SYRIA: Nerve Gas Attack

So, the Nobel Peace Prize winner intends to ignore the UN? I see. And what possible threat is Assad to 'national security', seeing as how he is fighting the very people who flew airliners into skyscrapers and the Pentagon?

FFS, what is wrong with him?

Bonny, I don't know what to say. Congress will not be back until the 9th of September so at least there are a few more days for some calm thought?

Would appreciate our Tony's take on this.  

Tony's probably staring in horror at his TV, Lily...do you know, that's the first time I've ever found myself yelling at a US president? I usually just yell at Brit politicians.     

I hope someone in Congress insists he answers questions about Benghazi.

I am beyond disgusted about Benghazi.    

Am at the point where I can't even watch him so just read the articles instead.

That was some display, Lily. First Cameron looking and sounding like a madman before the vote, Kerry looking as if he didn't believe a word he was saying yesterday, now this....

I wonder, did something happen behind the scenes? Was it pointed out to him that no, he actually couldn't launch a war off his own bat unless he wanted to be impeached? Did the military tell him just what a stupid, doomed to disaster this idea was? Has he heard something to make him change his mind about who did it, so is now buying time and looking for a way to wriggle round his red line?

I don't know...I've never seen a president look so totally out of his depth since Jimmy Carter.

He has to go to St Petersburg in a few days' time. I hope Putin takes him aside, points out that the 'rebels' are not nice people, that they have chemical weapons and are being backed by Al Quaeda, and slaps him round the head with PROPER KBG-type information.

Not 'intelligence' gathered from flaming twitter and the Official Rebel Facebook.

I've just read this in the comments on Fox - where Obama is getting torn a new one.

"Al-Qaeda stands to gain most from a chemical attack blamed on the Syrian government. That's because it will almost surely provoke some sort of Western intervention in the civil war that may tip the balance in favor of al-Qaeda and their opposition allies."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/31/president-obama-says-us-must-act-on-syria/#ixzz2daUcWdnr

Why Obama cannot see that, I don't know.

I don't know why, Bonny. I did see in that article that it could take a month to get approval from Congress.

I like this waiting around personally. Maybe he will see that the American people don't want this which the majority do not.

Oh and it comes to something when  

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/asia-pacific/kim-jonguns-approval-rating-higher-than-barack-obamas-29541720.html

Obama might like to ponder the fact that Assad has the support of some 70% of his population, who may not greatly like him, but like having their heads cut off with breadknives for being in the wrong religion/sect even less.

Anyway, the world's safe for a while again, apparently he's gone off to play golf...

According to Fox (yes, I know) he came up with this Cunning Plan yesterday, after Kerry's ridiculous speech. Obama went for a walk and well, changed his mind....

Presidents being guided by twitter and the Voices are not very good for the world. But at least the citizens of Damascus can sleep tonight knowing they aren't going to get blown to bits by Obama 'saving' them.

I really hope Putin has a stern word with him.

I really hope Putin has a stern word with him. Yes, please.

Stern word from Putin, from:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23911833

Speaking to journalists in the Russian far-eastern city of Vladivostok, Mr Putin urged Mr Obama - as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate - to think about future victims in Syria before using force.

He said it was ridiculous to suggest the Syrian government was to blame for the attack, calling it a "provocation by those who want to drag other countries into the Syrian conflict".

"Syrian government troops are on the offensive and have surrounded the opposition in several regions," he said.

"In these conditions, to give a trump card to those who are calling for a military intervention is utter nonsense."


He said that the US failure to present evidence to the international community was "simply disrespectful".

"If there is evidence it should be shown. If it is not shown, then there isn't any," he said.

It always used to be Russia that wanted to start mad wars and the US that didn't - what happened? Or are Obama and co totally out of their depths with the intricacies of what goes on in the Middle East?

Lily, does Obama actually grasp that it is a CIVIL WAR? That other countries aren't being invaded or attacked? And hopefully won't be, providing Omaba doesn't feel macho again?

Yes, I do believe that the Obama administration is out of it's depth for the most part. I hope and pray he has wise military people on board.

Although I cannot answer the question about civil war to be honest, it would appear that it is not being properly addressed? As far as I can tell.......

The people here want this matter presented with proof and with the consent of Congress.

Then it is down to one man. How scary is that?

It's terrifying, Lily. Whatever was he thinking? Oh, Al Quaeda don't have their own airforce, I'll let them use ours by proxy?

Madness, the whole episode has been crazy. The heat seems to be going out of it for now, but if these lunatics had had their way, bombs would have been falling on Damascus tonight.

    That is so true. What a thought.  

Maybe they can take the time to really appraise the situation from all angles. May God help them to reach the right one.

They really, really need to stop and think, Lily. It's terrifying that Ed Milliband and an ex-KGB officer are about all that stopped the Middle East going up in flames this weekend.

Obama seems to have given NO thought to the consequences of lobbing bombs at Damascus. How does he imagine that dropping bombs on people who are already trying to live through a very nasty civil war helps in any way at all?

Bonny, shudder to think how it helps anything. It is too shocking for words?

Is this what Cameron and co have been in such a panic about?

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/britain-sold-nerve-gas-chemicals-2242520

BRITAIN allowed firms to sell chemicals to Syria capable of being used to make nerve gas, the Sunday Mail can reveal today.

Export licences for potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride were granted months after the bloody civil war in the Middle East began.

The chemical is capable of being used to make weapons such as sarin, thought to be the nerve gas used in the attack on a rebel-held Damascus suburb which killed nearly 1500 people, including 426 children, 10 days ago.

President Bashar Assad’s forces have been blamed for the attack, leading to calls for an armed response from the West.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/31/intelligence-in-syria-suggests-us-saw-attack-coming-didnt-act/?intcmp=trending

Actually, I don't think the US did see it coming. I think Kerry made that up to make his 'intelligence' from twitter sound less ridiculous, forgetting that that meant the US did nothing to warn even the UN inspectors, let alone civilians.

Nearly a week on, and the US still hasn't produced a scrap of evidence that it was Assad, and not the Jihadists, who did it. Hopefully Putin will point out to Obama and Kerry that what it says on the Official Jihad Rebel Facebook page isn't actually 'evidence'.

I do not believe them.

I don't either, Lily - along with, it would seem, 80%+ of the UK and US population.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23918889#TWEET874965

Mr Kerry implied that the US evidence was supplied by its own sources, rather than via the UN inspectors.

Oh FFS! Does even he believe this bullsh#t?

In a word, NO, Bonny.