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.

A U.S. missile strike on Syria could trigger an explosive chain reaction involving from Syria or its allies like Hezbollah and Iran, and the blowback could hit U.S. targets or Israel, experts told ABCNews.com.

Or Syria might simply stop using chemical weapons and there is no retaliation at all.

Gauging the ripple effect of a U.S. strike on Syria is part of the calculations of the Obama administration, but it is an imprecise science.

"When you do a military strike it often has ramifications you don't anticipate," said Dan Byman, a senior fellow of foreign policy at Brookings Institute.

Here are five scenarios the the U.S. could face in coming weeks.

1. Syria Will Try to Retaliate

Syria has already made bold threats toward the U.S. and its allies, specifically Israel, about retaliation for any U.S. intervention in Syria's civil war.

"If Damascus comes under attack, Tel Aviv will be targeted and a full-scale war against Syria will actually issue a licence for attacking Israel," Iran's Fars News Agency quoted a Syrian military official as saying. "If Syria is attacked, Israel will also be set on fire and such an attack will, in turn, engage Syria's neighbors."

The head of the Western-backed Syrian opposition says that the British parliament's failure to endorse military action in Syria isn't enough to hold back strikes by other allies.

Ahmad al-Jarba said on France-Inter radio on Friday that he wasn't surprised by the vote that effectively removes Britain from a coalition of Western allies looking to punish Bashar Assad with military strikes for his regime's alleged responsibility in an apparent Aug. 21 chemical attack.

A foolish President Obama and moronic Secretary of State Kerry have handed the United States government its worst diplomatic defeat in history and destroyed the credibility of the Office of the President, the Department of State, and the entire executive branch.

Intoxicated with hubris from past successful lies and deceptions used to destroy Iraq and Libya, Obama thought the US "superpower," the "exceptional" and "indispensable" country, could pull it off again, this time in Syria.

But the rest of the world has learned to avoid Washington's rush to war when there is no evidence. A foolish Obama was pushed far out on the limb by an incompetent and untrustworthy National Security Advisor, Susan Rice, and the pack of neoconservatives that support her, and the British Parliament cut the limb off.

What kind of fool would put himself in that vulnerable position?

A new report from the Institute for Policy Studies points to a weak link between performance and pay among some of the highest-paid CEOs of American companies, and urges the U.S. government to push through laws that would bring chief executive pay under closer scrutiny.

The report, titled "Executive Excess 2013," found that since the 2008 financial crisis, 40 per cent of the highest-paid CEOs in the U.S. had been either "bailed out, booted, or busted" - that is, worked for companies bailed out by taxpayers, had been fired or had been arrested for illegal activities

"We think the study really undercuts this whole idea of pay for performance," said Sarah Anderson, co-author of the Executive Excess Report, said in an interview from Washington, D.C.

"We have a corporate culture that really encourages risky behaviour that is dangerous for both shareholders and taxpayers. I think it's widely acknowledged that the executive CEO compensation structure for Wall Street bankers was a factor that got us into this crisis," she told CBC News.

The breakdown:

• About 22 per cent of U.S. companies with the highest-paid CEOs received taxpayer bailouts after the 2008 financial crash.
• Eight per cent of highly paid CEOs were fired for poor performance but received golden parachutes valued, on average, at $48 million US.
• Another eight per cent of highly paid CEOs ran afoul of the law and paid fraud-related fines or settlements.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has challenged the US to present to the UN evidence that Syria was responsible for chemical weapons attacks.

Mr Putin said it would be "utter nonsense" for Syria's government to provoke opponents with such attacks when it was in a position of strength.

US President Barack Obama has said he is considering military action against Syria based on intelligence reports.

Mr Putin's remarks came after UN weapons inspectors had left Syria.

They crossed into neighbouring Lebanon after four days of inspections, including investigations of what happened in the Damascus suburbs on 21 August.

Hundreds of people including children were killed in the suspected chemical weapons attacks, which the US says was carried out by the Syrian government.

Syria said the US claim was "full of lies", blaming rebels for the attacks

UN inspectors tasked to probe alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria would leave the Syrian capital of Damascus for The Hague on Saturday with samples they collected from the suspected site of Aug. 21 attacks for lab analysis, a UN spokesman said on August 30.

"They will be leaving Damascus and leaving Syria tomorrow," Martin Nesirky told a daily news briefing here. "They will be returning to The Hague."

The UN inspectors had gathered in the Dutch city before entering Syria for their mission earlier this month.

According to Nesirky, the inspectors have completed collecting samples, including medical samples from field hospitals and environmental samples from the alleged gas attack site outside Damascus, and interviewed victims for more evidence.

"The samples that they have collected will be taken to be analyzed in designated locations and the intention is, of course, to expedite the analysis of that sampling that has been taken," said the spokesman. "But we have to be very clear here that before that mission can draw any conclusions about this incident, the evaluation of all information including the analysis of all samples must be completed."

The "team is doing its utmost to expedite the process of analysis," he said.

"They will be compiling a preliminary report first on the basis of the sample analysis," said Nesirky, adding that later they will compile a final report on their investigation results.

The UN fact-finding group, created by UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in March at the request of the Syrian government, will try to establish only whether chemical weapons were used, but not who used them.

"As soon as the analysis of the samples is completed, a report will be given to the secretary-general and the secretary-general will share that report result with all (UN) member states and of course the Security Council," said Nesirky.

A global front is being formed against Washington's potential unilateral plan to wage war against Syria, a political analyst tells Press TV.

"As the world wakes up, as the British parliament votes against a war on Syria, as people here in the US plan to turn out in a massive demonstration which will begin against war on Syria, it seems that Russia and China are also emboldened to stand up," said Kevin Barrett in a Friday interview.

"I think the world is waking up. We have been living in an era of nonstop deception and with illegal wars of aggression since the September 11 coup d'état in the US and slowly but surely the world is catching on to these deceptions," he added.

The analyst noted that the new US scenario against Syria is reminiscent of Washington's similar plot "in the run-up to the war on Iraq when lies about alleged weapons of mass destruction were being said around by the same people."

In 2003, the US and Britain invaded Iraq in blatant violation of international law and under the pretext of finding weapons of mass destruction. But no such weapons were ever discovered in Iraq.

U.S. spy agencies have built an intelligence-gathering colossus since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but remain unable to provide critical information to the president on a range of national security threats, according to the government's top-secret budget.

The $52.6 billion "black budget" for fiscal 2013, obtained by The Washington Post from former ­intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, maps a bureaucratic and operational landscape that has never been subject to public scrutiny. Although the government has annually released its overall level of intelligence spending since 2007, it has not divulged how it uses the money or how it performs against the goals set by the president and Congress.

The 178-page budget summary for the National Intelligence Program details the successes, failures and objectives of the 16 spy agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community, which has 107,035 employees.

The summary describes cutting-edge technologies, agent recruiting and ongoing operations. The Post is withholding some information after consultation with U.S. officials who expressed concerns about the risk to intelligence sources and methods. Sensitive details are so pervasive in the documents that The Post is publishing only summary tables and charts online.

"The United States has made a considerable investment in the Intelligence Community since the terror attacks of 9/11, a time which includes wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction technology, and asymmetric threats in such areas as cyber-warfare," Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. wrote in response to inquiries from The Post.

"Our budgets are classified as they could provide insight for foreign intelligence services to discern our top national priorities, capabilities and sources and methods that allow us to obtain information to counter threats," he said.

Among the notable revelations in the budget summary:

In January this year, the web site of UK-based 'offense defense contractor', Britam Defense, were hacked by someone that 'authorities' claim (unsurprisingly) may have been of the Iranian persuasion (Iranians do everything bad these days don't ya know!). Part of the trove of documents that were uploaded to various websites included two emails.

One email had "Syrian Issue" in the subject field and the other has "Iranian Issue" in the subject field. Both emails appeared to be from David Goulding, the actual business development manager of Britam Defence, and appeared to have been sent to Phillip Doughty, the actual founder of Britam. Many alternative news web sites have used these emails as evidence that the recent alleged 'chemical weapon' attack in Syria was the work of the Western-backed Syrian rebels rather than the Syrian military. The problem however is that the emails appear to be have been faked.

The Iranian issue email stated:

"Please see attached details of preparatory measures concerning the Iranian issue. Participation of Britam in the operation is confirmed by the Saudis. http://mbf.cc/OTEH8″

Amongst the other documents that were hacked is a word document apparently detailing a training program for Saudi military personnel to defend against an attack by an unknown enemy.