Puppet MastersS


Stormtrooper

Western armed and sponsored 'rebels' in Syria admit killing 30 Alawites

Syria mass killings
© Unknown
Al-Qaeda-affiliated extremists in Syria say they are targeting members of the Alawite community in the country, adding that they massacred dozens of Alawites in three Homs villages last week.

On Sunday, terrorist group Al-Nusra Front claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attacks in which at least 30 Alawites, including several women, children and elderly men, were shot dead in cold blood.

Al-Nusra said in an internet statement that its militants entered the villages of Massudiyeh, Maksar al-Hissan and Jab al-Jerah in Homs province and carried out the massacre.

The group said one of its jurists asked them to slay Alawites whom he called "enemies of God".

"... this was the first time these villages were entered and such a high number was killed," it added.

Last month, Abu Mohammad al-Golani, a commander of al-Nusra, threatened to target Alawites with rockets.

"On top of that we will prepare a thousand rockets that will be fired on their towns in revenge for the Damascus Ghouta massacre," he said in an audio recording posted on YouTube on August 25.

Al-Nusra and other militant groups fighting against the Syrian government and people accuse Damascus of launching the August 21 chemical weapons attack which they claimed killed about 1400 people.


Comment: Killed just for belonging to a different religion.


Comment: War crimes and sectarian violence sponsored by the West


Vader

UN inspectors confirm use of Chemical weapons in Syria

Ake Sellstrom and Ban Ki-Moon
© Unknown
The United Nations inspectors have confirmed the use of chemical weapons in an attack near the Syrian capital last month.

According to the inspectors' report, expected to be released by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon later on Monday, environmental, chemical and medical samples show that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used in the Ghouta suburb of Damascus on August 21.
"The conclusion is that chemical weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict between the parties in the Syrian Arab Republic ... against civilians, including children, on a relatively large scale," says the report by UN inspectors.
The detail was inadvertently leaked when the first page of the report was included in an official picture of head of the UN investigators, Ake Sellstrom, showing him handing over the report to the UN chief.

Ban was scheduled to brief the Security Council on the report on Monday. He is then expected to address the media.


Comment: The question is still who used it! No evidence that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons, but ample of evidence that points to the Syrian "rebels".


Pistol

Unarmed man, possibly looking for help after wreck, shot by Charlotte, NC police

Randall Kerrick
© Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Randall Kerrick
An unarmed man who may have been looking for help after a vehicle wreck was shot and killed by a police officer Saturday as he ran toward him, police said. The officer was later charged with voluntary manslaughter.

A statement issued by police said officers responded to a breaking and entering call on the city's east side around 2:30 a.m. Someone had knocked on the door of a residence, and the homeowner opened the door, thinking it was her husband. When she discovered it wasn't, she closed the door and called 911.

When officers arrived, they found Jonathan A. Ferrell, 24, a short distance from the home, and he matched a description given by the homeowner, police said.

Pistol

Cops shoot two innocent female bystanders on Broadway

Cops trying to subdue an emotionally disturbed man with a long rap sheet accidentally shot two female bystanders outside Port Authority Bus Terminal on Saturday night, source said.

Theodora Ray, 54, was struck in her leg - breaking two bones in her calf - as she stood leaning on her four-wheeled walker across from the terminal; Sahara Khoshakhlagh, 35, was grazed in her buttocks.

Two cops pulled off a total of three shots in the mistaken belief that the deranged Glen Broadnax, 35, was armed after he reached into his pocket as they approached him, officials said.

Bad Guys

Congress: Hillary's Benghazi investigation let top officials escape blame

Hilary Clinton
© Getty
A new report reveals that the State Department's Benghazi investigation failed to hold senior officials accountable for the deaths of four Americans. Josh Rogin reports.

The State Department's investigation into the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi was not independent and failed to hold senior State Department officials accountable for the failures that led to the death of four Americans, according to a new investigative report compiled by the House Oversight Committee.

The Administrative Review Board, chosen by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, unfairly placed the blame for the terrorist attack on four mid-level officials while ignoring the role of very senior officials in Clinton's State Department for decisions about security in Benghazi, according to the new report led by Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA). Also, the structure of the ARB and the culture in Clinton's State Department raised questions about the independence and integrity of the review, according to Issa's committee.

Eye 1

China broadcasts "confession" of Chinese-American blogger

 Chinese-American businessman and blogger Charles Xue
© CHINA STRINGER NETWORK/REUTERS Chinese-American businessman and blogger Charles Xue appeared on Chinese state television and discussed the dangers of the Internet.

Chinese state television on Sunday broadcast a startling video of a famous blogger in handcuffs, renouncing his Web posts and saying how dangerous the Internet would be if left uncontrolled by the government.

The 10-minute news report featuring Charles Xue - a Chinese American businessman and one of China's most popular bloggers - was the latest step in what appears to be a systematic campaign to intimidate online opinion leaders against speaking too freely or critically of the government.

"It gratified my vanity greatly," Xue said of the Internet. "I got used to my influence online and the power of my personal opinions . . . and I forgot who I am."

Light Sabers

West vows to boost Syria rebels, Russia says they should be 'compelled' to join peace talks

Fabius, Hague and Kerry in Paris talks
© AFP/ Kenzo TribouillardFrench Foreign Affairs minister Laurent Fabius (C), US Secretary of State John Kerry (R) and British Foreign Affairs Secretary William Hague (L) give a press conference after talks on the Syria crisis on September 16, 2013 in Paris. France.
The US, UK and France have agreed to bolster Syrian rebels by providing more help, press Syria into delivering on its promise to hand over chemical weapons and seek an end to the conflict, which would involve ousting of President Bashar Assad.

The intentions were voiced by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and his counterparts from Washington and London at a joint media conference.

Fabius was speaking in Paris just days after the US and Russia reached an agreement under which Washington will put its plans to use military force against Syrian President Bashar Assad on hold in exchange for Damascus dismantling its chemical weapons arsenal.

West hopes for Syria without Assad

US Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed America's adherence to the plan, but said there must be consequences for Syria if it does not deliver on its promise. The disarmament deal is to be formalized by a UN Security Council resolution yet to be voted on.

Meanwhile UK Foreign Secretary William Hague pledged that the three countries would work with Russia to gather an international conference in Geneva to negotiate a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis.

A political solution is part of the plan, which was unveiled by Kerry and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last Saturday. Organization of the Geneva-2 conference has been delayed for months, as Syrian opposition forces opposed it.

Still Kerry stressed Washington's position that the UN resolution is not "a lifeline" for Assad, who, the UN official said, has "lost all legitimacy" after more than two years of fighting with rebel forces.

Candle

Russia will agree to consequences for Syria, only if it believes '100 percent' that a violation has occurred

Lavrov and Kerry in Geneva
© State DepartmentSecretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and their senior advisors meet on the pool deck of the Hotel Intercontinental in Geneva on September 14 during a final negotiating session over an agreement to eliminate Syrian chemical weapons.
The Obama administration says its painstakingly negotiated agreement with Russia over removing Syria's chemical weapons arsenal includes consequences for non-compliance, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made it clear that for that to happen, Moscow would need to be "100 percent " sure a violation has taken place.

That comment during a joint appearance with Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva signaled the expected difficulties ahead: Throughout the civil war, Russia has disputed allegations of misconduct by its ally in Damascus, and it has used its veto in the U.N. Security Council three times to block even muted criticism of the Assad regime.

The agreement reached in marathon talks in Geneva requires President Bashar Assad's regime to provide an inventory of its chemical weapons program within one week, and in its first public reaction, information minister Omran al-Zoubi said Sunday said it would comply once the agreement has been embedded in a Security Council resolution.

He told British television that Syria views the agreement "with great seriousness" and has begun drawing up the relevant documents. Under the deal, initial inspections are to be completed by November and the arsenal eliminated by mid-2014.

U.S. officials hailed the agreement as a diplomatic feat, highlighting that the Russians had agreed that in the event Assad does not comply, measures would be taken under chapter seven of the U.N. Charter.

Question

Whose 'boots on the ground' will protect weapons inspectors in Syria?

Boots on the ground
© Geoffrey Ingersoll via U.S. Marine Corps
When international scientific and technical personnel enter Syria to inspect, remove and destroy the regime's chemical weapons stockpiles, they will need significant security support, raising questions about whether the Obama administration will keep its pledge to have no U.S. military deployed inside Syria.

No one is publicly saying who will provide the protection needed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) personnel entering a war zone, yet. But the wording of the agreement negotiated between the U.S. and Russia in recent days acknowledges the need for such security - and indicates that the two countries will share a responsibility in arranging it.

"The Russian Federation and the United States will work together closely, including with the OPCW, the U.N. and Syrian parties to arrange for the security of the monitoring and destruction mission, noting the primary responsibility of the Syrian government in this regard," it says.

Extinguisher

Fire breaks out on Russian nuclear submarine under repair

Russian submarine
© APRussia's Kursk submarine, of the same class as the Tomsk, which sank in 2001.
A fire has broken out on a Russian nuclear submarine undergoing repairs, but no injuries or radiation leaks have been reported.

Russian news reports said the fire on the Tomsk submarine at repair yards in the Pacific coast city of Bolshoi Kamen had been extinguished with foam on Monday.

The Tomsk, capable of firing cruise missiles, has been undergoing repairs since 2010.

Reports said all its weaponry had been removed and the reactor was shut down, although it was not clear if any nuclear material remained in the reactor.

The Tomsk is of the same class as the nuclear submarine Kursk, which sank in 2001 in the Barents Sea after an explosion, killing all 118 people on board.