this thing to end, Trump's resistance being distracted into this dumb conspiracy theory that he conspired with or was blackmailed by Russia. And two, when it collapsed, it would give him the gift of vindication. And then, as more and more evidence came out as to how this whole thing started, Trump would be able to exploit it and use it for his re-election campaign, and say, 'Look at how these people tried to stop me and how they tried to take me down.' And basically use it as an excuse for being so awful on everything else. And now we're seeing that third phase," says Maté.
  33. ^ "Unpublished OPCW Douma Correspondence Casts Further Doubt on Claims of 'Doctored' Report". Bellingcat. 26 October 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  34. ^ De Lint, Willem (2021). Blurring intelligence crime : a critical forensics. Singapore: Springer. p. 159. ISBN 9789811603525. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  35. "OPCW: Independent Investigation into Possible Breaches of Confidentiality Report Released" opcw.org. February 6, 2020.
  36. Bovard, James (25 November 2020). "How Many Syrians Did You Vote to Kill?". CounterPunch.org. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  37. Maté, Aaron (24 July 2020). "Did Trump Bomb Syria on False Grounds?". The Nation. Retrieved 12 May 2021. o major US media outlets have reported on the organization's Douma archive. CNN and MSNBC, which both supported Trump's decision to bomb Syria, have ignored the OPCW story. The only time a New York Times reporter has mentioned the Douma scandal was in passing. The Times downgraded the extensive OPCW leaks into a mere "email from an investigator." (It also deferred to assurances of Syria's culpability from Bellingcat, an open source investigative outlet, without mentioning its Western government funding, including from the United States via the National Endowment for Democracy.) Even progressive, adversarial outlets that have traditionally defended whistle-blowers and challenged US wars have shunned this story.
  38. "Letter dated 11 December 2020 from the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-Genera". United Nations General Assembly Security Council. December 11, 2020. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  39. "Statement from the International Delegation to the 2021 Syrian Presidential Election". Syria Solidarity Movement. 2021-05-29. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  40. Whitaker, Brian (3 July 2021). "Prizes galore! Assad supporters win awards for 'integrity' – with help from a piano tuner in California". al-bab.com. Retrieved 2021-12-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  41. Whitaker, Brian (2021-11-04). "The 'Echo Chamber' of Syrian Chemical Weapons Conspiracy Theorists". New Lines Magazine. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  42. "Erasing People through Disinformation: Syria and the "Anti-Imperialism" of Fools". New Politics. 2021-03-27. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  43. Homan, Timothy R. (27 November 2020). "Journalist Aaron Maté discusses foreign policy for the incoming Biden administration". TheHill. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  44. ^ Carroll, Oliver (2021-02-24). "Anger after Amnesty strips Navalny of 'prisoner of conscience' status". The Independent. Retrieved 2021-05-27. have been amplified in a broad network of Kremlin-sympathising media at home and abroad. These outlets include Grayzone, an opaquely funded leftist publication based in the United States, which appears to have been privy to lobbying around the Amnesty decision. It was an author of Grayzone, Aaron Mate, who first reported the rethink in a tweet showing a screenshot of an email sent from Amnesty to a redacted name. Mr Mate's editorial boss, Max Blumenthal, is a regular contributor to RT and Sputnik.
  45. "Amnesty's removal of Navalny's 'prisoner of conscience' status sparks Twitter storm". English Jamnews. 25 February 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  46. "Amnesty International rescinds Alexey Navalny's 'prisoner of conscience' status because of past 'hate speech,' following rumored 'campaign' by individuals tied to Russia Today". Meduza. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  47. "Amnesty apologises to Alexei Navalny over 'prisoner of conscience' status". BBC News. 2021-05-07. Retrieved 2021-05-27. said the decision had been made internally and was not influenced by the Russian state. But in a new statement on Friday the organisation apologised and said their decision had been used to "further violate Navalny's rights" in Russia.
  48. Wilkins, Brett (12 May 2021). "As Biden Blasted for 'Green Light' to Israel's Gaza Slaughter, House Dems Praised for Urging US Peace Push". Common Dreams. Retrieved 18 May 2021.

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