Vote in Senate delayed - for now !

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/harry-reid-delays-senate-test-vote-on-syria

Harry Reid Delays Senate Test Vote On Syria

In a reversal, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced Monday early evening he would not file for a test vote on a resolution to strike at Syria.

"I'm not going to file cloture this evening on the motion to proceed to the Syria resolution," he said on the Senate floor.

Reid had announced Monday morning that he plans on filing a motion to proceed to the Syria resolution. His evening move came as questions continued to swirl about whether such a resolution could pass. It also comes as discussions escalate about a possible diplomatic solution to the Syrian regime's alleged use of chemical weapons.

"Tomorrow the president is going to brief the Democratic caucus and the Republican caucus separately," Reid said. "He's going to address the nation tomorrow night. As we all know, the international discussions continue relative to the matter in Syria. Normally, what I would do in a situation like this is file cloture today. But I don't think that's to our benefit. I don't think we need to see how fast we can do this. We have to see how well we can do this matter."

"I'll continue to discuss this with Senator McConnell, and we'll see if we can reach some kind of agreement to move forward on this without cloture. If that doesn't work out, I will file cloture when appropriate."

GCC must be furious ...... best laid plans of mice and men foiled ....

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-09/popular-opposition-syrian-attack-grows-obama-skeptical-reid-delays-vote-assad-likens

As Popular Opposition To Syrian Attack Grows; Obama "Skeptical", Reid Delays Vote & Assad Likens Obama To Bush

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/09/2013 18:53 -0400

The last hour has seen a sudden escalation in the Syrian-Strike-Nado. Following earlier comments from Hillary Clinton, President Obama also confirmed the Russian offer on Syria is "potentially positive" though "skeptical" that it will be followed through on. Harry Reid then hits the tape with news of a delay in the 'test vote' - hardly a signal of resounding support. Then Assad, via his twitter account, compares Obama to Bush among other things. And then finally, Obama announces he has not made a decision on next steps if Congress doesn't support military strikes.Gold is modestly higher, oil slightly lower. Equities remain happy with the uncertainty and are extending gains. In the meantime, Reuters finds that 63% of Americans now oppose intervening in Syria.

First:

BREAKING: Obama: Talk of Syria ditching chemical weapons a potential "breakthrough," but still skeptical

6:04 PM - 9 Sep 2013

Then this:

*SENATE LEADER HARRY REID DELAYS SYRIA STRIKE TEST VOTE: AP

Then Assad pipes in...

#Assad: We expected this US administration to be different from Bush’s. They are adopting the same doctrine with different accessories.

6:29 PM - 9 Sep 2013

Obama: I might lose congressional vote on Syria

WASHINGTON (AP) — Battling stiff resistance in Congress, President Barack Obama conceded Monday night he might lose his fight for congressional sup

The Associated Press @AP

Via Reuters,

Americans' opposition to a U.S. military strike against Syria is increasing as they learn more about the Arab nation's alleged use of chemical weapons, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll that shows the challenge President Barack Obama faces in seeking congressional approval for military action.

The poll, conducted September 5 to 9, indicated that 63 percent of Americans opposed intervening in Syria, up from 53 percent in a survey that ended August 30. That was a week after the August 21 chemical attack in a Damascus suburb that U.S. officials say killed more than 1,400 adults and children.

Meanwhile, support for a U.S. intervention in Syria has declined, the poll found. About 16 percent of Americans surveyed said the United States should get involved - down from 20 percent on August 30.

Is a coup de grace being planned to cow the wayward House of Representatives and reluctant Senate into voting for War ?

http://rt.com/news/syria-rebels-chemical-attack-israel-618/

A chemical attack may be launched on Israel by Syrian rebels from government-controlled territories as a "major provocation," multiple sources told RT.

The report comes as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovproposed that Syria puts its chemical weapons arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction in order to prevent a possible military strike against the war-torn country.

Moscow also urged Syrian authorities to join the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The offer has already been passed over to Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem, who met Lavrov in Moscow for talks on Monday.

“We don’t know if Syria will accept the offer, but if imposing international control over chemical weapons stored in the country can help to avoid military strikes, we are immediately going to start working with Damascus,” Lavrov said.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has welcomed Moscow's initiative, “based on the Syrian’s government care about the lives of our people and security of our country,” Muallem said later on Monday.

Meanwhile, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice made a statement saying that Damascus' alleged "use of chemical weapons against its own people" posed a threat to US national security. “The use of chemical weapons also directly threatens our closest ally in the region, Israel,” she said, speaking at the New America Foundation in Washington.

"The use of chemical weapons also directly threatens our closest ally in the region, Israel." —@AmbassadorRice on #Syria

1:05 после полудня - 9 сентября 2013

On Sunday, the Senate Select Intelligence Committee released a series of 13 videos showing what is purported to be proof of chemical weapons use in Syria. The disturbing images of the victims of the alleged attack were earlier shown during a closed-door briefing to a group of senators, as Obama is trying to get authorization from Congress for the military strike on Syria. The administration told senators that the authenticity of the videos was verified by the intelligence community, reported CNN, which first aired the graphic material.

Russia and the US are in dispute over Moscow’s request for the International Atomic Agency to analyze risks if military strikes hit a nuclear plant near Damascus. The agency said it is considering the appeal, but won’t give an answer “immediately”.

As a UN atomic agency was meeting on Monday, Russia urged the UN nuclear watchdog to give an“immediate” answer, stressing the urgency of the issue. On September, 5 Russia warned that a military strike on Syria could lead to a nuclear catastrophe if a missile were to hit the so-called Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) near Damascus.

So far, three countries - Russia, Cuba and the US - have spoken on the subject, but Yukiya Amono, IAEA’s Director General, declined to disclose details of the discussion.

However, there is no unity in the 35-Member State Board on whether the International Atomic Agency should comply with Russia’s request, Amano said.

The US ambassador to the IAEA, Joseph Macmanus, insisted that carrying out an analysis as Russia requests was not the UN agency's job and it would exceed the IAEA’s mandate.

"It is our view that requests for comprehensive risk analyses of hypothetical scenarios are beyond the IAEA's statutory authority," said Macmanus.

The IAEA "will have to review such a request in light of legal authorities, mandate and resources and must determine whether there is a scientific basis for conducting a highly speculative investigation of this kind," Macmanus was quoted as saying.

The IAEA’s head, Yukiya Amano, said he was not sure if the agency would be able to come up with an answer to Russia’s request by the end of the week-long session.

“This is a complicated issue and it has many aspects. It is also important to listen to opinions of other IAEA member states,” Amano said.

“I can’t tell when we’ll be ready to answer our friends [Russia],” he added.

Earlier the IAEA said in a report to member states that Syria had declared there was a “small amount of nuclear material” at the MNSR, a type of research reactor usually fuelled by highly enriched uranium.

The MNSR runs on 900 grams of highly enriched uranium – much less than the 25 kg that would be sufficient to build a bomb, according to experts.

However, despite this type of reactor not containing a lot of nuclear material, it would be enough to cause"a serious local radiation hazard".

More indications of a false flag ( from a rebel kidnap victim who overheard syrian rebels confess Assad did not commit chemical weapon attack in question.. )

http://www.infowars.com/kidnapped-teacher-rebels-said-assad-not-behind-chemical-weapons-attack/

Kidnapped Teacher: Rebels Said Assad Not Behind Chemical Weapons Attack

“It is a moral duty to say this”

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
September 9, 2013

A Belgian teacher who was kidnapped by rebels in Syria said he overheard the militants acknowledging that President Bashar Al-Assad was not responsible for last month’s chemical weapons attack.

Speaking French, Piccinin tells RTL that he overheard rebels acknowledging that Assad was not behind the chemical weapons attack.

Pierre Piccinin da Prata was kidnapped along with Italian war journalist Domenico Quirico back in April near Damascus. According to Quirico, the two were subjected to torture, humiliation and mock executions by the western-backed rebels. They were freed yesterday and flown to Rome after the Italian Foreign Ministry managed to secure their release.

According to Quirico, the rebels who held him and Piccinin as prisoners set about on a “terrifying odyssey across Syria.”

“We were moved around a lot…it was not always the same group that held us, there were very violent groups, very anti-West and some anti-Christian,” he told AFP, adding that when the two escaped they were tracked down by rebels within 48 hours and “seriously punished.”

Piccinin told Italy’s RTL radio that he heard a conversation during which members of the Abu Ammar rebel brigade admitted that Assad was not behind the attack in Ghouta that the Obama administration has cited in building a case for military intervention.

“It is a moral duty to say this. The government of Bashar al-Assad did not use Sarin gas or other types of gas in the outskirts of Damascus,” said Piccinin.

While the Obama administration has insisted that “common sense” and not “irrefutable evidence” is enough to prove that Assad was behind the attack, others have begged to differ.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the attack was a “provocation” carried out by rebels in order to create a pretext for US military intervention.

Phone calls intercepted by Germany’s BND intelligence also indicate that Assad was not behind last month’s attack nor any other alleged chemical weapons incident.

Last week, Russia announced that it had compiled a 100 page report proving opposition rebels “were behind a deadly sarin gas attack in an Aleppo suburb earlier this year,” the same attack that Carla Del Ponte, the leading member of the UN inquiry into the incident, blamed on rebels.

As we previously highlighted, Syrian rebels in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta admitted to a reporter that they were responsible for last month’s chemical weapons incident which western powers have blamed on Bashar Al-Assad’s forces, revealing that the casualties were the result of an accident caused by rebels mishandling chemical weapons provided to them by Saudi Arabia.

Despite the fact that the report was written by credible Associated Press and BBC correspondent Dale Gavlak, it has received virtually zero mainstream attention.

In addition, leaked phone conversations that emerged earlier this year between two members of the Free Syrian Army contain details of a plan to carry out a chemical weapons attack capable of impacting an area the size of one kilometer. Footage was also leaked showing opposition militants testing what appeared to be nerve agents on laboratory rabbits.

On Thursday we featured a video of an FSA militant apparently confessing to using chemical weapons in order to follow Osama Bin Laden’s mantra of killing women and children.

So , why are we having a procedural vote on Wednesday by the Senate on the War resolution , in light of today's events ?

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-strike-absolutely-hold-syria-abandons-chemical-weapons/story?id=20205109

If Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gives up his chemical weapons, a military strike would "absolutely" be on pause, President Obama said today.

"I consider this a modestly positive development," Obama told ABC News' Diane Sawyer in an interview at the White House when asked whether Syria's apparent willingness to relinquish control of its chemical weapons would prevent a U.S. strike.

"Let's see if we can come up with language that avoids a strike but accomplishes our key goals to make sure that these chemical weapons are not used," the president said.

Obama's comments come after the Russian foreign minister suggested today that Syria could avoid a U.S. attack by turning over its chemical weapons stockpiles over to international control and destroying them, a proposal the Syrian government "welcomed."

Obama said that Secretary of State John Kerry would pursue the proposal with Russia, an ally of Syria.

But at the same time, Obama said that a potential diplomatic resolution doesn't mean that Congress should withdraw the threat of military action.

"I don't think we would have gotten to this point unless we had maintained a credible possibility for a military strike and I don't think now is the time for us to let up on that," Obama said.

Assad is accused of using chemical weapons against his own people on a small scale "multiple times" since March and, according to the White House, an Aug. 21 attack on Damascus claimed 1,400 lives, 400 of them children.

Since then, Obama and his aides have worked feverishly for more than a week to build congressional support to strike Syria.

Today alone, more than 70 lawmakers of both parties came through the White House for briefings with the president's top advisers.

But while many lawmakers remain undecided, growing numbers are opposed to the use of force.

Obama suggested that Syria's willingness to pursue a diplomatic solution could give Congress more time to decide on whether to grant him the authority to strike.

"I don't anticipate that you would see a succession of votes this week or anytime in the immediate future," Obama said. "So I think there will be time during the course of the debates here in the United States for the international community, the Russians and the Syrians to work with us and say is there a way to resolve this."

And a new ABC News/Washington Post poll today found nearly two-thirds of Americans oppose military action in Syria.

Obama said he understood the "skepticism" of members of Congress and the American public, but he warned that U.S. national security interests are at stake if Syria is allowed to use "one of the world's worst weapons" without consequences.

"I would prefer not having to do it but I think it is important for us to understand that if in fact the choice is between a world in which dictators and other countries believe it is acceptable to use chemical weapons on civilians and children, that will make it more dangerous for us," Obama said.

John Kerry does it once again .... Kerry for Syria giving up their chemical weapons before he was against it ?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-09/kerry-tells-lavrov-chemical-disarmament-demand-was-rhetorical-not-meant-be-proposal

Kerry Tells Lavrov Chemical Disarmament Demand Was "Rhetorical", Not Meant To Be Proposal

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/09/2013 16:07 -0400

Obama Administration

In a day filled with one another surreal manifestation of the absolute idiocy and stupidity of the US state department, which has now become a proxy of the Saudi Arabian petroleum and Qatari gas lobby, it only made sense to end on the absolutely lowest note possible:

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY TOLD LAVROV HIS COMMENTS ABOUT SYRIA AVERTING U.S. STRIKE BY TURNING OVER CHEMICAL WEAPONS WERE RHETORICAL, U.S. OFFICIAL SAYS
KERRY TOLD RUSSIA'S LAVROV IN TELEPHONE CALL THAT HIS COMMENTS WERE NOT MEANT TO BE A PROPOSAL, U.S. OFFICIAL SAYS
KERRY TOLD LAVROV OF HIS SERIOUS SKEPTICISM WHEN LAVROV OFFERED TO EXPLORE THE IDEA, U.S. OFFICIAL SAYS
KERRY TOLD LAVROV THE UNITED STATES IS NOT GOING TO "PLAY GAMES" BUT IF THERE WAS A SERIOUS PROPOSAL U.S. WOULD TAKE A LOOK AT IT
KERRY TOLD LAVROV THE IDEA WILL NOT BE A REASON TO DELAY OBAMA ADMINISTRATION EFFORTS TO SECURE CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORIZATION TO USE FORCE AGAINST SYRIA

To paraphrase:

Kerry to Syria: Turn over your chemical weapons!
Syria to Kerry: Ok
Kerry to Syria: I was being rhetorical. We will just bomb you anyway, as soon as we are done gassing you.

We joke of course. John Kerry, and the US, would never engage in conduct as despicable as using chemical weapons on a foreign regime.Oh wait...

Naturally , the great rush to pass a War Resolution before the whole effort goes to hell in a hand basket continues , forget public opinion of course.....

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-09/less-10-house-support-obama-congressional-support-update

Less Than 10% Of The House Support Obama: Congressional Support Update

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/09/2013 15:41 -0400

Less than 10% of the House publicly supports President Obama's plan for a military strik on Syria. As Bloomberg notes in this updated visual description of the hill he faces, at least 202 House members currently oppose military action.

Source: Bloomberg

and....

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-09/senate-hold-procedural-vote-syria-wednesday

Senate To Hold Procedural Vote On Syria This Wednesday, Accompanied By Peak Hyperbolic Rhetoric

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/09/2013 14:19 -0400

headlines

New Normal

So much for the revised US plans, now revealed to have been about overthrowing Assad all along, to be derailed by the Syrian attempt to appease the aggressor.

REID SAYS SENATE WILL HOLD PROCEDURAL VOTE ON SYRIA WEDNESDAY

More importantly, DE Shaw's headline algo now appears to have been finally recalibrated to respond to "moar woar" flashing red headlines as bullish for confidence, represented as always in the New Normal, by the S&P as stocks just hit new intraday highs on the news.

And since the Senate decision has now become an absolute farce, the only recourse for "leaders" like Reid who have no factual evidence aside from produced YouTube clips, is appealing to the basest of emotions with phrasing that gets progressively more and more hyperbolic:

“This is the most gruesome and extensive” use of chemical weapons,Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., says in opening floor remarks.
Reid offers a motion to proceed to S.J.Res. 21, the use-of-force-in-Syria resolution that was introduced last week; first procedural vote set for Wednesday
“This brutality demands a response”
“This matter demands the attention of the Senate”

Luckily it also demands zero evidence aside from the most sincere of promises by the militants in the US government, that one should just trust them.

Finally, one wonders: just where will the Senate procedural vote take place: in Congress, or inBandar bin Sultan's office?

Hmm , maybe the US is not quite pleased by these developments after all ! And now we are back to regime change - not simply a unbelievably simple and limited B&D session for Assad ? And who unearthed Susan " Benghazi " Rice from the crypt anyway ?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-09/us-refuses-admit-checkmate-russia-and-syria-redirects-purpose-military-incursion

US Refuses To Admit Checkmate By Russia And Syria, Redirects Purpose Of Military Incursion: Admits Regime Change Intention

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/09/2013 13:15 -0400

Following up on this morning's shocking "appeasement" turn of events by Russia and Syria, the White House has promptly fired back in the only way it knows: digging in deeper:

"Failing to respond means more and more Syrians will die from Assad’s poisonous stockpiles." —@AmbassadorRice #Syria

1:07 PM - 9 Sep 2013

"We have seen what happens when the world fails to respond to horrific abuses on the scale we saw in Damascus." —@AmbassadorRice on #Syria

1:38 PM - 9 Sep 2013

Yes - in Rwanda, Somalia and all those tens of other conflicts the US never got involved in because Qatari/Saudi petrodollar/gas interests were not involved.

With the mainstream media proclaiming last night's Charlie Rose interview with Assad "propaganda", the following headlines from a speech by national security advisors Susan Rice will frighten even the most "Miley Cyrus"-numb American:

RICE SAYS OPENING DOOR TO CHEMICAL WEAPONS THREATENS U.S.
RICE SAYS CHEMICAL WEAPONS COULD BE USED EVEN WITHIN THE U.S.
RICE SAYS U.S. ALLIES BECOME `TEMPTING TARGETS' IF NO RESPONSE
RICE SAYS ASSAD ATTACK THREATENS GLOBAL SECURITY, U.S. INCLUDED

We can only imagine the 'score' underlying her words, which are getting scarier and louder with every verbal escalation...

RICE SAYS SYRIA UNLEASHED `HELLISH CHAOS' IN CHEMICAL ATTACK

and an ominous Carmina Burana 'drum beat', crescendoing with:

RICE SAYS NOT RESPONDING MAY EMBOLDEN N KOREA, IRAN, TERRORISTS

So, it would appear, that a Syrian strike is no longer about preventing Assad from using weapons, as was the story until now, but deterring others from doing what Assad may or may not have done.

At the end of the day, the US will refuse to accept checkmate by being humiliated by grandmaster Putin in the world arena: it seems the decision is already made:

RICE SAYS U.S. WOULD LIKE UN BACKING BUT IT WON'T HAPPEN

And finally, here is the admission after all. As expected, the whole point of this entire frace was to topple Assad and replace him with a pro-Syria, pro-Qatar, anti-Russia regime:

Rice: "Our overarching goal is to end the underlying conflict through a negotiated, political transition in which Assad leaves power" #Syria

1:27 PM - 9 Sep 2013

Shortly after Secretary of State Kerry gave his ultimatum - things started to get interesting! Quickly Russia and Syria called the Kerry Buff ! And the UN offers its thoughts on dealing with the paralysis at the UN cited by the US , by offering a plan to have Syria move its chemical stocks to a safe site where they can be stored and then destroyed ! So , the US should be pleased that it seems to be getting traction on getting the Syria government to destroy those chemical weapons that Syria has , right ! And without merciless missiles and bombing runs and many civilians deaths and injuries , without massive property damage to boot !

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-09/russia-launches-new-surprising-strategy-appeasement

Russia Launches New Surprising Strategy: Appeasement

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/09/2013 10:24 -0400

Google

Iran

Israel

Update: Just as suspected, Syria promptly complies with the Russian check: SYRIA WELCOMES RUSSIA'S PROPOSAL FOR DAMASCUS TO PUT ITS CHEMICAL WEAPONS UNDER INTERNATIONAL CONTROL- FOREIGN MINISTER WALID AL-MOUALEM.

Mate next?

* * *

In a time when Obama is pitching his entire campaign around one core, if strawman, theme - preventing future chemical weapon attacks by the Assad regime, Putin once again shows why when playing geopolitical chess, it is safe to bet on the pesky Russian. Moments ago, Russia suggested that Syria skip straight to step 2 of the US military campaign, and hand over its chemical weapons to "international control" which would immediately obviate the US campaign completely, whose entire premise for public consumption is just that - to put Syrian chemical weapons under adult supervision and third party control.

RUSSIA SAYS WILL URGE SYRIA TO PUT CHEMICAL WEAPONS UNDER INTERNATIONAL CONTROL IF THAT WILL AVERT MILITARY STRIKES
SYRIA SHOULD GIVE UP WEAPONS IF IT WILL AVOID STRIKE: RUSSIA
LAVROV SAYS SYRIA’S CHEMICAL WEAPONS COULD BE DESTROYED

Syria Welcomes, Would Comply With Russian Chemical Weapon Disarmament Initiative

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/09/2013 11:59 -0400

Reuters

And just like that, with the new "appeasement" initiative proposed earlier today by Putin and which Syria has just fully complied with, the US strategy of "containing" Syrian chemical weapons has been difused. From Reuters:

Syria welcomes a Russian proposal to place the nation's chemical weapons under international control, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on Monday after talks in Moscow, praising the Kremlin for seeking to "prevent American aggression".

Moualem, who spoke to reporters through an interpreter after Russia expressed hope the proposal could avert military strikes against Syria, stopped short of saying explicitly that President Bashar al-Assad's government accepted it.

"I state that the Syrian Arab Republic welcomes the Russian initiative, motivated by the Syrian leadership's concern for the lives of our citizens and the security of our country, and also motivated by our confidence in the wisdom of the Russian leadership, which is attempting to prevent American aggression against our people," he said.

That this is virtually a checkmate by the non-Western coalition is confirmed by Cameron's flailing statement to parliament:

"If Syria were to put its chemical weapons beyond use under international supervision clearly that would be a big step forward," Cameron told parliament. "We have to be careful though to make sure this is not a distraction tactic to discuss something else rather than the problem on the table."

What angle will Kerry, and certainly Obama in his national address, use now to justify further military preparation, is largely unknown. Expect even bigger and more spectacular false flags in the coming days, all of which will be caught contemporaneously on Evidence A, a/k/a YouTube.

and....

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/09/us-syria-crisis-un-idUSBRE9880R220130909

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks during a news conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York September 3, 2013. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS | Mon Sep 9, 2013 2:12pm EDT

(Reuters) - In a bid to help the U.N. Security Council overcome its "embarrassing paralysis" on Syria, the U.N. chief said on Monday he may ask the council to demand that Damascus move its chemical arms stocks to sites where they can be safely stored and destroyed.

Later this week or next week, the U.N. team of chemical weapons experts, led by Ake Sellstrom of Sweden, is expected to submit a report to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about its investigation of an August 21 chemical attack that the United States says killed over 1,400 people, many of them children.

U.S. President Barack Obama is seeking congressional authorization to launch military strikes against Syria because of the incident, which it blames on the Syrian government. Ban has warned that punishing Syria with military force and without a clear U.N. mandate could make the situation there even worse.

"I have already been considering certain proposals that I could make to the Security Council when I present the investigation team's report," Ban said, adding that the international community would be obligated to act if the use of poison gas in Syria's 2-1/2-year civil war was confirmed.

"I'm considering urging the Security Council to demand the immediate transfer of Syria's chemical weapons and chemical precursor stocks to places inside Syria where they can be safely stored and destroyed," he said.

He was responding to questions about a Russian plan to place Syrian chemical arms under international control. Moscow said it was urging Syria to hand over its poison gas stocks.

Ban said it was a realistic plan but would require cooperation from Syria. He added that if Syria consents, "the international community will (take) very swift action to make sure that these stocks, chemical weapons stocks, will be stored safely and will be destroyed."

"First and foremost, Syria must agree positively to this," he added.

Ban also urged Syria to join the international anti-chemical weapons convention, a treaty that Damascus has never signed.

If Sellstrom confirms the use of chemical weapons in Syria, "there would be a need for accountability, both to bring to justice those who used them ... and to deter anyone else from using these abhorrent methods of warfare," Ban said.

"There would be a need for greater security regarding any chemical weapons stocks," he added.

KERRY'S RHETORICAL REMARKS?

Ban said he welcomed both the Russian plan and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's remarks in Europe on Monday that if Syria handed over its chemical stocks it could avoid U.S. air strikes - remarks the State Department later said had been merely rhetorical comments.

The secretary-general, who just returned from the Group of 20 developed and developing nations' summit in Russia, said the Security Council has an obligation to end its deadlock on Syria.

"Two and half years of conflict in Syria have produced only embarrassing paralysis in the Security Council," he said.

"Should Dr Sellstrom's report confirm the use of chemical weapons, then this would surely be something around which the Security Council could unite in response, and indeed something that should merit universal condemnation," he said.

Sellstrom's report will only say whether chemical weapons were used, not who is believed to have used them.

Russia, backed by China, has used its veto power in the Security Council three times to block resolutions condemning Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and threatening it with sanctions. Assad's government, like Russia, blames the rebels for the August 21 attack.

The United Nations has received at least 14 reports of possible chemical weapons use in Syria. After months of diplomatic wrangling, the U.N. experts arrived in Syria on August 18 with a 14-day mandate to look for evidence.

Sellstrom's team was initially going to look into three incidents, but its priority became the August 21 attack. The inspectors have also been looking into Syrian allegations that the rebels used chemical weapons three times last month against the Syrian army - allegations that Washington has dismissed.

Ban has said Sellstrom's team would return to Syria to continue its investigation as soon as possible.

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/09/09/video-assad-promises-response-to-attack/

Video: Assad promises “everything” in response to attack

POSTED AT 8:01 AM ON SEPTEMBER 9, 2013 BY ED MORRISSEY

CBS News teased an exclusive interview with Bashar al-Assad conducted by Charlie Rose yesterday, in which the Syrian dictator promises to respond to any attack from the United States. Assad told Rose that an attack on his armed forces would tip the civil war in favor of al-Qaeda and its affiliates, and scoffed at John Kerry’s assertion that the US has evidence that the regime conducted the chemical-weapons attack:

Syria’s President Bashar Assad denied his regime’s use of chemical weapons in a wide-ranging interview with CBS News’ Charlie Rose. Assad issued a chilling warning for the U.S. to “expect everything” in response to a potential strike on Syria and repeatedly told Rose the Obama administration lacks irrefutable evidence to back up charges of chemical weapons use.

Assad says his own forces have been attacked by chemical weapons:

“Our soldiers in another area were attacked chemically, our soldiers. They went to the hospital, as casualties because of chemical weapons. But in the area where they said the government used chemical weapons, we only had video and we only have pictures and allegations. We’re not there. Our forces — our police, our institutions don’t exist. How can you talk about what happened if you don’t have evidences? We’re not like the American administration. We’re not social media administration or government. We are the government that deals with reality.”

The dictator also compared Kerry to Colin Powell:

“He presented his confidence and he presented his convictions,” Assad said of Kerry. “It’s not about confidence, it’s about evidence. The United– sorry, the Russians have completely opposite evidence that the missiles were thrown from area where the rebels controlled. That reminds me — about what Kerry said — about the big lie that Colin Powell said in front of the world on satellites about the W.M.D. in Iraq before going to war when he said, ‘This is our evidence.’ Actually, he gave false evidence. In this case, Kerry didn’t even present any evidence. He talks, ‘we have evidence,’ and he didn’t present anything, not yet. Nothing so far… not a single shred of evidence.”

The administration has been presenting its evidence on Capitol Hill, which means they have significantly more than a shred. However, it’s not exactly a convincing case from all accounts, even though the likeliest explanation for any use of chemical weapons is that it came from the regime, which is known to have stockpiles of it. Reuters reported last night that the White House presentations appear to be backfiring as a result:

White House efforts to convince the U.S. Congress to back military action against Syria are not only failing, they seem to be stiffening the opposition.

That was the assessment on Sunday, not of an opponent but of an early and ardent Republican supporter of Obama’s plan for attacking Syria, the influential Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, Mike Rogers.

Rogers told CBS’s “Face the Nation” the White House had made a “confusing mess” of the Syria issue. Now, he said, “I’m skeptical myself.”

No matter what, Assad will do nothing but deny, paint his enemies in the worst possible light, and hope to use American media to bolster anti-war sentiment. It’s important to keep that context in mind, but that doesn’t mean we have an interest in going to war either. Moammar Qaddafi was as bad if not worse than Assad, and he could have made the same claims — and in the end, he would have been proven correct, too. The collapse of the Syrian regime now would only create a failed state that would benefit al-Qaeda and its affiliates and allies most.

John Miller noted this with Rose:

"We're in the propaganda phase," @JohnMillerCBS says of Assad's comments to @CharlieRose about retaliation in the case of a Syria strike.

7:16 AM - 9 Sep 2013

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/09/links-9913.html

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/broadening-the-syria-options-beyond-bombing-or-nothing/279447/

( As it becomes clear President Assad did not order any use of chemical weapons , can the US establish what the command and control structure regarding use of chemical weapons was - and who actually gave the alleged order by the Syria government / military regarding the August 21 , 2013 incident ? )

From a reader with a lot of experience in politics and negotiation, followingthis post earlier today:

It's odd that the choice seems to be framed as airstrikes vs. do nothing.
As I understand it, the management lesson from the Cuba Missile Crisis that is taught in the Kennedy School as well as our nation's business schools is that if someone hands you a hard constraint (as in, "We have only X hours within which to intercept the missile-carrying Soviet ships") your job is to try to turn it into a soft constraint ("Can't we buy ourselves more time by intercepting those ships closer to Cuba?") in order to create more options and more room to maneuver. Airstrikes vs. do nothing is the sort of choice that one would think would be susceptible to this approach, while not ignoring that Assad "crossed a red line."
I'm surprised that what stands as the received wisdom of the Cuba Missile Crisis doesn't even get mentioned in what I've managed to read about the choice(s) we face regarding Syria.

From another political veteran (both these writers are Democrats):

There are two unanswered questions:

1. What was the command and control of the Syrian government in the incident?

2. What has been the US diplomacy toward the Russia in seeking a pledge from Assad not to use chemical weapons?

So far the Obama administration has not answered the first and given no indication it's engaged in the second. Obama's handling, of course, has been singularly inept to be generous, down to failing to articulate or not even knowing its own objective. The rhetoric from Kerry (Munich, Holocaust, the St. Louis) has been profoundly offensive. Samantha Power's moralizing only persuades that the administration doesn't have a clear understanding or know its goal.

What will happen?

The administration case is so weak (see questions above) that Pelosi will be reduced to whip members on the desperate appeal that they must vote "yes" to save Obama's presidency. This is a self-created crisis of Obama's presidency that he has turned into a general foreign policy crisis, not the other way around.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/504691/20130909/kerry-gives-ultimatum-assad-syria-chemical-weapons.htm

( Kerry says attacks will be a really small and limited effort .... )

US secretary of State John Kerry (Reuters)

US secretary of state John Kerry has given an ultimatum to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to avoid a military strike by turning over his entire chemical weapons arsenal to the international community within the next week.

At a joint press conference with UK foreign secretary William Hague, Kerry said that America was not going to war but would launch an "unbelievably small and limited effort" to punish the Assad regime for the 21 August chemical weapons attack in Ghouta and to deter it from doing it again.

"If you want to send Assad a congratulatory message, you would support non-intervention," he said although he was sympathetic to fears of the American public who do not want to see troops coming home in body bags.

"But that's not what we are talking about," he stressed. "Military effort will be targeted and short-term."

Kerry added that the only thing Assad's government could do to stop an attack was to turn over all his chemical weapons to the international community within the next week.

"But he is not about to do it and it cannot be done," Kerry added.

He said that the evidence gathered about the chemical attack blaming the Assad regime was "real evidence I could take into a courtroom".

"I've personally tried people who have gone away for long prison sentences or for life for less evidence than we have for this," he said.

"[Assad offers only] words that are contradicted by facts."

Kerry also quoted the late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in stressing that the UK and America were "real and true friends".

The special relationship between the two countries was as relevant today as it has been in the past, he said.

and more Administration doublespeak - small ad limited or not really small or limited action........

Officials: US Plans to Escalate Syria Attacks

Strikes to Be Much Less 'Limited' than Advertised

by Jason Ditz, September 08, 2013

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Initially slated to be a very “limited” number of strikes, with some officials familiar with talks saying the original plan was about 50 missile volleys, the planned US attack on Syria seems to be growing precipitously.

Apparently fueled by the administration’s annoyance at having to wait for their way, they have ordered the Pentagon to dramatically expand their target lists, with a consideration for using warplanes as well as missile strikes.

Officially, the administration is arguing that the delay has given Syrian forces time to disperse. That makes little sense, however, since officials were arguing from the start that they weren’t trying to change the on-the-ground situation, but rather to send a “message.”

That seems to be what’s changing, as officials are now openly talking about “degrading” the Syrian military’s capabilities and significantly escalating the aid to rebel factions to change the situation on the ground.

http://rt.com/usa/white-house-syria-evidence-586/

( common sense , but no evidence ... )

The White House says it has no “irrefutable” evidence that Syrian President Bashar Assad was behind the August gas attack in a Damascus suburb, but that a “strong common-sense test irrespective of the intelligence” suggests the government is responsible.

"We've seen the video proof of the outcome of those attacks,” White House Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough told CNN, speaking of multiple clips which show victims of the suspected sarin attack in a Damascus suburb on August 21.

“All of that leads to a quite strong common-sense test irrespective of the intelligence that suggests that the regime carried this out. Now do we have a picture or do we have irrefutable beyond-a-reasonable-doubt evidence? This is not a court of law and intelligence does not work that way,” he said.

McDonough made appearances on leading US talk shows in an effort to garner support for proposed military action against Syria ahead of next week’s congressional vote. However, most lawmakers seem to be opposed to a US-led strike.

In an interview with NBC, the chief of staff stressed that“nobody is rebutting the intelligence; nobody doubts the intelligence.”

The US says it has intercepted conversations involving Syrian officials during which they take responsibility for the attack. However, Washington has not made those conversations public.

The Obama administration has also referred to its satellite and signals intelligence, as well as military communications, as proof that the regime was preparing to use poisonous gas just days before the alleged attack took place.

Yet the administration has refused to let the public see the evidence allegedly connecting Assad to the crime - even though ample amounts of satellite imagery was released earlier by the US in order to demonstrate the consequences of the attacks.

Experts question US evidence

With the evidence at hand, experts are struggling to agree on what really happened and are reluctant to place blame.

It is hard to explain why Assad would use chemical weapons on his own people at a time when his troops were doing so well on the ground - especially since UN observers were nearby at the time of the attack – former British military officer Charles Heyman told AP.

"We can't get our heads around this - why would any commander agree to rocketing a suburb of Damascus with chemical weapons for only a very short-term tactical gain for what is a long-term disaster," he said. Heyman edits ‘The Armed Forces of the UK,’ an authoritative bi-annual review of British forces.

Death toll numbers released by the US were also questioned. The Obama administration said that 1,429 people have died in 12 locations mostly east of Damascus. And although that number closely corresponds with figures from the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition, only 395 names of victims were released by the organization upon request.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that it counted victims by name and the current total is at 502. The organization questioned the US numbers and asked the administration for information regarding details of the higher death toll figure.

At the same time, Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported that German intelligence has evidence that Bashar Assad may not be personally behind the chemical attack. He even blocked requests from his military commanders to use chemical weapons, the German media outlet reported, citing unidentified, high-level national security sources.

The report is based on findings from phone calls intercepted by German surveillance deployed off the Syrian coast and run by the country’s BND intelligence service.

The Syrian president himself unexpectedly emerged to state his case to a US audience during an interview to CBS, which is scheduled to be aired on Monday.

“There has been no evidence that I used chemical weapons against my own people,” he was reported as saying.

The US has dismissed Assad’s comments.

"It doesn't surprise us that someone who would kill thousands of his own people, including hundreds of children with poison gas, would also lie about it," deputy spokesperson at the National Security Council, Bernadette Meehan, told NBC News.

US Secretary of State John Kerry also dismissed Assad’s statements, saying on Sunday that "the evidence speaks for itself.” The comment was made during a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas regarding the July 29 resumption of Israel-Palestine peace talks, Reuters reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Assad’s most powerful ally, used the G20 summit in St. Petersburg to accuse the rebels of staging the attack.

Putin stressed that setting precedents of military action outside a UN Security Council resolution would mean that the world’s smaller countries can no longer feel safe against the interests of more powerful ones.

At the end of the summit, only 12 of the G20 countries supported Washington’s position on a military intervention.

and....

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-09/complete-syrian-event-update

Complete Syrian Event Update

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/09/2013 06:36 -0400

All the latest updates and developments in the lethal Syrian foreplay farce.

Congress starts deliberations today on whether to allow U.S. President Obama to strike Syria.
Obama to meet tomorrow with Senate Democrats, according to a Senate aide who requested anonymity; Senate expected to vote on resolution by end of week
Senate’s top Republican, Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, hasn’t said whether he will back military strike
“I think it’s an uphill slog from here,” Representative Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican who supports military action, said on CBS. “It’s very clear he’s lost support in the last week.”
“It’s too early to come to any conclusion,” Obama’s chief of staff Denis McDonough said yesterday on Fox News
House of Representatives takes proposal week of Sept. 16
Syrian President al-Assad is disputing U.S. allegations he used chemical weapons against civilians, and said Obama administration hasn’t proved he did, according to CBS News correspondent Charlie Rose
U.S. Secretary of State Kerry says Saudi Arabia supports taking action; other nations to voice support
Syria may have used gas without Assad’s permission: Bild
New Syria vote in U.K. possible if dramatic change: Hague
Obama to give interviews with major TV networks today
France slows march to confrontation by backing EU appeal to put off armed response until UN delivers report
Le Figaro poll shows 2/3 French oppose military action: NYT

Consider the conduct of interested parties who want regime change in Syria at all costs.....

Saudis.....

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Saudi_Arabia_sent_1239_death_row_inmates_to_fight_with_Al_Qaeda_in_Syria_with_a_full_pardon_and_monthly_salary/28707/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Saudi Arabia sent 1239 death row inmates to fight with Al Qaeda in Syria with a full pardon and monthly salary

September 8, 2013

Print Version

Source: USA Today

Saudi Arabia has sent death-row inmates from several nations to fight against the Syrian government in exchange for commuting their sentences, the Assyrian International News Agency reports.
Citing what it calls a "top secret memo" in April from the Ministry of Interior, AINA says the Saudi offered 1,239 inmates a pardon and a monthly stipend for their families, which were were allowed to stay in the Sunni Arab kingdom. Syrian President Bashar Assad is an Alawite, a minority Shiite sect.
According to an English translation of the memo, besides Saudis, the prisoners included Afghans, Egyptians, Iraqis, Jordanians, Kuwaitis, Pakistanis, Palestinians, Somalis, Sudanese, Syrians and Yemenis. All faced "execution by sword" for murder, rape or drug smuggling.
Russia, which has backed Assad, objected to the bargain and allegedly threatened to bring the issue to the United Nations, said an unidentified former Iraqi member of Parliament who confirmed the memo's authenticity, says AINA, an independent outlet.
"Initially Saudi Arabia denied the existence of this program. But the testimony of the released prisoners forced the Saudi government to admit, in private circles, its existence," AINA writes. "The Saudis agreed to stop their clandestine activities and work towards finding a political solution on condition that knowledge of this program would not be made public."

Read More...

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-03-090913.html

( another Axis of Evil - Saudis , Military - Industrial Complex in US , Israel Lobby... )

The (farcical) emperor is naked
By Pepe Escobar

There is nothing tragic about the Obama presidency, capable of drawing the analytical talents of a neo-Plutarch or a neo-Gibbon. This is more like a Pirandello farce, a sort of Character in Search of An Author.

Candidates to Author are well documented - from the Israel lobby to the House of Saud, from a select elite of the industrial-military-security complex to, most of all, the rarified banking/financial elite, the real Masters of the Universe. Poor Barack is just a cipher, afunctionary of empire, whose ''deciding'' repertoire barely extends to what trademark smile to flash at the requisite photo-ops.

There's nothing ''tragic'' about the fact that during this week - marking the 12th anniversary of 9/11 - this presidency will be fighting for its bombing ''credibility'' trying to seduce Republican hawks in the US Congress while most of the warmongers du jourhappen to be Democrats.

Republicans are torn between supporting the president they love to hate and delivering him a stinging rebuke - as much as they are aching to follow the orders of their masters, ranging from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to military contractors. Once again, this is farce - caused by the fact that a man elected to finish off wars is eager to start yet another one. And once again without a United Nations vote.

The White House ''strategy'' in this crucial negotiating week boils down to this; to convince the US Congress that the United States must start a war on Syria to punish an ''evil dictator'' - once again, as bad as Hitler - for gassing children. The evidence? It's ''indisputable''.

Well, it's not ''irrefutable''. It's not even ''beyond-a-reasonable-doubt''. As Obama's Chief of Staff Denis McDonough admitted, with a straight face, it boils down to ''a quite strong common sense test, irrespective of the intelligence, that suggests that the regime carried this out''.

So if this is really about ''common sense'', the president is obviously not being shown by his close coterie of sycophants this compendium of common sense, compiled by a group of top, extremely credible former US intelligence officials, which debunks all the ''evidence'' as flawed beyond belief. To evoke a farce from 12 years ago, this clearly seems to be a case of ''facts being fixed around the policy''.

And to compound the farce, this is not even as much about Syria per se as about ''sending a message to Iran'', code for ''if you keep messing with us, you're going to be bombed.''

Follow the plutocrats
Then there's the ''credibility'' farce. The Obama administration has convoluted the whole world in its own self-spun net, insisting that the responsibility for the ''red line'' recklessly drawn by the president is in fact global. Yet the pesky ''world'' is not buying it.

The Arab street doesn't buy it because they clearly see through the hypocrisy; the desperate rush to ''punish'' the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria while justifying everything the apartheid state of Israel perpetrates in occupied Palestine.

The Muslim world doesn't buy it because it clearly sees the demonization only applies to Muslims - from Arafat to bin Laden to Saddam to Gaddafi and now Assad. It would never apply to the military junta in Myanmar, which was clever enough to engineer an ''opening''; the next day Westerners were lining up to kiss the hem of Burmese longyis.

It would never apply to the Islam Karimov dictatorship in Uzbekistan because ''we'' always need to seduce him as one of our bastards away from Russia and China.

It eventually applies, on and off, to the Kim dynasty in North Korea, but with no consequences - because these are badass Asians who can actually respond to an US attack.

Informed public opinion across the developing world does not buy it because they clearly see, examining the historical record, that Washington would never really be bothered with the sorry spectacle of Arabs killing Arabs, or Muslims killing Muslims, non-stop. The 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war is a prime piece of evidence.

At the Group of 20 summit last week, the BRICS group of emerging powers - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - as well as Indonesia and Argentina, clearly stressed that a war on Syria without UN Security Council approval would qualify Obama as a war criminal.

Even among the European poodles ''support'' for the White House is extremely qualified. Germany's Angela Merkel and even France's attack dog Francois Hollande said the primacy is with the UN. The European Union as a whole wants a political solution. It's enlightening to remember that the EU in Brussels can issue arrest warrants for heads of EU governments guilty of war crimes. Someone in Paris must have warned attack dog Hollande that he would not welcome the prospect of slammer time.

''Evil'' as a political category is something worthy of the brain dead. The key question now revolves around the axis of warmongers - Washington, Israel and the House of Saud. Will the Israel lobby, the more discreet but no less powerful Saudi lobby, and the Return of the Living Dead neo-cons convince the US Congress to fight their war?

And then there's the curioser and curioser case of al-Qaeda - essentially the Arabic denomination for a CIA database of US-Pakistani-Saudi trained mujahideen during the 1980s: the oh so convenient transnational bogeyman that ''legitimized'' the Global War On Terror (GWOT) of the George W Bush years; the ''opening'' for al-Qaeda to move to Iraq; and now, no middle men; the CIA and the Obama administration fighting side-by-side with al-Qaeda in Syria. No wonder the denomination ''al-CIAeda'' has gone viral.

With farce after farce after farce piling up in their own Tower of Babel, the much-vaunted ''US credibility'' is in itself the biggest farce of all. Politically, no one knows how the vacuum will be filled. It won't be via the UN. It won't be via the BRICS. It won't be via the G-20 - which is seriously divided; at least new multipolar players are carrying way more weight than US poodles.

Much would be made to restore ''US credibility'' if the Obama administration had the balls to force both the House of Saud and Qatar (''300 people and a TV station'', in the epic definition of Saudi Arabia's Prince Bandar Sultan - aka Bandar Bush) to end once and for all their weaponizing of hardcore ''rebels'' and ultimately hardcore jihadis, and accept Iran in the negotiating table for a real Geneva II peace process in Syria. It won't happen because this bypasses farce.

Once again; helpless Barack is just a paperboy. The plutocrats in charge are getting extremely nervous. The system is melting - and they need to act fast.

They need a Syria as docile as the Arab petro-monarchies. They want to hit Russia bad - and then discuss missile defense and Russian influence in Eastern Europe from a position of force. They want to hit Iran bad - and then continue to issue ultimatums from a position of force. They want to facilitate yet another Israeli attempt to capture southern Lebanon (it's the water, stupid). They want a monster gas pipeline from Qatar for European customers bypassing Iran and Syria as well as Gazprom. Most of all, this is all about control of natural resources and channels of distribution.

These are real motives - and they have nothing to do with farce. Farce is only deployed to kill any possibility of real diplomacy and real political discussion. Farce is a theatrical mask - as in ''humanitarian'' imperialism - the ''acceptable'' version of the Dick Cheney-run years.

It's as if Dick Cheney had never left the building; paperboy Barack is Dick Cheney with a ''human'' face. The only good outcome in this multi-sorrowful tale is that the real ''international community'', all around the world, has seen the naked Emperor in all its (farcical) glory.

Turkey......

More massacres to come if al-Assad gains time: Turkish FM

ANKARA

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Turkey's Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, speaks about the Ministerial meeting of Syria bordering countries, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013. AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlureiterated once again Turkey's uncompromising stance against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the use of chemical weapons in Syria, in an interview with the private broadcaster Habertürk.

Davutoğlu stressed once again that the government had "no doubt" that a chemical attack was carried out by the regime, after long evaluations with experts on the matter.

"Such an attack can only be performed with missiles by experienced experts, that kind who are only held by the Syrian regime," he stated regarding the chemical attacks in Homs and Damascus.

The foreign minister added that if the al-Assad regime gained time with a months-long inventory taking of weapons, this would amount to a "green light" for more massacres, Anadolu Agency has reported.

The attack was conducted to punish the civilian people and stop them supporting the opposition, Davutoğlu said.

Asked about possible threats that Turkey might face in the event of an attack against Syria, Davutoğlu said the presence of a regime that could use chemical weapons did constitute a threat, but refrained from giving a timetable for an operation.

Turkey manages crisis well

"Despite harsh criticisms during the installation of Patriot missiles in Turkey, we have taken all necessary measures to protect our people," Davutoğlu said, adding that the refugee situation in the country was also being handled well.

"Turkey has managed the refugee crisis quite well, in a way that other countries admire," he said.

The official number of Syrian refugees in Turkey recently surpassed 200,000, but the total number is estimated to be in excess of 400,000.

Mediation efforts

Davutoğlu also said the Turkish government had made efforts to mediate between the al-Assad regime and the opposition for about 10 months, while rejecting that the government had become excessively involved with the opposition.

"We have never provided any kind of support to the al-Nusra front in Syria," he said, while reiterating the government's support for the "moderate" and civil opposition, the Syria National Coalition (SNC).

September/10/2013

2 comments:

Kev9/09/2013
Wow Russia has made us look like the idiots we are. I love it, I'm hoping Russia has some plans for some payback on the Saudis and Turks.

Let's hope our idiots back off some though being idiots they probably feel some doubling down is in order.
Unknown9/09/2013
Putin has taught a Masters class so far - some day down the road , classes will be taught on how skillfully and diplomatically capable the Russians have handled Syria situation , made jackasses out the US clowns in charge , faced down the Saudis , got other BRIC nations on board at the G-20 ! Masterful , in control of the situation , in charge of his emotions , able to present the facts without hyperbole - just really solid and effective !

Catharsis Ours

Monday, September 9, 2013