There has been much ado in the press lately about the "alleged" use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces against the so-called "rebels". Not only are these rebels supported, trained and funded by western interests, they also include members of al-Qaeda, who, up until last year were the sworn enemy of these very same western interests. How bizarre is that?

Anyone who reads the Sott page regularly will have figured out by now that it was likely the western-backed rebels that were responsible for the attack we see portrayed in the media. But some readers may not be aware that there is also evidence to suggest that chemical weapons weren't even used in the attack.

Of course, none of these facts seem to bother the mainstream media, who remain content to parrot the administration lies calling for a U.S. attack on Syria.

Psycho war monger John Kerry has been trying to con the world, yet again, into supporting an attack on some dark-skinned people 'oceans away'. As I watched his speech a few days ago, I had lots of things I wanted to say in response. Sadly however, I wasn't invited to attend the event. So I've written my responses here, for the only people who actually matter in this world, i.e. not John Kerry or his coterie of psychopathic masters and servants. Of which there are many. Too many.

President Obama has spent many days now consulting with Congress and talking with leaders around the world about the situation in Syria.

And last night the president asked all of us on his national security team to consult with the leaders of Congress, as well, including the leadership of the congressional national security committees. And he asked us to consult about what we know regarding the horrific chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs last week.

I will tell you that as someone who spent nearly three decades in the United States Congress, I know that that consultation is the right way for a president to approach a decision of when and how and if to use military force. And it's important to ask the tough questions and get the tough answers before taking action, not just afterward.

Yeah good point Johnny boy, "fixing the facts around the policy" in 2002/3 didn't work out too well huh? And it's creating a bit of a problem for the effort to fool the rabble yet again with the same old unimaginative, emotionally-charged lies.

With the U.S. poised to lead yet another bombing campaign, this time against Syria, a sense of deja-vu is hanging in the air. President Obama tells us it will be a quick two-day airstrike to knock out Syrian defenses and end the country's 'reign of terror led by the brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad'. The bad guys will be defeated and the good guys can award themselves peace prizes for making the world a safer place.

This grand narrative is, of course, all complete and utter horse-hockey. This week on SOTT Talk Radio we'll be taking a closer look at the alleged chemical weapons attack that precipitated the major recent upswing in bellicose war rhetoric. WMDs, evil dictators killing their own people, UN inspectors, quick little 'humanitarian' wars... we've heard it all before, we know what it led to and what was really behind it.

It's easy enough to see through the propaganda the American, British, French and Israeli governments 'catapult' out there to justify and reinforce the Big Lie that is the 'clash of civilizations'. We wonder though, with signs of major global climatological and environmental upheaval now manifesting daily, if there's a primary underlying reason for launching another major, and extremely risky, war that might easily become a regional or global war.

Do the Powers That Be know that 'something wicked this way comes'? And are they trying to deliberately embroil humanity in the chaos of war in an effort to distract us from the very real and present danger posed by incoming space rocks?

Running Time: 02:21:00

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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.

These photos, taken a few months ago, record in detail an Israeli attack on a Palestinian school, an attack using 'white phosphorus' as a chemical weapon:

White phosphorous is a colorless to yellow translucent wax-like substance with a pungent, garlic-like smell. The form used by the military is highly energetic (active) and ignites once it is exposed to oxygen. White phosphorus is a pyrophoric material (it is spontaneously flammable). When exposed to air, it spontaneously ignites and rapidly oxidizes to phosphorus pentoxide. Such heat is produced by this reaction that the element bursts into a yellow flame and produces a dense white smoke. This chemical reaction continues until either all the material is consumed or the element is deprived of oxygen. White phosphorus results in painful and deep chemical burn injuries. Rapid dermal penetration occurs once particles are embedded under the skin. Incandescent particles of white phosphorous may produce extensive burns. The particles continue to burn unless deprived of atmospheric oxygen. Weapons containing white phosphorous are particularly nasty because it continues to burn until it disappears, often burning right down to the bone.

The white phosphorus flame produces a hot, dense, white smoke composed of particles of phosphorus pentoxide, which are converted by moist air into phosphoric acid. This acid, depending on concentration and duration of exposure, may produce a variety of topically irritative injuries. Exposure to heavy smoke concentrations for extended periods (particularly if near the source of emission) may cause illness or even death. Its fumes can cause severe eye irritation including blepharospasm, photophobia, and lacrimation. Irritation of the eyes and irritation of the mucous membranes are the most commonly seen injuries.

The use of this lethal substance is supposedly 'permissible' under the "laws of war", ostensibly to destroy the enemy's equipment or to limit his vision. But when a whole population is designated 'the enemy', as the Israeli regime has done with Palestinians, especially those living in the open-air prison called Gaza, the results are horrifying.

At the time, the Israeli regime denied using this lethal substance during its bombardment of besieged Gaza. Roundly condemned by international observers, it now admits 'Willie Pete' was used, but says it did not fire munitions laden with the chemical weapons "inside populated areas."

These photos tell the true story.

Back in April this year we discussed 'Bitcoin' - a so-called 'virtual currency'. Touted as a solution to people's concerns with online privacy and protection from overbearing and centralized fiscal authorities, Bitcoin has steadily risen in popularity and value since its launch in 2008. Its dollar value suddenly plummeted in early April, leading us to wonder what had happened to make people suddenly lose interest?

Later in May, the US govt began breathing down its neck by seizing one of BitCoin's biggest exchanges. This was followed up with the'Liberty Reserve' digital currency being shut down completely, allegedly because it was "running a $6bn money-laundering scheme that became a bank of choice for the criminal underworld." Is BitCoin also being used for this purpose? Or is that the official line to dissuade people from using a potentially viable alternative to the international central banking cartel's 'funny money'?

Just yesterday, August 26th, it emerged that the BitCoin Foundation has been meeting representatives from FinCEN (a U.S. Treasury agency), the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security, and legislators on Capitol Hill.

At a time when services founded on complete user privacy are folding left and right, is this a last-ditch lobbying effort to stave off govt-enforced closure? What kind of compromise can a virtual currency that attracts users because of the privacy it offers make with a National Security State that is determined to know everything about everyone?

Running Time: 02:12:00

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I'm sure many of you have heard about Lavabit shutting down rather than cooperating with a plan to expose their customers' communications to the government. It was quite a laudable response and, indeed, there was much celebratory banter. Then everybody went home and moved on with their lives.

Then, in response to what had occurred to Lavabit, Groklaw (and separately, SilentCircle), announced it was shutting down, based on what had happened to Lavabit. Response ranged from mystified wonderment, to insinuations that it was a publicity stunt. How that publicity would benefit a company that had just shut down, I don't know. Such is the internet. I suspect that the underwhelming support and negativity arose from the fact that most folks had never heard of Groklaw before the announcement.

So What Was Groklaw?

Groklaw was started in 2003 as a blog that reported and discussed legal issues as they related to software. This was mainly centered on free and open-source software, and also included topics related to software patents, DMCA, RIAA and, as a natural consequence, did some reporting on commercial software and their parent companies.

So, how did Groklaw and Lavabit come to be mentioned in the same sentence?

It's pretty simple. Think of people's communications as candy, and software as the candy machine. The government has a key to pretty much every candy machine on the planet for the moment, and can gorge endlessly on their ill-gotten gains. In the real world, that would be every 8 year old's dream. But, much like that 8 year old's reality, the candy machines are continually being upgraded and being made more secure. So the government, unlike the 8 year old, undertook to perpetually have the key to every new candy machine that came on the market.

U.S. President Barack Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize after spending his first year in office overseeing the expansion of the CIA's drone assassinations program in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere. Earlier this year, French President François Hollande was awarded UNESCO's Peace Prize for bringing 'peace and stability' to Africa, following two months of French bombing campaigns and ground troop invasions of several West African countries, notably Mali.

This was necessary, Hollande told French citizens, to protect their homeland from attack by "terrorists". The week we discussed this on SOTT Talk Radio, another three UK Muslims were accused of planning a "mass suicide bomb plot" that would have been "worse than 7/7″, according to hysterical British police and mainstream media. In the U.S., the FBI has been supplying "terror suspects" with materials to act out "terror plots" as part of sting operations the government then uses to justify all manner of criminal behaviour, at home and abroad.

When is all of this going to end? Never, if the advocates for "endless war" have their way. We're told "they hate us for our freedoms", so given that our freedoms are disappearing fast, we need to ask the question: Are the "terrorists" winning? Is there really a "Muslim terror threat"? Why do certain countries play leading roles in this stratagem? What are the real goals behind "humanitarian intervention" and "regime change" in country after country?

Running Time: 02:17:00

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The U.S. Air Force announced recently that due to lack of funding it's shutting down a key part of its Space Surveillance Network... this at a time when fireball/meteor sightings are on the rise. While there is allegedly no budget left to keep an eye on the skies, the Obama administration is sending billions in 'military aid' to countries that are "important to U.S. interests," not least Egypt, where civil war appears imminent.

This discrepancy between 'waging peace' and wilfully ignoring the cosmic elephant in the living room is something no one but SOTT.net and SOTT Talk Radio is apparently willing to talk about. The historical reality of cataclysms brought on by 'fire in the sky' is daily merging with present reality as mysterious explosions, sonic booms, unexplained fires and other 'high strangeness' continue to proliferate across the planet.

Running Time: 02:08:00

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'Worldwide travel alerts' urging Americans to remain within the US; wild weather; missing crop circles; strange lights in the sky; trains running off their tracks; animals dying in droves; record profits for some while debt explodes for most; hunting down al-Qaeda in the War on Terror; sending weapons to al-Qaeda in the War on Syria; countless senseless murders; crops failing; food prices skyrocketing; chemical plants exploding; "solar flare killshots"; fireballs raining down from the sky... Is this the end of the world or something?

'All and Everything' returns to SOTT Talk Radio this week to offer our listeners a show packed with 'condensed Truth' on various different current (and perhaps not-so-current) topics. We'll aim to deal with each discrete topic in about 5 minutes and then see if our analysis leads us to an overall view of 'life on planet earth'.

What's the weather like where you are? More importantly, what are the people like where you are? Are they getting worked up about the state of the economy? Are they noticing the extreme and unusual weather events? Or are they just totally oblivious to anything beyond their daily routines?

Running Time: 02:09:00

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