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Russia opposed to any UN resolution allowing Syria strikes

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov
© UnknownRussia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov
A top Russian official has reiterated Moscow's opposition to any United Nations Security (UNSC) resolution that would allow a military action against Syria.

"Russia opposes any resolution of the UN Security Council indicating the probability of the use of force [or] any resolution that could be used for military action against Syria," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Friday as cited in a report by the ITAR-TASS News Agency.

The remark came following an urgent meeting of UNSC's five permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - ended Thursday without any agreement on the source of a recent chemical weapons use in Syria and a potential plan of action.

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

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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U.S. military officers have deep doubts about impact, wisdom of a U.S. strike on Syria

hands off syria
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The Obama administration's plan to launch a military strike against Syria is being received with serious reservations by many in the U.S. military, which is coping with the scars of two lengthy wars and a rapidly contracting budget, according to current and former officers.

Having assumed for months that the United States was unlikely to intervene militarily in Syria, the Defense Department has been thrust onto a war footing that has made many in the armed services uneasy, according to interviews with more than a dozen military officers ranging from captains to a four-star general.

Vader

Obama has power, determination to make own decision on Syria, administration says

obama war
© unknown
The administration insisted Thursday that President Obama has both the authority and the determination to make his own decision on a military strike against Syria, even as a growing chorus of lawmakers demanded an opportunity to vote on the issue and Britain, the United States' closest ally, appeared unlikely to participate.

Britain's sudden withdrawal came after Prime Minister David Cameron, deserted by rebels in his own Conservative Party, lost a parliamentary vote for provisional authorization for military action in Syria.

Camera

Backstabbing war-hawk Kerry a frequent visitor with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad

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John Kerry, who is expected to be nominated as secretary of state later this afternoon, has made frequent visits to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Assad is now under fire for mass murdering his own civilians, as he fights an internal war to keep his position of power. Even Obama has called for Assad to go.

In February 2009, Kerry led a delegation there to engage Syria. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told visiting US members of Congress on Saturday that the United States should 'move away from a policy based on dictating decisions.' Assad's guests on Saturday included US Senator John Kerry, who headed the third delegation this week to call on the Syrian president's door as Washington reviews its policies toward countries the previous administration regarded as hostile. Assad told his visitors that future relations should be based on a 'proper understanding' by Washington of regional issues and on common interests, SANA news agency reported," AFP reported at the time.

Briefcase

Obama strike would not weaken Assad's military strength, experts warn

United Nations
© Ammar Al-Arbini/AFP/Getty ImagesUnited Nations arms experts and opposition fighters in Damascus' eastern Ghouta suburb
White House says any strike would be 'discreet and limited' in statement intended to reflect reluctance to draw US into conflict


The Obama administration's preferred option for a potential strike on Syria is likely to leave Bashar al-Assad's government with significant chemical weapons and military infrastructure, according to military analysts.

Although vice-president Joe Biden said on Thursday that President Obama had yet to take a final decision on attacking the Syrian regime for allegedly gassing civilians on 21 August, administration statements ruled out several military options more severe than aerial bombing or sea-based missile strikes.

In the first confirmation of the scope of any attack, White House principal deputy press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Thursday that Obama was contemplating "something that is discreet and limited."

Alarm Clock

Breaking: UK MPs vote against Syria action

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MPs voted after a long debate on Thursday afternoon
British MPs have voted against possible military action against Syria to deter the use of chemical weapons.

David Cameron said it was clear the British Parliament does not want action and "I will act accordingly".

The government motion was defeated 285 to 272, a majority of 13 votes

Star of David

As U.S., allies weigh strike on Syria, nervous Israelis rush for gas masks

queue up for gas masks
© Nir Elias/Reuters Thousands of Israelis continued to queue up for gas masks or ordered them by phone, spurred on by fears that any Western military response to last week's alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria could ensnare their own country in war.

A shortage of gas masks caused a mini-melee among panicky moms pushing strollers here Wednesday, as Israelis prepared for possible U.S. airstrikes against Syria that could trigger retaliatory attacks in Israel.

At a post office distribution center in the Hadar Mall in West Jerusalem, Israelis broke through yellow security tape and clawed into boxes containing the government-issued kits. Postal authority spokeswoman Maya ­Avishai described the scene as "a brutal onslaught" against law and order, and police were called to calm the crowd.

Jamie Schwed, mother of a newborn, was frustrated to find that all the gas masks had been distributed. "They warned us of a possible attack, and they run out of masks? It's ridiculous," she said.

Officials reported a surge in inquiries, deliveries and people lining up for the free kits, as the United States and its Western allies gathered support for a strike on Syria in retaliation for last week's alleged poison gas attack outside Damascus. The Syrian government denies responsibility for the attack, which killed hundreds, including many women and children.

Comment: It appears everyone is supposed to feel sorry for the poor, scared Israels as these images of them frantically grabbing for gas masks are splashed all across the mainstream media?

The only problem with this blatant "poor pity us" campaign is that Israel issued gas masks to all their citizens, including their children, in February of 2010. In fact, they even bragged about being the only country in the world making high quality kiddie sized chemical masks.
December 28, 2009
Israel to issue gas masks to population

"We are the only country in the world that produces gas masks for children, and the children's gas mask we produce is the only one in the world that supplies prime defense for this age group," Col. Yosi Sagiv,head of the Gas Mask Administration of the Home Front Command, told bacelonanews.net."
Interestingly, the information about the Israel's distribution of gas masks to all their citizens in 2010 has been scrubbed from bioprepwatch.com. as well as several other sites, but the article was preserved by the Wayback Machine here.

We've also archived a screenshot on SOTT just in case the Wayback Machine's version disappears too.
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Soooo, either Israel's "Head of the Gas Mask Administration" is a serious slacker, or Israel is lying ....again.


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Russia accuses West of jumping gun on Syria

hands off syria
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Russian officials Wednesday accused Western nations of short-circuiting the work of United Nations weapons inspectors in Syria in their eagerness to launch an attack on Damascus.

A British resolution in the U.N. Security Council condemning the Syrian government for using chemical weapons is premature given that the inspectors in Syria have not yet reported back on their findings, Russia's first deputy foreign minister, Vladimir Titov, said in remarks quoted by the Interfax news agency.

The inspectors' report is not expected until the weekend at the earliest.

With both Russia and China holding veto power in the Security Council, there is also no prospect that the British resolution will pass. Instead, the head of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of Russia's parliament said, the move is an attempt to provide a justification for the attack on Syria that Moscow appears to believe is inevitable.

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Western powers face widespread skepticism over military strike on Syria

Syria protests
© Washington PostProtests and preparations as Western powers stand on the brink of attacking Syria
As Western powers build their case for possible military strikes in Syria, a still-forming coalition on Wednesday confronted a chorus of resistance at home, throwing up possible delays for what initially seemed like a rapid timetable for action.

In Britain, Washington's staunchest military ally, the ghost of faulty intelligence used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq hung over Prime Minister David Cameron's push to punish the government of President Bashar al-Assad after last week's alleged chemical attack near Damascus.

Cameron's government presented a draft resolution at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday seeking to authorize "all necessary measures" to protect Syrian civilians, after Foreign Secretary William Hague said the world had to act even if the United Nations didn't.

But hours later, tepid domestic support in Parliament for fast action forced Cameron's government to back down from a planned vote Thursday that would have effectively paved the way for the immediate use of military force. Instead, the prime minister compromised with critics who thought that London was acting too hastily, promising to offer a watered-down measure Thursday that called for a second vote before strikes would be undertaken. That vote is likely to come next week, after U.N. inspectors now in Syria have submitted their report.