Ahmad Nemah, a midlevel Syrian rebel commander, is certain there's sound military logic behind President Barack Obama's decision to delay U.S. missile strikes against the Syrian regime, but he's having a hard time persuading his subordinates. "I know that this is not a postponement but a strategic pause to . . . set up for a surprise attack," insisted Nemah, a former colonel in Syrian air force intelligence. "Of course, people are depressed, and I'm having trouble convincing everyone that there will be a strike."

There's a good reason why Nemah is having difficulty selling his argument to his fighters of the Free Syrian Army, the loose tangle of disparate guerrilla bands nominally backed by the United States and its European and Arab allies. Obama's abrupt decision on Saturday to delay the strikes that seemed just hours away is being seen in the region as the latest confirmation of an incoherent U.S. approach of mixed messages and unfulfilled threats that have driven America's standing to a new low.

"Washington doesn't understand the Middle East. His (Obama's) image here is of someone who is afraid of getting enmeshed in the machinations of the Middle East," said Maher Abu-Teyr, a political columnist with Ad-Dustour, a semi-official Jordanian daily newspaper. "There is no trust in Washington in the area because (people) think Obama is weak."

He cited a "constant change in rhetoric and hesitation" by the United States since the brutal conflict erupted in Syria in mid-2011. Among other missteps, he said, was the U.S. reluctance to take action early in the conflict that might have bolstered moderate rebel factions before the rise of al Qaida-linked groups, which now dominate the opposition.

"Obama should have moved in the first six months of the Syria crisis, not now," said Abu-Teyr. "Now, all of his choices are very difficult because he took all of this time."

Obama has shifted several times since the August 2012 "red line" he first set against Syrian President Bashar Assad's use of chemical weapons. After cautioning Assad against even moving a "whole bunch of chemical weapons around," he didn't enforce the warning when the regime allegedly was detected in December mixing components for the nerve gas sarin, or when in March the United States followed Britain and France in accusing Assad of having used chemical weapons "on a small scale."

'But our long-term national security will be impacted in a profound way and our humanity's impacted in a profound way.'

Brazil has canceled preparations for the visit of President Dilma Rousseff to the United States over reports she was the target of National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance, AFP reports.

A presidential spokesperson said a trip by a Brazilian delegation to prepare for the president's October 23 visit to Washington "was cancelled."

Following the spying revelations, a Brazilian official told Reuters on Wednesday that Rousseff was set to take punitive in addition to canceling the visit, which could include a halt on plans to purchase F-18 Super Hornet fighters from Chicago-based Boeing Co.

"She is completely furious," the official said.

"This is a major, major crisis .... There needs to be an apology. It needs to be public. Without that, it's basically impossible for her to go to Washington in October," the official continued.

On Wednesday, Brazil announced an investigation into domestic telecommunications firms had been launched to determine if they had illegally shared data with the NSA after it was discovered the agency had been spying on Rousseff.

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.

Francis will hold a peace vigil this Saturday against the country's 'senseless massacre of innocents'.

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.

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:

• 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.

In return, Iran requested the following:

• 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.

Then U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney turned down the offer and chastised the Swiss for even passing it along.

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.

Egyptian security officials said that the country's interior minister survived an assassination attempt on Thursday after an explosive device detonated near his convoy. The powerful explosion, which damaged buildings and left cars burning on a residential street, marked a sharp escalation of the violence in Egypt's two-month old political crisis.

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.

President Obama yesterday urged the international community to support his plan for military intervention in Syria or face a fatal undermining of its credibility.

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.

A former member of a city council in the Turkish province of Hatay says the chemical weapons used in last month's attack in Syria were transported from Turkey, Press TV reports.

"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.