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Gold Coins

Best of the Web: Making the world safe for Banksters: Syria in the cross-hairs

Ellen Brown
Web of Debt Blog
Wed, 04 Sep 2013 14:53 UTC
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The Central Bank of Syria, Damascus
Iraq and Libya have been taken out, and Iran has been heavily boycotted. Syria is now in the cross-hairs. Why? Here is one overlooked scenario.

In an August 2013 article titled "Larry Summers and the Secret 'End-game' Memo," Greg Palast posted evidence of a secret late-1990s plan devised by Wall Street and U.S. Treasury officials to open banking to the lucrative derivatives business. To pull this off required the relaxation of banking regulations not just in the US but globally. The vehicle to be used was the Financial Services Agreement of the World Trade Organization.

The "end-game" would require not just coercing support among WTO members but taking down those countries refusing to join. Some key countries remained holdouts from the WTO, including Iraq, Libya, Iran and Syria. In these Islamic countries, banks are largely state-owned; and "usury" - charging rent for the "use" of money - is viewed as a sin, if not a crime. That puts them at odds with the Western model of rent extraction by private middlemen. Publicly-owned banks are also a threat to the mushrooming derivatives business, since governments with their own banks don't need interest rate swaps, credit default swaps, or investment-grade ratings by private rating agencies in order to finance their operations.
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People 2

Best of the Web: Syrian President al-Assad's interview with 'Le Figaro': The French government is working against the interests and will of its people


Syria Free Press Network
Wed, 04 Sep 2013 03:17 UTC
Le Figaro interview with Bashar Assad
© Le Figaro
"We have challenged the United States and France to come up with a single piece of proof, but they have been incapable of doing so."

"Anybody who contributes to the financial and military reinforcement of terrorists is the enemy of the Syrian people. If the policies of the French state are hostile to the Syrian people, the state will be their enemy."

"The Middle East is a powder keg and the fire is approaching."

"We shouldn't just talk about a Syrian response, but what will happen after the first strike. Everybody will lose control of the situation when the powder keg blows."
President Bashar al-Assad gave an interview to the French daily Le Figaro. Below is the full text:
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Che Guevara

Best of the Web: People of the world are fighting back against 'Coalition of the Killing'

Finian Cunningham
Information Clearing House
Sun, 01 Sep 2013 05:37 UTC
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© Reuters / Olivia HarrisProtestors demonstrate against potential strikes on the Syrian government, at Trafalgar Square in central London August 31, 2013.
The United States of America stands exposed in the eyes of the entire world as the number-one terrorist threat to the future of humanity. Many have known this fact already, but now it is universally clear.

As the US prepares to launch an overt war on Syria (the covert war has been raging for 30 months), the vast majority of humanity can finally see through all its decades of pretense and conceit as the world's model of democracy and international law. And what they see is the ugly opposite. The US is a terrorist state that holds international law, democracy and human rights in utter contempt. It is ready, as it always has been, to kill countless civilians for its selfish political ambitions. That is the conventional definition of "terrorism".

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad made a profound point recently when he said that his country has faced aggression for more than two years, but only now is the real enemy revealing itself - the US and its minions. But the US terrorist state is not just being called out over Syria. It is being revealed as the enemy to the entire world.

Comment: Wearechange.org attended a protest against the war on Syria in Times Square, NYC. Here's what the American people think about bombing another country back to the stone age:



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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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