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U.S. President Barack Obama faced growing pressure from world leaders not to launch military strikes in Syria on Thursday at a summit on the global economy that was eclipsed by the conflict.
The Group of 20 (G20) developed and developing economies met in St. Petersburg to try forge a united front on economic growth, trade, banking transparency and fighting tax evasion.
But the club that accounts for two thirds of the world's population and 90 percent of its output is divided over issues ranging from the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to end its program of stimulus for the economy to the civil war in Syria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to use the meeting in a seafront tsarist palace to talk Obama out of military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over a chemical weapons attack which Washington blames on government forces.
Obama wore a stiff smile as he approached Putin on arrival at the summit and grasped his hand. Putin also maintained a businesslike expression. It was only when they turned to pose for the cameras that Obama broke into a broader grin.
The first round at the summit went to Putin as China, the European Union and Pope Francis - in a letter for G20 leaders - aligned themselves more closely with him than with Obama over the possibility and legitimacy of armed intervention.
© AFP/Getty Images
Pope Francis has urged the leaders of the G20 countries to abandon the "futile pursuit" of a military solution in Syria, as the Vatican laid out its case for a negotiated settlement guaranteeing the rights of all minorities, including Christians.
In a letter sent to Russian president Vladimir Putin, the host of today's G-20 gathering in St Petersburg, Francis described his sadness that "one-sided interests" had prevailed in Syria, preventing a diplomatic solution to the conflict and allowing the continued "senseless massacre" of innocent people.
"To the leaders present, to each and every one, I make a heartfelt appeal for them to help find ways to overcome the conflicting positions and to lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution," Francis wrote as the meeting got under way.
SOTT Focus: Why the U.S. and Israel rely on Hamas and Hezbollah to justify their warmongering existence
In the above snippet from a 2007 BBC Newsnight programme, we learn something that reveals the whole 'War on Terror' to be a complete sham and the destabilization of the Middle East by the U.S. and her allies to be intentional. In March 2003, the US launched Operation Iraqi Freedom.
While Bush was prancing around the USS Lincoln in a codpiece declaring 'Mission Accomplished' in Iraq, something very interesting was taking place in the background. Realising that it was in its interest to prevent Iraq from being subjected to all-out civil war with the help of American occupation and death squads, the Iranian government sent a letter to the White House offering the following:
In return, Iran requested the following:
- Iran would use its influence to support stabilization in Iraq.
- Iran would open its civilian nuclear energy program to full international inspections.
- Most importantly, Iran would end its support of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Then U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney turned down the offer and chastised the Swiss for even passing it along.
- A halt to US hostile behavior.
- Abolition of all economic sanctions.
- The pursuit of MEK (an Iranian terrorist group in Iraq) leadership and the repatriation of their members.
It was all there; Iran was prepared to cooperate with the US in Iraq, cooperate with Israel and the US in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, and allow full transparency of its nuclear program... if only the US would help them dismantle the MEK. The US State Department wanted to pursue it, but the Neocons torpedoed the deal.
© UnknownEgypt Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim
Interior Ministry officials said that a preliminary investigation found that the explosion came from a motorcycle laden with at last three improvised explosive devices that were detonated by remote control. The explosion occurred soon after the minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, left his house on Thursday morning in a convoy of cars. At least six people, including five of the minister's guards, were injured, officials said.
Mr. Ibrahim, who was unharmed, avoided the explosion by "seconds," an Interior Ministry official said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion.
© Unknown
After declaring that Syria's use of chemical weapons on its population demanded a response from America and the world, Mr Obama flies into a G20 meeting in Russia today to try to win the support of world leaders for a "limited and proportionate" strike against Damascus.
He told them to unite in the face of Syrian "barbarism" and declared that the world, not him, had set a red line on the use of chemical weapons.
The US Congress moved last night towards voting on a resolution giving the President a 90-day period in which to conduct air attacks on Syria.
Comment: When it comes to Syrian "barbarism", the only barbarism that has been evident thoughout is the barbarism that the US sponsored Al-qaeda terrorists have shown:
See: Obama's Syrian Rebels are practicing cannibalismWestern-backed terrorists in Syria involved in illegal human organ trade
U.S.-backed terrorists mass murder unarmed civilians in Syria
Vatican confirms Catholic priest beheaded by Syrian rebels
FSA Barbaric Massacres against 230+ Abducted Civilians in Homs
Saudi Wahhabi Preacher Issues Fatwa Allowing Jihadis to Rape Syrian Women
FSA Terrorists Massacre Civilians in a Bus in Al Ramosi in the name of Jihad (18+)
Syrian 'rebels' (CIA, Mossad, MI6) issue ultimatum to Assad: Capitulate or we blow your country apart
© Press TV
"Four months ago, Turkish security forces found a two-kilogram cylinder with sarin gas after searching the homes of Syrian militants from the al-Qaeda and al-Nusra. They are using our borders to take the gas into Syria,"
Mohamad Gunes said.
"The Syrian president has no reason to kill his own people," he added.
People in the southern province, which borders Syria, said the weapons were used by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front militants and not the Syrian government.
"America and Israel had al-Qaeda use chemical weapons in order to push us into war; none of us wants war here. In the history of Hatay, we all lived peacefully side by side, now there is Mossad, CIA and al-Qaeda all over the place. We are worried that they might use chemical weapons against us," said Farid Mainy, a Hatay resident and an activist.
As the US Congress inches closer to a decision on a military strike on Syria, citing allegations that Assad forces used chemical weapons against the civilian population, activists in Damascus are stepping up their protest against possible attacks.
Damascene activists protesting possible US strikes on Syria set up a camp at the foot of Qasioun Mountain just outside the capital on Tuesday.
Qasioun Mountain, a symbol of Damascus and Syria, is home to many security and military buildings and institutions and thus is expected to be one of the targets for the airstrikes. Protesters rallying beside the place called themselves a "human shield" and hold banners featuring slogans such as "No more American bombing democracy" and "Hands off Syria".
"We are here to express our loyalty to our country in the face of American threats. We don't want what they did in Iraq over chemical weapons claims to be done in our country," one of the rally participants told RT.
© UnknownA protester proudly shows a poster depicting U.S. President Barack Obama as a terrorist during a pro-Assad demonstration in Stockholm during Obama's visit to the Swedish capital.
Angry demonstrators took to the streets of Stockholm on Wednesday to express opposition to calls by the Obama administration for a military strike on Syria.
The protesters carried banners that read, "No to Big Brother Obama," "No to war on Syria," and "Hands off Snowden," in a reference to American whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked two top secret spying programs run by the US government.
"Send Obama away. We don't want Obama to come to Sweden because we see him as a war criminal," a protester said.
© AFP Photo / Aref Karimi
"The Afghan security forces are suffering more casualties, no question about it," Lieutenant General Mark Milley said via video link from Afghanistan, according to AFP.
NATO's US-led forces assist Afghan army and police personnel to improve strategic maneuvers and avoid high casualties, said Milley, who serves as deputy commander of the US forces in Afghanistan. He added that casualties will decline as more helicopters, artillery, and mortars are introduced.
Nevertheless, the 350,000-member Afghan security force is taking "somewhere in the range of 50 to 100" deaths per week, Milley said.
"And that's not at all insignificant. That is significant. And we're paying attention to that," he added.
The highest casualty rate for American troops in the war occurred in 2010, when 500 US soldiers died.
Comment: America's own counter-insurgency forces are knocking of the Afghan security forces, thereby justifying the US presence there and also to justify increase military spending. Same picture in Iraq, where "suicide bombings" kill hundreds of people every week. All with the aim of divide and conquer.
See: Suicide Bombings - A Favourite US Counter-Insurgency Tactic
© Reuters / Asmaa Waguih
Top US national security aides have advised President Obama to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars in economic and military aid to Egypt because of remaining uncertainty after the Egyptian military forced the nation's president out of power.
Egypt currently receives $1.5 billion in US aid annually - $1.3 billion of which is designated for the military. US officials told the Associated Press that keeping the aid package intact after Mohamed Morsi - Egypt's first democratically elected president - was ousted from power could benefit Washington's future influence in the Middle East.
The Obama administration has carefully avoided calling Morsi's July 3 removal from power a "coup" - a designation that would legally require the US to immediately halt aid payments. However, it was previously reported that lawmakers are working under the assumption that the Egyptian military did, in fact, forcibly assume control.
President Obama has been considering the most recent recommendation for at least a week, but he is expected to wait until Congress votes on whether to launch a military strike against Syria before making the announcement, the sources told AP.
Obama will decide how much, if any, aid will be suspended, although officials are reportedly calling for a substantial amount to be withheld. Those payments would presumably resume after a new government was democratically elected.
Comment: Nobel peace price laureate Obama will make sure he doesn't do anything that will hinder the US war industry aka the industrial military complex.