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Light Saber

Best of the Web: Putin: U.S. should present Syria evidence to U.N. Security Council, but it won't because it's 'secret' - and it's secret because it doesn't exist


RT
Sun, 01 Sep 2013 04:27 UTC
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© RIA Novosti / Aleksey NikolskyiRussian President Vladimir Putin: "This is my 'you've-got-to-be-kidding-me' face."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared 'utter nonsense' the idea that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons on its own people and called on the US to present its supposed evidence to the UN Security Council.

Putin has further called the Western tactic a 'provocation.'

Washington has been basing its proposed strategy of an attack on Syria on the premise that President Bashar Assad's government forces have used chemical agents, while Russia finds the accusations unacceptable and the idea of performing a military strike on the country even more so. Especially as it would constitute a violation of international law, if carried out without the approval of the UN Security Council.

Further to this, Putin told Obama that he should consider what the potential fallout from a military strike would be and to take into consideration the suffering of innocent civilians.

The Russian president has expressed certainty that the strategy for a military intervention in Syria is a contingency measure from outside and a direct response to the Syrian government's recent combat successes, coupled with the rebels' retreat from long-held positions.


Comment: The "intercepted communications", by the way, came via Israel's equivalent of the NSA... Israel has already bombed Syrian military installations so it's not exactly an impartial observer in all of this.

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Attention

Best of the Web: Syrian rebels and local residents testify that Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, supplied chemical weapons to 'al-Qaeda-linked group'

Dale Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh
MintPress News
Thu, 29 Aug 2013 11:59 UTC
Syria chemcal weapons attack
© AP Photo/Shaam News NetworkThis image provided by by Shaam News Network on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013, purports to show several bodies being buried in a suburb of Damascus, Syria during a funeral on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013, following allegations of a chemical weapons attack that reportedly killed 355 people.
Rebels and local residents in Ghouta accuse Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan of providing chemical weapons to an al-Qaida linked rebel group

Ghouta, Syria - As the machinery for a U.S.-led military intervention in Syria gathers pace following last week's chemical weapons attack, the U.S. and its allies may be targeting the wrong culprit.

Interviews with people in Damascus and Ghouta, a suburb of the Syrian capital, where the humanitarian agency Doctors Without Borders said at least 355 people had died last week from what it believed to be a neurotoxic agent, appear to indicate as much.

The U.S., Britain, and France as well as the Arab League have accused the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for carrying out the chemical weapons attack, which mainly targeted civilians. U.S. warships are stationed in the Mediterranean Sea to launch military strikes against Syria in punishment for carrying out a massive chemical weapons attack. The U.S. and others are not interested in examining any contrary evidence, with U.S Secretary of State John Kerry saying Monday that Assad's guilt was "a judgment ... already clear to the world."

Comment: He's been a busy busy little bee, that Bandar...

Saudi snake, Prince Bandar, tried first to bribe Russia to drop its support of Syria, then threatened to unleash Chechen terrorists at 2014 Winter Olympics

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Stop

Best of the Web: Rep. Grayson on Syria strike: Military-industrial complex wants it, Americans don't

Eric W. Dolan
The Raw Story
Fri, 30 Aug 2013 05:52 UTC
Alan Grayson
© (Image: YouTube video screenshot)Alan Grayson
We shouldn't bomb every country that does something bad, Florida Congressman Alan Grayson (D) said on Thursday.

The progressive Democrat told CNN he was opposed to a U.S. military strike against Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons.

"The administration would have to explain why this affects some vital American interest," Grayson said. "I haven't heard any discussion of that at all. I think the only people who really want in to happen are the military industrial complex. I just don't understand how this involves us, Americans."

Obama said Wednesday he was still undecided about an attack against Syria, but he also said the use of chemical weapons violated international norms and Syria needed to be punished.
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Che Guevara

Best of the Web: 'No War With Syria' rallies happening this Saturday August 31, worldwide

JG Vibes
Intellihub.com
Sun, 25 Aug 2013 00:00 UTC
NoWarRally
© Unknown
The following notice has been posted all over the internet, please help to pass the word along.

Here's the plan of action to oppose the illegal and unconstitutional war with Syria:

We are launching a global rally on Saturday August 31st in every city and town in the world.

Here's how you get involved

Go to the FB search bar and search for 'No War With Syria Rally (your city)' example: 'No War With Syria Rally San Diego'

Join the event, invite ALL of your friends to join it as well, then get involved with the locals that are already in the event page to help them any way you can.
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War Whore

Best of the Web: 'Intervention' in Syria is another western war crime in the making

Paul Craig Roberts
The Voice of Russia
Wed, 28 Aug 2013 14:01 UTC
Blair
© Lewisasutton, Flickr
The UK Independent newspaper reports that over this past week-end Obama, Cameron, and Hollande agreed to launch cruise missile attacks against the Syrian government within two weeks despite the lack of any authorization from the UN and despite the absence of any evidence in behalf of Washington's claim that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against the Washington-backed "rebels", largely US supported external forces, seeking to overthrow the Syrian government.

Why the rush to war?

Indeed, one reason for the rush to war is to prevent the UN inspection that Washington knows would disprove its claim and possibly implicate Washington in the false flag attack by the "rebels," who assembled a large number of children into one area to be chemically murdered with the blame pinned by Washington on the Syrian government.

Another reason for the rush to war is that Cameron, the UK prime minister, wants to get the war going before the British parliament can block him for providing cover for Obama's war crimes the way that Tony Blair provided cover for George W. Bush, for which Blair was duly rewarded.

What does Cameron care about Syrian lives when he can leave office into the waiting arms of a $50 million fortune.
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War Whore

Best of the Web: Does Obama know he's fighting on al-Qaeda's side?

Robert Fisk
The Independent, UK
Tue, 27 Aug 2013 17:37 UTC
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If Barack Obama decides to attack the Syrian regime, he has ensured - for the very first time in history - that the United States will be on the same side as al-Qa'ida.

Quite an alliance! Was it not the Three Musketeers who shouted "All for one and one for all" each time they sought combat? This really should be the new battle cry if - or when - the statesmen of the Western world go to war against Bashar al-Assad.

The men who destroyed so many thousands on 9/11 will then be fighting alongside the very nation whose innocents they so cruelly murdered almost exactly 12 years ago. Quite an achievement for Obama, Cameron, Hollande and the rest of the miniature warlords.

This, of course, will not be trumpeted by the Pentagon or the White House - nor, I suppose, by al-Qa'ida - though they are both trying to destroy Bashar. So are the Nusra front, one of al-Qa'ida's affiliates. But it does raise some interesting possibilities.
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Che Guevara

Best of the Web: Syria's President al-Assad sets the record straight on chemical weapons, UN inspections and Western terrorism


SANA.sy
Mon, 26 Aug 2013 15:39 UTC
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President Bashar al-Assad stressed that Syria is a sovereign country that will fight terrorism and will freely build relationships with countries in a way that best serves the interests of the Syrian people.

In an interview with the Russian newspaper of Izvestia, President al-Assad stressed that "the majority of those we are fighting are Takfiris, who adopt the al-Qaeda doctrine, in addition to a small number of outlaws."

On the alleged use of chemical weapons, President al-Assad said that the statements by the US administration, the West and other countries were made with disdain and blatant disrespect of their own publics' opinion, adding that "there isn't a body in the world, let alone a superpower, that makes an accusation and then goes about collecting evidence to prove its point."

His Excellency stressed that these accusations are completely politicised and come on the back of advances made by the Syrian Army against the terrorists.

Here is the full content of the interview:
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USA

Flashback Best of the Web: U.S. Army vet Eric Harroun caught red-handed fighting for 'al Qaeda' in Syria: Father claims CIA sent him there


RT.com
Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:00 UTC
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© facebook.com/eric.harroun
As US Army veteran Eric Harroun awaits trial in Virginia for allegedly fighting alongside al-Qaeda supporters, the man's father claims he was working for the CIA and was reporting back to the agency from Syria.

Harroun, a 30-year-old American from Phoenix, Arizona, has been charged by the US government for conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction (namely a rocket propelled grenade launcher) to conduct an attack against the Syrian government. The US Army veteran dubbed by media 'Phoenix jihadist' appeared in numerous videos alongside members of the al-Nusra Front, designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization in December, but which has also been fighting alongside the Syrian opposition to take down the Assad regime. To date, 29 US-backed Syrian opposition groups have linked with al-Nusra, and have signed a petition calling for the support of the Islamist group that the White House believes is a branch of al-Qaeda.
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Magnify

Best of the Web: Syrian rebels used Sarin nerve gas, NOT Assad's regime: U.N. official

Shaun Waterman
Washington Post
Mon, 06 May 2013 09:28 UTC
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Testimony from victims strongly suggests it was the rebels, not the Syrian government, that used Sarin nerve gas during a recent incident in the revolution-wracked nation, a senior U.N. diplomat said Monday.

Carla del Ponte, a member of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told Swiss TV there were "strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof," that rebels seeking to oust Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad had used the nerve agent.
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Colosseum

Best of the Web: JFK's death marked the end of the American Republic

Lars Schall
larsschall.com
Tue, 20 Aug 2013 02:17 UTC
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© Unknown
On occasion of the publication of his latest book, German author Mathias Broeckers talks about the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, which he sees as a coup d'etat that was never rolled back.

Lars Schall: Mr. Broeckers, a writer who authors a book about the assassination of John F. Kennedy that does not follow the verdict of official history faces the problem of being condemned on an instant basis as a "conspiracy theorist" who engages in "conspiracy theories." May I ask you at the beginning of this interview to explain to our readers that those critics - consciously or unconsciously - are acting exactly according to the "playbook" of the CIA?

Mathias Broeckers: In January 1967, shortly after Jim Garrison in New Orleans had started his prosecution of the CIA backgrounds of the murder, the CIA published a memo to all its stations, suggesting the use of the term "conspiracy theorists" for everyone criticizing the Warren Report findings. Until then the press and the public mostly used the term "assassination theories" when it came to alternative views of the "lone nut" Lee Harvey Oswald. But with this memo this changed and very soon "conspiracy theories" became what it is until today: a term to smear, denounce and defame anyone who dares to speak about any crime committed by the state, military or intelligence services. Before Edward Snowden anyone claiming a kind of total surveillance of internet and phone traffic would have been named a conspiracy nut; today everyone knows better.
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