SYRIA: Nerve Gas Attack

Hopefully they will not react in a bellicose way over this.  

They will probably try, Lily, but I don't think the UN are going to say definitely who did it at this point? We're probably in for more fortune-telling words about how the evidence suggests, etc.

That was what got us into trouble just a few days ago, Bonny. But I do agree that the UN will probably not be able to do that.

It's worth remembering that none of the men being butchered by the recipients of US arms is in uniform, so may not actually be Assad soldiers. They could just as well be Christians, Jews, or Muslims from the 'wrong' sect - we only have the butchers' word for it.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have reached an agreement on a framework for securing Syria's chemical weapons on the third day of intense negotiations in Geneva.
They say some elements of the deal include a timetable and how Syria must comply -- and that if Syria fails, they will seek a Security Council resolution that could authorize military action.
At a news conference Saturday, Kerry said the pair and their teams of experts had reached "a shared assessment" of the existing stockpile and that Syria must destroy all of its weapons.
Kerry said, "we have committed to a standard that says, verify and verify." The negotiations between the United States and Russia on securing Syria's chemical weapons also are considered key to a resumption of peace talks to end the 2 1/2-year Syrian civil war.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/14/us-russia-syria-weapons-talks-reach-critical-stage/#ixzz2ernpgB3Y

This is not hypocritical is it?  

Yes, the hypocrisy is stunning, isn't it? Good job no-one ever uses white phosphorous or Agent Orange in wars, isn't it?

And with all this new determination to get rid of chemical weapons, I take it the US and UK will be getting rid of theirs? And Israel will finally be ratifying the appropriate treaty? Or is that different?

http://news.sky.com/story/1141648/syria-has-one-week-to-detail-chemical-weapons

I'd like to congratulate Obama, first president to ever lose a war without a shot being fired. Let's hope the CIA is going to stop arming the Jihadists now, a few more Syrians might keep their heads on their shoulders.

On the plus side, the presence of outsiders (apart from the CIA) in Syria may have the added bonus of scaling down the violence all round. I hope we find out with the passage of time why Obama, Cameron and co were so determined to start a war instead of seeking a peaceful solution - there's a special place in Hell reserved for them.

I too would love to have the answer to the question of why the rush to war?  

Incidentally, Monsanto, the mega monopoly global corporation, sells the seeds which produce most of the crops in the US. The ones that kill over time. So, presumably the Pres will do something to stop it too? Surely that deserves a huge red line?

http://rt.com/usa/monsanto-glyphosate-roundup-epa-483/

They've been fighting hard to get their GM crops into the UK, Lily, but have been pretty much held at bay so far - their 'test crops' occasionally get destroyed by activists. They will find it harder going here, where there is such a tradition of allotments, etc., because no-one wants their healthy crops infected by theirs. Also, our fields are smaller, for obvious reasons.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/?country=US

WE HAVE A DEAL!



Amazing how much better at these things ex-KGB officers are than community organisers, isn't it?

I wonder why, Bonny?  

ETA: At least you guys have sense to keep the Monsanto killers out.

Let's hope the US will be as keen to do something about this....

From:

http://rt.com/news/turkey-syria-chemical-weapons-850/

Quotes-

Turkish prosecutors indict Syrian rebels for seeking chemical weapons
Published time: September 14, 2013 04:01

A court indictment by the Turkish prosecutors into the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian rebels has once again highlighted fears this week that sarin toxic gas was used by the opposition and not the Assad government.

The prosecutor in the Turkish city of Adana has issued a 132-page indictment, alleging that six men of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front and Ahrar ash-Sham tried to seek out chemicals with the intent to produce the nerve agent, sarin gas, a number of Turkish publications reported.

The main suspect in the case, 35-year-old Syrian-national Hytham Qassap has been charged with “being a member of a terrorist organization” and “attempting to acquire weapons for a terrorist organization.” The other 5, all Turkish nationals are being charged with “attempting to acquire weapons for a terrorist organization.”

The indictment alleges that Qassap tried to setup a network in Turkey in order to obtain chemical materials for the al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham Brigades. Citing telephone calls made by the cell, the prosecution believes that the group ordered at least ten tons of chemicals, Al-Alam News Network reports.

The prosecution also dismissed claims that the suspects were unaware of their wrong doing. “The claim that the suspects didn’t know about the possibility of producing sarin nerve gas from the chemicals they tried to buy is not true which was established when they were testifying,” the document reads.

Meanwhile all six suspects have pleaded not guilty. “The suspects have pleaded not guilty saying that they had not been aware the materials they had tried to obtain could have been used to make sarin gas. Suspects have been consistently providing conflicting and incoherent facts on this matter,” the indictment said.

If convicted, Qassab faces a 25 year prison sentence, while his accomplices face 15 years prison terms.

The six men were a part of a group of 11 people arrested in their safe house in Adana on May 23, 2013. Their apprehension came about after surveillance by Turkish police who’d received a tip that Syrian jihadists were trying to acquire two government-regulated military-grade chemical substances. Five of the detained were released from custody after questioning, background checks and after lab tests proved that chemicals seized during the arrest were not sarin gas.

The international community has long been ignoring worrying reports that the rebel fighters in Syria might be capable of carrying out a chemical attack. Russian President, Vladimir Putin also reiterated this week that while no one doubts that poison gas was indeed used in Syria, there is “every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons.”

Evidence that chemical weapons were used by the opposition was also highlighted by the two European hostages that were freed from Syrian rebel captivity last Sunday. In a phone conversation overheard by hostage Pierre Piccinin da Prata, he said it was clear the rebels used gas on civilians in an August 21 attack near Damascus.

“I don’t think that Bashar Al-Assad and the Syrian government are to blame for the chemical attack in Al-Ghouta,” Piccinin told RT. “It would have been absurd for the Syrian government to use chemical weapons.”

Let's hope the presence of the UN, etc., brings down the violence on ALL sides. And that the CIA stops supplying the 'nice rebels' with arms.

Why do I doubt that?  

Thing is, Lily, both sides are horrible, as always happens with civil wars - what does anyone imagine would happen if, say, Texas, decided it was going to secede from the Union, as it had had enough of nonsense from Washington?

A look back at Waco gives a clue....

So why the Hell were Obama and Cameron so keen to start a war before the UN report was even written? In what alternate universe does bombing people trapped in a civil war help them?

IMO, there is a huge, huge scandal at the back of all this, with some very dirty work being hidden. Probably involving Saudis who don't want that pipeline through Syria.....

Bonny, how true. Of course there is something big and dirty behind it. The rush to war... sorry a small strike...... was crazy.

Hearing about the Saudis wanting to pay for the action makes a person wonder even more. Strange that.......

After strike deal on Syria, Kerry says him calling it impossible was 'diplomacy'

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/14/after-strike-deal-on-syria-kerry-says-him-calling-it-impossible-was-diplomacy/#ixzz2euqy5Hlu

Yes, of course it was.  

Diplomacy my rear end.

As the warmongers haven't shown a scrap of diplomacy from the start of this incident, he's fooling no-one but himself.

They are pretty full of themselves anyway, Bonny.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/09/obama-defends-shifting-syria-policy-im-less-concerned-about-style-points/

“I don’t think that Mr. Putin has the same values that we do,” Obama said in response to Putin’s controversial op-ed.

Thank f*kc for that.

Amazing, isn't it?

Meanwhile, Rome burns.

Even worse, I suspect that Putin has pretty much the same values as most of sensible, mainstream America.

It would seem so, Bonny, but whoever knew?  

It still doesn't seem certain who actually carried out that particular gas attack:

http://news.sky.com/story/1143236/syria-gas-attack-evidence-implicates-rebels

Syria has handed Russia new materials which it claims implicate rebels in a chemical attack in Damascus, says a Russian minister.

"The corresponding materials were handed to the Russian side," said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

"We were told that they were evidence that the rebels are implicated in the chemical attack."

Speaking to Russia's state news agency RIA, Mr Ryabkov said Russia would be looking at the materials with "utmost seriousness".

The comments came as UN weapons inspectors confirmed they would "soon" return to Syria to investigate various accusations against the regime and the rebels, according to chief inspector Aake Sellstroem.

I suspect we may never know for sure due to both side being horrible.

This is a shocker:


Pro-opposition Syria analyst O'Bagy admits she was never enrolled in Ph.D. program


Embattled Syria analyst Elizabeth O'Bagy now admits she was never enrolled in a Ph.D. program despite claims to the contrary as she rose -- and quickly fell -- as a prominent scholar whose writings were used to make the case for military intervention in Syria.
O'Bagy also has resigned from a Washington-based, pro-Syrian opposition group in the wake of the controversy.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/17/pro-opposition-syria-analyst-admits-faking-phd-story/#ixzz2fFOW38nc

The thought that we so nearly went to war on the basis of her 'research' frankly makes my blood run cold.

A thoughtful article:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/robert-fisk-in-damascus-in-syrias-capital-assads-troops-may-be-winning-this-war--untouched-by-obamas-threats-8825005.html

Very thoughtful and also very possible.