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Middle East mega thread (WARNING CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES.)

Discussion in 'News And Current Events' started by iraniam, Nov 11, 2011.

Page 32 of 35

Cancer pants

10 children killed in allepo school from an incendiary weapon dropped from the air
Vid is graphic.
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-23892594

Cancer pants, Aug 29, 2013

#1241
Cuntcer Punts
Cuntcer Punts said: ↑

Here is Bashar Al Assad's wife.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/despots-housewives-the-lavish-lives-of-the-dictators-763192

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...orts-sofas-London-270-000-spending-spree.html

As Syria burns, Assad's British-born wife goes on £270,000 online shopping spree

Asma al-Assad, 36, placed the order with exclusive London store DN Designs in the King's Road, Chelsea, West London

Among the 130 items were 11 ottomans costing over £20,000, a dining room table priced at almost £10,000 and a rug worth just under £11,000
Cuntcer Punts, Aug 29, 2013

#1242
Cuntcer Punts
Cuntcer Punts said: ↑

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...orts-sofas-London-270-000-spending-spree.html

She has been dubbed the Princess Diana of the Middle East, combining beauty and style with tireless charity work.
In a region blighted by dictatorships and conflicts, the First Lady of Syria, Asma al-Assad, was billed as the modern and caring face of the Arab world.
But emails obtained by WikiLeaks show Mrs Assad, 36, spent £270,000 buying furniture from an exclusive London store for one of her presidential palaces last March – as Syria was descending into a bloody civil war.
British-born Mrs Assad sent her order – which included five chandeliers costing £8,800 – to upmarket furniture store DN Designs in the King’s Road, Chelsea, West London.
The emails, seen exclusively by The Mail on Sunday, emerged as more than 200 people were believed to have been massacred by government forces in the village of Tremseh last Thursday.
It is estimated that more than 16,000 have been killed in Syria since the uprising began last March, including women and children caught in the crossfire between government troops and rebels.
But as innocent civilians were being killed, the emails show that Mrs Assad did not drop plans to refurbish the summer palace, where she and her husband go to escape the scorching desert heat.
Mrs Assad – who was once described by Vogue magazine as a ‘rose in the desert’ – took personal charge of furnishing the palace in the coastal town of Latakia, 200 miles north of the capital Damascus.
The full scale of the palace, which offers breathtaking views of the Mediterranean, is unknown, but based on the order Mrs Assad placed, it has a grand entrance hall on the ground floor with an adjoining reception room.

More...

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On the first floor, there is a dining room that can seat at least ten people, as well as a majlis – a traditional Arab room that is used for entertaining guests – and a salon or drawing room.
Mother-of-three Mrs Assad also ordered furniture for two family rooms, a basement hall and a ladies’ lobby.

Bloodshed: A Syrian woman, cries as she carries her injured son who was shot in his hand by the Syrian border guard when they were crossing a river from Syria to Lebanon

Violence: Flames and smoke raise from burning cars after two bombs exploded, at Qazaz neighborhood in Damascus, Syria, as the country descends into civil war
On March 2, her aide Mansour Azzam, who works in the Ministry of Presidential Affairs (MOPA), sent an email to Mrs Assad with a quote for all of the furniture she had ordered.
Among more than 130 items, whose prices are given in US dollars, are 11 ottomans costing over £20,000 in total.
For the dining room, Mrs Assad ordered a round table worth almost £10,000 and, for the majlis, she purchased a red-and-green Mamlouk rug for just under £11,000.
Mrs Assad, who grew up in Acton, West London, also bought a ‘hanging rod with nine silk lanterns’ worth £3,000 for the basement hall.
The emails show that the First Lady, who married Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in 2000, was kept up to date on how the furniture was being laid out in the palace, with her aides taking photographs and emailing them to her.
Last September, as international condemnation of the Syrian regime grew and sanctions were imposed against the country by the US and the EU, Mrs Assad was still preoccupied with her furnishings.

Asma Assad spent £270,000 on furniture from the exclusive West London shop, including items similar this ottoman

Concern: Aides kept Mrs Assad up-to-date on the whereabouts of her furniture order, leaked emails show
In an email sent to Mr Azzam on September 23, she writes: ‘I forgot to mention, the sofa below should have the same number of back cushions as bases.
‘At the moment, there are three base cushions on the main sofa (without the extension) and five on the back.
‘It should be three base and three back. If not clear, let me know.’
The First Lady uses an email account belonging to her husband’s department, MOPA. In the emails, she is sometimes referred to as ‘Mrs Assad’ but mostly as ‘Your Excellency’.

Revelations: Emails show that the First Lady, left, who married Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, right, in 2000, was kept up to date on how the furniture was being laid out in the palace
She also signs off some emails as ‘aaa’, which is thought to stand for Asma al-Assad.
An earlier release of emails from Mrs Assad, in March, revealed that she was looking for a Harry Potter DVD on the internet while her country was in turmoil.
Though a Muslim, she went to a Church of England school, where she was known as Emma.
After studying computer science and French literature at King’s College London, she worked as a banker at JP Morgan in the Nineties when she met her future husband.
At the time, Assad was training at a hospital in London to become an eye surgeon.
Last week, we revealed how British peer Lord Kenilworth was paid more than £170,000 to redesign the gardens of the summer palace.
Video: Rebels claim battle for Damascus has begun

Rebels claim battle for Damascus has begun

To see the emails in full, click here.
Cuntcer Punts, Aug 29, 2013

#1243
Cuntcer Punts
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ng-warship-guarded-Russians-Syrian-coast.html

President Assad and his family 'are now living on a warship guarded by the Russians off Syrian coast'

Syrian president Bashar Assad moved on to warship with family and aides

Russian naval forces believed to be protecting the embattled dictator

Position is also thought to allow quick evacuation to Moscow, if necessary

By James Rush
PUBLISHED: 21:09 EST, 15 January 2013 | UPDATED: 07:03 EST, 16 January 2013
144
View
comments
Syrian president Bashar Assad and his family are living on a warship guarded by the Russian navy, it has been claimed.
The embattled dictator is said to have moved with his family and a select band of aides to the warship off Syria's coast.
The move, which is said to have come about after the president lost confidence in his own security detail, sees Assad travel by helicopter to Damascus to attend meetings in his presidential palace.

Syria's embattled President Bashar al-Assad, pictured here making a public address last week, is living on a warship guarded by Russian naval forces, according to reports
Intelligence sources told the Saudi daily paper al-Watan the president was being protected by Russia, which effectively amounted to political asylum, The Times of Israelhas reported.
Al-Watan was told Assad's fear of advances by the opposition in the capital was one of the reasons why he has moved to the ship.
His current position is also thought to allow a quick evacuation to Moscow if it became necessary.

More...

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Russia has remained an ally of the regime since the popular uprising in March 2011, during which time the UN estimates more than 60,000 people have been killed.
Russia also endorsed a speech by Assad last week where he offered an end to the crisis by calling national elections and forming a new government.
In his first public speech in six months last week, the dictator urged Syrians to mobilise in a 'war to defend the nation'.

The dictator, pictured here with his wife Asma Al-Assad, is said to have moved with his family and aides to the warship because of his fear of advances by the opposition in the capital
His defiant call to arms came in an hour-long speech to cheering loyalists in the opera house in the capital Damascus.
Assad unveiled what he claimed was a peace initiative to end the violent uprising against his rule.
But he declared he would not talk to those he called extremists ‘who only understand the language of terrorism’ or to ‘puppets’ of the West.

People gather at a site hit by what activists said was missiles fired by a Syrian Air Force fighter jet from forces loyal to Syrian president Assad, at the souk of Azaz, north of Aleppo, on Sunday
Meanwhile, as the death toll continued to grow steadily in Syria, an aid agency working in the conflict zone has said that doctors are being murdered to stop the wounded getting treated.
In a report released by International Rescue Committee's Commission on Syrian Refugees, they said that partner organisations which provide emergency medical services and supplies say the health care system has been decimated.
Physicians described 'intimidation, torture and the targeted killing of doctors and other medical staff in retribution for treating the wounded'.
Cuntcer Punts, Aug 29, 2013

#1244
Cancer pants

^^these articles have already been posted no doubt in this or other threads.
But keep posting none the less.
Just try to keep it current.
Thanks.

Cancer pants, Aug 29, 2013

#1245
Cuntcer Punts

Cancer pants said: ↑

^^these articles have already been posted no doubt in this or other threads.
But keep posting none the less.
Just try to keep it current.
Thanks.

Respectfully, I would say to you that in my observation, "irianiam", who started this thread, (and many others) fills it with one sided propoganda and never responds to or offers any commentary that is not in alignment with his own purpose. It is basically a big troll. The articles linked are relevant to a more comprehensive look at what is going on in that part of the world, and I believe that the last one is current.
Thank you.

Cuntcer Punts, Aug 29, 2013

#1246
Cancer pants

Cuntcer Punts said: ↑

Respectfully, I would say to you that in my observation, "irianiam", who started this thread, (and many others) fills it with one sided propoganda and never responds to or offers any commentary that is not in alignment with his own purpose. It is basically a big troll. The articles linked are relevant to a more comprehensive look at what is going on in that part of the world, and I believe that the last one is current.
Thank you.

At least your last article was current ie:the year.
So far your comprehensive look at the Assads lifestyle from last year is puzzling to me.
But I hope that when Assad is killed by a large missile to the forehead its covered in a comprehensive and professional manner by journalists.
You will propably post about the year after it happens.

Cancer pants, Aug 29, 2013

#1247
Cuntcer Punts

Cancer pants said: ↑

At least your last article was current ie:the year.
So far your comprehensive look at the Assads lifestyle from last year is puzzling to me.
But I hope that when Assad is killed by a large missile to the forehead its covered in a comprehensive and professional manner by journalists.
You will propably post about the year after it happens.

Okay, that was funny.

Cuntcer Punts, Aug 29, 2013

#1248
Cuntcer Punts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latakia

Cuntcer Punts, Aug 29, 2013

#1249
Cuntcer Punts

Cuntcer Punts, Aug 29, 2013

#1250
Cuntcer Punts

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/syrias-ruling-alawite-sect/?_r=0

While many non-Muslims are now aware that there is a sectarian divide in Islam between Sunnis and Shiites, it is less commonly known that Syria is ruled largely by members of an esoteric Islamic sect, the Alawites, whose belief in the divinity of Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, is just one of the reasons that they were oppressed as infidels for centuries by other Muslims.

As Malise Ruthven explained recently in The New York Review of Books, the Alawites of Syria, “who make up only 12 percent of its population, split from the main branch of Shiism more than a thousand years ago.” He then traced the sect’s evolution into a quite distinct community over the centuries:

Before the twentieth century they were usually referred to as Nusayris, after their eponymous founder Ibn Nusayr, who lived in Iraq during the ninth century. Taking refuge in the mountains above the port of Latakia, on the coastal strip between modern Lebanon and Turkey, they evolved a highly secretive syncretistic theology containing an amalgam of Neoplatonic, Gnostic, Christian, Muslim, and Zoroastrian elements. Their leading theologian, Abdullah al-Khasibi, who died in 957, proclaimed the divinity of Ali, the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, whom other Shiites revere but do not worship. Like many Shiites influenced by ancient Gnostic teachings that predate Islam, they believe that the way to salvation and knowledge lies through a succession of divine emanations. Acknowledging a line of prophets or avatars beginning with Adam and culminating in Christ and Muhammad, they include several figures from classical antiquity in their list, such as Socrates, Plato, Galen, and some of the pre-Islamic Persian masters.
Nusayrism could be described as a folk religion that absorbed many of the spiritual and intellectual currents of late antiquity and early Islam, packaged into a body of teachings that placed its followers beyond the boundaries of orthodoxy. Mainstream Muslims, both Sunni and Shia, regarded them as ghulta, “exaggerators.” Like other sectarian groups they protected their tradition by a strategy known as taqiyya — the right to hide one’s true beliefs from outsiders in order to avoid persecution. Taqiyya makes a perfect qualification for membership in the mukhabarat — the ubiquitous intelligence/security apparatus that has dominated Syria’s government for more than four decades. …
Nusayris believe in metempsychosis or transmigration. The souls of the wicked pass into unclean animals such as dogs and pigs, while the souls of the righteous enter human bodies more perfect than their present ones. The howls of jackals that can be heard at night are the souls of Sunni Muslims calling their misguided co-religionists to prayer.
It does not take much imagination to see how such beliefs, programmed into the community’s values for more than a millennium, and reinforced by customs such as endogamous marriage — according to which the children of unions between Nusayris and non-Nusayris cannot be initiated into the sect — create very strong notions of apartness and disdain for the “Other.”

Cuntcer Punts, Aug 29, 2013

#1251
Cuntcer Punts

what in the what is this?

Cuntcer Punts, Aug 29, 2013

#1252
Cuntcer Punts

Cuntcer Punts, Aug 29, 2013

#1253
Anonymous Member

Who set up weak dictatorships in the middle east, headed by members of minorities, to rule over and oppress and yet fear the peoples?

The effects are still felt today.

Anonymous, Aug 30, 2013

#1254
- Like x 1
iraniam Member

Syria: footage of 'napalm' incident emerges

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...Syria-footage-of-napalm-incident-emerges.html

iraniam, Aug 30, 2013

#1255
iraniam Member

Syria crisis: Incendiary bomb victims 'like the walking dead'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-23892594

iraniam, Aug 30, 2013

#1256
iamiran

This is the thread where the Persians get their revenge on the Arabs, eh "iraniam"? CO time.

Tell us how well the CIA front group you work for pays you. We're dying to know what the blood of the people killed by the colonizing fascist Zionist Jews and their Western toadies is really worth.

You are the lowest of the low, selling out your own people (if you are in fact Iranian, which I doubt) and pushing so hard to get your master O'Bomber another Nobel War Peace Prize.

You are lower than Lamo and Monsegur combined. You are not worth throwing a shoe at.

iamiran, Aug 30, 2013

#1257
- Dislike x 2
iraniam Member

Social media reacts to Obama on Syria

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/...3/8/31/social-media-reactstoobamaonsyria.html

iraniam, Aug 31, 2013

#1258
iraniam Member

World Reacts Cautiously To Obama's Syria Speech

There has been little official international reaction to U.S. President Barack Obama's announcement on August 31 that he would seek U.S.congressional approval for military strikes against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his government would be following the debate in Congress closely.

"I believe [U.S.] President [Barack] Obama's announcement is an expression of his strong will on this issue," Abe said. "We will be monitoring carefully what happens in [the U.S.] Congress and coordinate with the international community to gather and analyze the available information in the hope that the situation improves somewhat."
Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi said Syria's army is "fully ready" to respond to any U.S. action.

The head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Mohammad Ali Jafari, said it was an "illusion" to think "military intervention will be limited" to within Syria.

Muhammad Aboud, deputy commander of the Eastern Joint Command of the opposition Free Syrian Army, welcomed Obama's support for military intervention.

"We have been waiting for this decision for a very long time. Even though it took the U.S. some time, they finally took this decision," Aboud said. "[Syrian] people and freedom fighters are very happy to hear that President Obama has taken such a decision. However, we understand from what he said that there will be a debate in Congress."

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro criticized Obama for bypassing the United Nations.

In Moscow, Aleksei Pushkov, head of the Duma's International Affairs Committee, said on Twitter that Obama is turning to Congress to "give the war at least some legitimacy."
In his speech in Washington, Obama charged the Assad government with using chemical weapons on August 21 and killing more than 1,400 civilians.

"Make no mistake. This has implications beyond chemical warfare," Obama said. "If we won’t enforce accountability in the face of this heinous act, what does it say about our resolve to stand up to others who flout fundamental international rules -- to governments who would choose to build nuclear arms, to terrorists who would spread biological weapons, to armies who carry out genocide. We cannot raise our children in a world where we will not follow through on the things we say, the accords we sign, the values that define us."

Later the same day, the White House sent a draft measure to Congress that would give Obama formal authorization to use military force to "deter, disrupt, prevent, and degrade" the potential for further chemical-weapons attacks.

http://www.rferl.org/content/world-reaction-obama-syria-attack-congress/25092131.html

iraniam, Sep 1, 2013

#1259
iraniam Member

Pro-Israel U.S. lobbying group sets major push for Syria action

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/07/us-syria-crisis-aipac-idUSBRE9860D420130907

iraniam, Sep 9, 2013

#1260
iraniam Member

Russia proposes Syria chemical weapons deal to avert war

BEIRUT/LONDON - As Barack Obama struggled to rally Congress behind U.S. military action in Syria, Russia seized on a remark by his secretary of state on Monday to say Damascus should save itself by handing over chemical weapons.
John Kerry was quick to dismiss as hypothetical his own comment that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could avert U.S. strikes by surrendering his chemical arsenal - but not before Assad's ally Russia had turned it into a firm proposal that was "welcomed" by Damascus and echoed by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon.

The White House said it was "seriously skeptical." And rebels fighting Assad's forces on the ground, where hundreds are being killed by conventional bullets and explosives every week, dismissed any such weapons transfer as impossible to police and a mere decoy to frustrate U.S. plans to attack.
But with President Obama preparing to make his case in television interviews later on Monday to an American public and their representatives who remain wary of involvement in another distant war, the armaments proposal could complicate his task.
The outcome of votes in Congress remains hard to predict.

Obama has argued that Assad, fighting to continue his family's four-decade rule in a civil war well into its third year, must be punished for what Washington says was a poison gas attack on rebel areas that killed over 1,400 people on Aug. 21.
The president surprised friends and foes alike by turning to Congress for approval, delaying any U.S. response. His national security adviser, in comments that may reflect some of the arguments Obama will deploy to win over doubters, said that an eventual failure to attack would boost Washington's other foes.

"We cannot allow terrorists bent on destruction, or a nuclear North Korea, or an aspiring nuclear Iran, to believe for one minute that we are shying away from our determination to back up our longstanding warnings," Susan Rice said on Monday.
Asked by a reporter during a visit to London whether there was anything Assad's government could do or offer to stop a U.S. military strike, Secretary of State Kerry answered:

"Sure. He could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week - turn it over, all of it without delay and allow the full and total accounting. But he isn't about to do it and it can't be done."
The State Department later said Kerry had been making a rhetorical argument about the impossibility of Assad turning over chemical weapons, which Assad denies his forces used.

RUSSIAN PROPOSAL
Less than five hours later, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had put what sounded like Kerry's proposal to his visiting Syrian counterpart during talks in Moscow. And Walid al-Moualem said Damascus welcomed the Russian initiative - while not spelling out whether Syria would, or even could, comply.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has blocked U.N. action against Assad and says Obama would be guilty of unlawful aggression if he launches an attack without U.N. approval.
Lavrov said: "If the establishment of international control over chemical weapons ... makes it possible to avoid strikes, then we will immediately get to work with Damascus."

Shortly afterward, United Nations Secretary General Ban took up the same theme, saying that he might ask the Security Council to end its "embarrassing paralysis" over Syria and agree to act.
Asked about Lavrov's proposal, Ban said: "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."
Ban has warned against any action that lacks the approval of the world security body could worsen the situation in Syria.
U.N. chemical weapons inspectors were in Damascus at the time of the mass poisoning, which Assad and Putin have blamed on rebel forces. Ban said that if the evidence they were able to gather - after lengthy bargaining over their movements with Syrian officials - proved the use of toxins, the world must act.

Syria, which has never signed a global treaty banning the storage of chemical weapons, is believed to have large stocks of sarin, mustard gas and VX nerve agents - the actual use of which is banned by a 1925 treaty to which Damascus is a signatory.
White House officials made clear their skepticism of the workability of the Russian proposal. Syria is a battleground where access for foreign experts would be dangerous. And it would be very hard to verify whether all sites had been sealed.

Years of cat-and-mouse maneuvering between U.N. weapons inspectors and Saddam Hussein in neighboring Iraq show how difficult it might be to enforce any arms control orders on a timetable that would satisfy Washington in the midst of a war.
Qassim Saadeddine, a rebel commander in northern Syria and a spokesman for the Supreme Military Council of Assad's opponents, said: "It is a trap and deceitful maneuver by the Damascus regime and will do nothing to help the situation.

"They have tons of weapons hidden that would be nearly impossible for international inspectors to find."
Putin, however, would see major diplomatic advantages to any plan that bolstered Russia's role in brokering international settlements and thwarted strikes in which Obama may have French military support, as well as broader sympathy among Western leaders and Arab governments hostile to Assad's backer Iran.

The Russian proposal won a cautious welcome in public from both the British and French governments, Obama's main European allies in the crisis. Obama's former rival for the presidency, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, also said surrender of chemical weapons would be an "important step" for Syria.

CONGRESSIONAL LOBBYING
Kerry spoke to Lavrov after his proposal, a U.S. official said.
In Washington, U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken said the United States would take "a hard look" at the idea but that Congress should still approve a military action.
"It's important to note that this proposal comes in the context of the threat of U.S. action and the pressure that the president is exerting," he said. "So it's even more important that we don't take the pressure off and that Congress give the president the authority he's requested."
Kerry said he was confident of the evidence that the United States and its allies had presented to support their case that Assad's forces used poison gas, though he said he understood skepticism lingering from accusations against Saddam that led to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and later proved to be false.

Kerry, a former lawyer, said he had successfully prosecuted people with less evidence and warned that doing nothing was worse than doing something, saying inaction would come back to haunt the United States and its allies: "If you want to send Iran and Hezbollah and Assad a congratulatory message: 'You guys can do what you want,' you'd say: 'Don't do anything.'
"We believe that is dangerous and we will face this down the road in some more significant way if we're not prepared to take ... a stand now," Kerry said.

Obama planned six television interviews later on Monday and was to speak to lawmakers at the Capitol on Tuesday before a televised address from the White House in the evening.
The Senate will hold a test vote on Wednesday.
A survey by the newspaper USA Today on Monday found majorities of both houses remained uncommitted.
Tapping into concerns in the West about the role of Islamist militants in the rebel forces, Syrian Foreign Minister Moualem said: "We are asking ourselves how Obama can ... support those who in their time blew up the World Trade Center in New York."
Assad himself warned of reprisals - if he were attacked Americans could "expect every action," he told CBS television.
Repercussions "may take different forms" and could include "instability and the spread of terrorism all over the region that will influence the West directly."

Brent crude oil futures sank more than 2 percent on Monday, as the prospect of a wider war in the Middle East appeared to recede into the future: "This has thrown some sand into the wheels of military preparation in the U.S.," said Michael Lynch of Strategic Energy & Economic Research.
"At the very least, it means the debate is going to be stalled while we wait and see if it works out."
There is a chance now that a U.S.-led military strike could be "put on hold and possibly deterred altogether."
Inside Syria, government forces launched an offensive to wrest back control of an historic Christian town north of Damascus on Monday, activists said. In the past six days, the town of Maaloula has already changed hands three times between Assad's forces and rebels, some of whom are linked to al Qaeda.
(Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

http://preview.reuters.com/2013/9/9/russia-proposes-putting-syria-chemical-arms-under

iraniam, Sep 9, 2013

#1261
- Like x 1
Crumpets

Crumpets, Sep 9, 2013

#1262
- Dislike x 2
iraniam Member

Obama sees possible breakthrough in Syria weapons proposal

http://preview.reuters.com/2013/9/9/obama-says-russian-proposal-on-syria-potentially

iraniam, Sep 9, 2013

#1263
Anonymous Member

Cuntcer Punts said: ↑

what in the what is this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnan_Oktar
A megalomaniacal nutcase. As usual.

Anonymous, Sep 9, 2013

#1264
iraniam Member

Obama could call off any US strikes if Assad hands over chemical weapons

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...kes-if-Assad-hands-over-chemical-weapons.html

iraniam, Sep 10, 2013

#1265
iraniam Member

Haunting memories of Sept. 11 shape Syria debate

The Associated Press, Washington

Twelve years on, haunting memories of Sept. 11 are shaping the debate over what to do about Syria.

As Americans mark the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks, the nation again is wrestling with painful questions about al-Qaeda, weapons of mass destruction and the risks of American inaction. At the center of the debate is President Barack Obama, who has sought to move the U.S. away from what he has called the “perpetual wartime footing” it found itself on in the years after 9/11.

“America is not the world’s policeman,” Obama said Tuesday evening as he addressed the nation about the Syria conflict. “Terrible things happen across the globe, and it is beyond our means to right every wrong. But when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act.”

Some people worry that a U.S. strike in Syria would embroil the American military in an extended and unwinnable conflict in the Middle East, evoking emotions many felt in the years after 9/11 as they watched America’s sons and daughters go back for second and third tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Others see Syria through a broader Mideast prism involving Iran. They fear that if the U.S. doesn’t assert itself now, America will start from a position of weakness if and when it confronts future threats in the region.

When Obama and the first lady stand on the South Lawn of the White House on Wednesday morning to commemorate 9/11 victims with a moment of silence, there’s a good chance at least some of these themes will be weighing on the president.
Al-Qaeda as top threat

The international terrorist organization headed by Osama bin Laden became synonymous with “America’s enemy” in the days after 9/11. More than a decade later, bin Laden is dead and Obama says the group's core is on the path to defeat. But blows to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan have come amid growing concerns about al-Qaeda’s strength in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa and even Syria.

That foreign jihadi fighters, many linked to al-Qaeda, are growing in ranks among rebels fighting Assad’s regime is a major concern for lawmakers and the U.S. Assad and his forces have sought to exploit that concern, arguing, in short, that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Assad said of a potential U.S. strike in an interview Sunday with American journalist Charlie Rose, “this is the war that is going to support al-Qaeda and the same people that kill Americans in the 11th of September.”
State of alert

Although Americans are far less jittery about the threat of terrorism than they were in the aftermath of 9/11, they’re still keenly aware of turmoil in the Middle East and its challenges for the U.S.

Nearly all Americans - 94 percent - say the war on terrorism has not yet been won, according to a new Associated Press poll. Just 14 percent of those Americans say it’s likely the U.S. will win it during the next 10 years.

Such sentiments were punctuated Tuesday when Obama, hours before his national address on Syria, signed a notice extending the national emergency for another year.

“The terrorist threat that led to the declaration on Sept. 14, 2001, of a national emergency continues,” Obama wrote to Congress.

Compounding concerns have been new threats to America’s embassies and consulates. A threat from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula led to the closing of 19 diplomatic posts across the Mideast and in Africa last month. And as Obama considered a strike in Syria last week, the State Department was ordering nonessential American diplomats to leave the U.S. Embassy in neighboring Lebanon because of the potential for retaliation from Iran-backed Hezbollah, a group allied with Assad.
Iraq and Afghanistan

With the U.S. military struggling to absorb deep automatic spending cuts, few Americans are eager for the U.S. to get involved in a civil war already raging for more than two years, with no end in sight.

Obama, who ran for president as a critic of the Iraq war, ended it as president and is winding down the U.S. war in Afghanistan, is of similar mind.

“I know how tired the American people are of war generally, and particularly war in the Middle East. And so I don't take these decisions lightly,” Obama said in an NBC interview Monday.

Obama and his aides know many Americans reflexively resist anything that calls to mind the aggressive stance President George W. Bush took after 9/11. They’re insisting any U.S. action will be limited and won’t involve troops on the ground.

“This is not Iraq or Afghanistan,” Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, said repeatedly Sunday on political talk shows.

But Republicans are hearing a slightly different message. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor arranged for Republican congressional staffers to hear from Stephen Hadley, Bush’s former national security adviser, and Eric Edelman, once a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney. Both played major roles in the Iraq war and are now selling leery Republicans on a strike in Syria.
Weapons of mass destruction

“The lesson of September the 11th is take threats before they fully materialize,” Bush said in August 2006.

Those days, it was erroneous intelligence claiming Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that incensed many Americans as civilian deaths hit record highs three years into the war in Iraq.

Today, there are few doubts chemical weapons have been used in Syria. Assad’s regime even acknowledged publicly this week that it possesses the weapons when it agreed to give them up as part of a budding diplomatic deal to avert a U.S. strike.

Obama acknowledges that Syria poses no direct or imminent threat to the U.S. But his pitch to Congress, the public and U.S. allies is rooted in the belief that if the world doesn’t act now to uphold a global norm against chemical weapons use, we all could be at risk down the line.

“Sometimes wars have started later because people didn’t do things that might have prevented them earlier,” Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/per...g-memories-of-Sept-11-shape-Syria-debate.html

iraniam, Sep 11, 2013

#1266
iamiran

Hello OP, you worthless Western dog.

September 11th has NOT A THING to do with Iran, nor with Syria.
If the US government has PTSD over it, let them get therapy, and stop their projection of their infirmity onto the rest of us. We grow tired of their (your) ridiculous adventurism on Israel's behalf.

iamiran, Sep 11, 2013

#1267
- Dislike x 2
Anonymous Member

IMHO Obama is being forced to discover a peaceful solution. Other people like the English are not falling for the bullshit that governments create. At least the English government listened to its citizens before agreeing to go to another limited war. Limited war is a lie, boots always go on the ground.
The military- industrial complex is pushing for this shit. The military is logical. They don't want to send men and women into a un winnable war.

Anonymous, Sep 11, 2013

#1268
- Like x 1
MOpeebeeughhuh

iamiran said: ↑

Hello OP, you worthless Western dog.

September 11th has NOT A THING to do with Iran, nor with Syria.
If the US government has PTSD over it, let them get therapy, and stop their projection of their infirmity onto the rest of us. We grow tired of their (your) ridiculous adventurism on Israel's behalf.

Hello. I believe you forgot your costume. MORON.
Everything you said is utter bullshit.

MOpeebeeughhuh, Sep 11, 2013

#1269
MOpeebeeughhuh

iamiran said: ↑

Hello OP, you worthless Western dog.

September 11th has NOT A THING to do with Iran, nor with Syria.
If the US government has PTSD over it, let them get therapy, and stop their projection of their infirmity onto the rest of us. We grow tired of their (your) ridiculous adventurism on Israel's behalf.

Also, America in and of itself is under a great deal of tumoil due to the intolerant nature of Islam.
In America, we celebrate multiculturalism and all variety of religion is allowed to express itself.
A lot of religious people in America of many different variant belief systems act cooperatively in the best interest of all of our citizens. And Athiesm is just fine, too. Our Constitution set forth a Mandate that we separate government from religion. We have Democracy, Not a religious Mufti.
I don't care what your own personal beliefs are about 9/11 but, to celebrate the murder of innocent people with good hearts.... human beings just getting on with their own personal lives much like anyone else... with wives and husbands and children and friends.... It was wrong.
If you want to talk about that, you are going to come from that point of view, because violence is unacceptable.

So, start here.

IT WAS WRONG.

MOpeebeeughhuh, Sep 11, 2013

#1270
Feeding missityi

Feeding missityi, Sep 11, 2013

#1271
iraniam Member

Unintended Consequences of Striking Syria

However limited or narrow in scope, striking Syria will have consequences across the "Shiite Crescent" that spans Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. The term was coined in 2004 by Jordan's King Abdullah II, who warned that Iran's support for Shiite forces in the Middle East sought to "alter the traditional balance of power between the two main Islamic sects and pose new challenges to U.S. interests and allies." Military action in Syria could embroil the United States in civil wars from the Tigris to the Levant; U.S interests could also come under direct attack. A steely-eyed view of regional dynamics and contingency planning are critical to optimizing U.S. objectives.

Iran
Iran gains strategic depth by supporting Syria. As Iran's proxy, Syria serves several Iranian goals, including rivaling Saudi power in the region. Syria is also a launch point for terror attacks against Israel. Iran provides Hezbollah with advanced surface-to-surface missiles through a transit pipeline across Syria to Lebanon. Iran also funnels arms to militant Palestinian groups via Syria. Iran helped Syria's President Bashar al-Assad establish his stockpile of chemical weapons in the 1990s. Today, it is financing Syria. Ground forces from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Quds Force, and Iranian intelligence services have also joined the battlefield. The defeat of Assad by Saudi-backed Sunni Arab extremists with ties to Al-Qaeda would be a big blow to Iran.

U.S. officials say bombing Syria would send a strong message to Iran, proving America's resolve and deterring its pursuit of nuclear weapons. However, it might have the opposite effect. Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif have signaled a more flexible approach in nuclear negotiations. Iran historically refuses to negotiate under duress. The Supreme leader will surely limit Rouhani's options if the U.S. intervenes in Syria. Iran could suspend diplomacy and accelerate its uranium enrichment activities. In a worst case, Iran could break-out and weaponize its nuclear energy program.

The Obama administration can mitigate these risks by engaging Iran. Now is the time to start a dialogue with Tehran about collaborating on shared interests, such as limiting Sunni extremism and Al-Qaeda's penetration in Syria, as well as constraints on Iran's enrichment activities.

Iraq
The risks of intervention in Syria closely resemble the challenges of Iraq in 2003. Despite the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), during which Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against Iranian troops, Iran and Iraq - majority Shiite countries - have forged close cultural, economic and security cooperation since Saddam's downfall in 2003. Iranian pilgrims regularly visit Shiite holy sites in Iraq. Iranian goods flood Iraq's consumer market. Iraq is officially neutral in Syria's civil war. However, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki facilitates military assistance to Syria by allowing over-flight of Iranian military transport planes, ignoring strong objections of the United States.

Inspired by the struggle of their Sunni Arab brothers in Syria, radical Sunni groups in Iraq are resurgent. Today's sectarian violence in Iraq is at its highest level since peaking in 2006-07. More than 1,000 people were killed in July alone. Sectarian slaughter over the Eid-al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of Ramadan, was especially intense. Maliki responded with a heavy-hand, establishing check-points and rounding up Sunni political and community leaders, many of whom have disappeared.

The violence has also spread to Kirkuk, threatening stability in Iraqi Kurdistan. Over 20,000 Syrian Kurds fled to Iraqi Kurdistan last month after the Al-Nusra Front, Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate, issued a fatwa condoning the killing of Kurdish women and children. Massoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, has vowed to protect Syrian Kurds from Arab extremists. If Syria fragments, Kurds in Syria - so-called Southern Kurdistan - may seek territorial union with Iraqi Kurdistan, further polarizing Kurds and Arabs in Iraq.
The United States has little leverage over Maliki after failing to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement, which would have left a residual force of U.S. troops in Iraq. However, it can affirm support for Kurds by subsidizing Iraqi Kurdistan's humanitarian assistance to refugees from Syria. Washington should also suspend its sale of sophisticated weapons, such as F-16s, to Baghdad until Maliki closes Iraqi air space to the transfer of Iranian weapons.

Lebanon
Iran's most valuable client is Hezbollah, established in the 1980s as a popular resistance movement to fight Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon. Iran supports Hezbollah through Syria, which has occupied parts of Lebanon and dominated Lebanese politics for decades. As reprisal for steps by the Future Movement to evict Syrian forces, Syrian intelligence assassinated Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005.

More than 700,000 Syrian refugees have fled to Lebanon since Syria's civil war erupted 27 months ago. The influx disrupted Lebanon's delicate ethnic balance, destabilizing the Taif Accords that established a tenuous power-sharing agreement that ended Lebanon's civil war. Syria's conflict has bled across the border into Lebanon. Sunnis in Tripoli, who back the Free Syrian Army, have targeted Hezbollah and its Shiite supporters. Attacks intensified after Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, sent Hezbollah militias to fight alongside Assad's forces. They went house-to-house killing Sunnis in Qusair, tilting the balance of power and enabling Assad to retake the strategic border town in June. A massive bomb blast killed scores in al-Dahiya al-Janoubiya, a Shiite suburb in south Beirut, on July 9, 2013. Nasrallah, himself, promised to join the fight in Syria against Sunnis, whom he disparages as "takfiris" apostates.

Nasrallah will calibrate his support to Assad so as to avoid alienating his constituents in Lebanon. However, Hezbollah will not sit on the sidelines if the U.S. attacks Syria. It could attack Israel with conventional weapons or use WMD-tipped missiles smuggled provided by Assad. It could also attack U.S. interests in the region, or activate sleeper cells in the U.S. to carry out strikes against America's homeland. Other than dispatching ships from the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean to help defend Israel, there is little the United States can do to counter Hezbollah's asymmetric terror tactics.

Gulf Arab Shiites
The Shiite Crescent is more than a contiguous territory. The restive Shiite majority in Bahrain would protest a U.S. strike against Syria. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, which patrols the Persian Gulf and waters off East Africa. Violent unrest can also be expected against other U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf with Shiite minorities, such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Bombing Syria won't stop the war, nor create conditions for either Assad or the insurgents to prevail. More likely, the grinding conflict will go on. Syria will become ghettoized with ethnic groups defended by local armed militias. Kurds and Christians will pay a dear price for fence-sitting, as the failed state fragments into cantons.

General Martin E. Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, struck a cautious tone at Congressional hearing last week. For sure, the U.S. military can degrade Syria's war-making capacity. After attacking Syria, however, it will face multiple threats including stateless adversaries motivated to defend sectarian interests across the Shiite Crescent.

(David L. Phillips is Director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights. He is a former Foreign Affairs Expert for the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-l-phillips/unintended-consequneces-o_b_3902414.html

iraniam, Sep 11, 2013

#1272
iraniam Member

U.S., Russia strike deal on Syria chemical weapons arsenal

The United States and Russia have agreed on a proposal to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday after nearly three days of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Kerry said that, under the deal, Syria must submit a “comprehensive listing” of its chemical weapons stockpiles within one week.

If Syria fails to meet these demands, the U.N. Security Council will act, Lavrov said.

“In the case of those demands not being fulfilled, or in the case of anyone using chemical weapons, the Security Council will take measures according to chapter seven of the United Nations charter,” Lavrov said at a joint press conference with Kerry.

"Providing this framework is fully implemented it can end the threat these weapons pose not only to the Syrian people but also their neighbors," Kerry told reporters at a joint press conference with Lavrov, after wrapping up three days of negotiations in Geneva.

"Because of the threat of proliferation this framework can provide greater protection and security to the world," he said.

"The world will now expect the Assad regime to live up to its commitments... There can be no room for games. Or anything less than full compliance by the Assad regime," he added.

French feedback

France, one of the countries most strongly supporting an armed strike, hailed the agreement reached Saturday by the United States and Russia on a plan to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons as a breakthrough.

“The plan is a significant step forward,” said Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in a statement according to AFP, after his Russian and U.S. counterparts obtained a deal in Switzerland.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov had shuttled with their delegations during their second day of talks in Geneva.

Along with the elimination of Syria’s chemical stockpile, Washington and Moscow were "working hard to find common ground" to get peace talks going in Geneva.

The talks would bring together Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the opposition to end the war which erupted in March 2011, Kerry said Friday.

The two sides "made progress in coming closer to agreement on the scope of the chemical weapons stockpile," a senior U.S. administration official said, according to an Agence France-Presse report.

Meanwhile, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday lashed out at Assad and said a U.N. inspectors' report into the incident would provide "overwhelming" confirmation that chemical weapons were used.

Assad had "carried out many crimes against humanity," Ban said, insisting there had to be "accountability" once Syria's civil war is over.

According to U.S. estimates, Syria possesses around 1,000 metric tons of various chemical agents, including mustard and sarin gas, sulfur and VX, AFP reported.

The Russian estimates had been initially much lower, a U.S. official told AFP, without giving a figure.

(With AFP)

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/New...ird-day-of-Syria-chemical-weapons-talks-.html

iraniam, Sep 14, 2013

#1273
iraniam Member

FSA chief says U.S.-Russia deal is a blow to Syrian uprising

The head of the opposition Free Syrian Army on Saturday rejected an agreement between the United States and Russia to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons stock by mid-2014.

“We cannot accept any part of this initiative,” General Selim Idriss told reporters in Istanbul, saying it is a blow to the two-and-a-half year uprising aiming to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“We in the Free Syrian Army are unconcerned by the implementation of any part of the initiative... I and my brothers in arms will continue to fight until the regime falls,” he said in a statement carried by Agence-France-Presse.

Idriss said the deal would allow Assad to avoid being held accountable for killing hundreds of civilians in a poison gas attack on Damascus on Aug. 21. Assad has denied responsibility for purported attack.

The United States’ strike plans were put off after Russia proposed that Damascus put its chemical arms under international supervision, Assad agreed to the proposal.

Idriss spoke shortly after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced the agreed time frame, after three days of talks in Geneva.

“Are we Syrians supposed to wait until mid-2014, to continue being killed every day and to accept [the deal] just because the chemical arms will be destroyed in 2014,” asked Idriss.

“We respect our friends [in the international community], and we hope our friends understand our position... We cannot accept this initiative because it ignores... the massacre of our people.”

(With Reuters and AFP)

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/New...Russia-deal-is-a-blow-to-Syrian-uprising.html

iraniam, Sep 14, 2013

#1274
iraniam Member

Malala Receives Amnesty International Award

Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban in October 2012 for advocating girls' education

Amnesty International says it has awarded its highest honor to the Pakistani education activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Malala Yousafzai.

The London-based rights group announced on September 17 that Malala will share the 2013 Ambassador of Conscience Award with American singer and human rights activist Harry Belafonte.

The award recognizes "individuals who have promoted and enhanced the cause of human rights through their life and by example."

At a ceremony later on September 17 in the Irish capital, Dublin, Malala will be presented with the award by Irish rock singer and human rights activist Bono, accompanied by Azar Nafisi, the American-Iranian writer who authored “Reading Lolita in Tehran.”

In a statement, Amnesty International's Secretary-General Salil Shetty said: "Harry and Malala are truly Ambassadors of Conscience, speaking up for universal rights, justice, and human dignity and inspiring others to follow their example."

Malala, a schoolgirl and former BBC blogger, wrote about life under Taliban pressure and her views about promoting education for girls.

The 16-year-old was shot in the head and neck by Taliban gunmen in her native Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan last October, in an attack that drew worldwide condemnation. She was flown to Britain for surgery and returned to school in Birmingham in March.

Malala said she was "truly honored" to receive the award, adding: "I hope that by working together we will one day realize our dream of education for every child, in every corner of the world."

Emmy Award-winner Belafonte described his co-winner as a "true hero of our time."

Amnesty said Belafonte has dedicated his life to humanitarian causes, “spanning the civil rights movement to the plight of children caught in Syria’s armed conflict.”

Previous recipients of the Ambassador of Conscience Award include Vaclav Havel, Nelson Mandela, and Aung San Suu Kyi.

Earlier this month, the Dutch children's rights organization KidsRights presented Malala with its 100,000 euro ($130,000) International Children's Peace Prize. The money is to be invested in girls' education projects in Pakistan.

With reporting by AFP

http://www.rferl.org/content/malala-amnesty-award/25108343.html

iraniam, Sep 17, 2013

#1275
- Like x 1
iraniam Member

Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh freed

View attachment c0dd670f-59fb-477c-80b6-1942a356ef3c_16x9_600x338. Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh hugs get son Nima at her home in Tehran on Sept. 18, 2013, after being freed after three years in prison. (AFP)
Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and several political prisoners jailed for their involvement in the 2009 anti-government protests were released on Wednesday, reports said.

The reports came a week before new moderate President Hassan Rowhani, who has promised more freedoms at home, travels to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

View attachment 89e7a41e-2257-4261-b388-d24bbc49997a_4x3_690x515.j
Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh hugs get son Nima at her home in Tehran on Sept. 18, 2013, after being freed after three years in prison. (AFP)

The ISNA news agency said that in addition to Sotoudeh, thirteen others were also freed, including ex-deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh, reformist politician Feyzollah Arabsorkhi and reformist journalist Mahsa Amirabadi.

They had been rounded up for alleged involvement in anti-government protests in 2009 in the aftermath of the disputed re-election of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Sotoudeh, imprisoned since 2010 for her human rights work, had been serving an 11-year prison sentence for defending political prisoners and aiding Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi.

ISNA said she was released after being pardoned, but gave no details.

The United Nations, European Union and the world's main international human rights groups had all called for Sotoudeh to be freed, calling her a prisoner of conscience.

Charged with “conspiring against state security,” the mother of two young children went on a hunger strike for 49 days in October 2012 to protest against her conditions in Tehran's Evin prison, limits placed on family visits and harassment of her relatives.

Her husband and then 12-year-old daughter were slapped with a travel ban, among other punishments.

Last year, Sotoudeh won the European parliament's prestigious Sakharov rights prize.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/New...nian-Rights-Lawyer-Nasrin-Sotoudeh-freed.html

iraniam, Sep 18, 2013

#1276
iraniam Member

Syria: how Bashar al-Assad's chemical arsenal became a strategic liability

In the space of just a few weeks, international pressure and the threat of US-led military intervention have pushed him to agree to sign the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and commit to handing over Syria's chemical weapons stockpile for decommissioning.

It is somewhat ironic that these weapons of mass destruction, for so long a prized asset in the Syrian arsenal, have become the source of the Assad regime's greatest threat. But the situation is not without precedent, for Assad's decision to sign the CWC last week prompts memories of Col. Gaddafi's decision to forego Libya's chemical and nuclear programmes in December 2003.

Both decisions took seasoned non-proliferation watchers by surprise. The secret negotiations over Gaddafi's weapons programmes in 2003 between Libya, the US and Britain, were a tightly held secret in all three governments, with only a handful of policymakers in each capital aware of the talks prior to the public declaration of the decision.

With Syria, a casual comment by John Kerry, US Secretary of State, in the context of building support for military action to punish the Assad regime for the use of chemical weapons, and to retard its capability to do so again, prompted a Russian initiative to convince the regime in Damascus to commit to giving up its chemical weapons capability. A US-Russian agreement on a framework for disarmament quickly followed, as did Syria's commitment to sign the CWC.

Beyond the surprise, though, the more important parallel between the two decisions is that both were clearly taken because of changes in the regimes' perceptions of the utility of possessing chemical and other forms of WMD. Assad and Gaddafi once viewed the possession of WMD as important for deterring external intervention and interference, but their WMD programmes came to be viewed as a strategic liability.

In Libya the pursuit and development of WMD over three decades was influenced by perceptions of external threat, and a perceived need to deter intervention by outside powers, notably the United States. Libya had been involved in supporting international terrorism from the early 1980s and feared US reprisal, a fear that was realised with the US air strikes of 1986.

But as Gaddafi's international isolation deepened, and a series of UN Security Council Resolutions and sanctions were imposed in 1992-93 over the failure to hand over the Lockerbie terrorism suspects, Libya began to experience a rapidly deteriorating economic and social situation. A drop in oil prices and an inability to modernise the oil sector resulted in unemployment, declining living standards and resultant domestic political challenges to Gaddafi's authority.

This altered domestic environment prompted the regime to initiate a series of steps from the mid-1990s, including an end to involvement in terrorism and handing over the Lockerbie suspects, in order to end the country's isolation and to bring in much needed overseas investment.
The WMD decision was part of this political change of course. Crucially, both the Clinton and the Bush administrations told the Libyans that to re-engage with the US would require action on this front. The US-led intervention in Iraq on the grounds of forced disarmament in the first half of 2003 also seemed to accelerate and cement Gaddafi's decision. WMD had clearly come to be seen as a strategic weakness by the regime.
Syria's decision to get rid of chemical weapons appears to echo this perception but in this case on the part of two key players: the Assad regime itself and its Russian patron. President Obama had made it clear in August 2012 that significant movement or use of chemical weapons constituted a "red line" for Washington. The tipping point of course came with the sarin attack on rebel held areas on the edge of Damascus on August 21.

American pressure for military action to punish the indiscriminate use of chemical weapons grew rapidly despite the regime's denial of involvement. While Obama clearly does not want to get involved in another war in the region, the flagrant violation of his red line left him with little choice. His credibility was on the line and he had to honour his promise and prepare for military action.

Any external use of force against Syrian forces and facilities, however localised or targeted, would certainly weaken the regime politically and militarily, and provide a major morale boost to opposition fighters, potentially tipping the civil war. The gravity of this situation was not lost on Assad. But perhaps more importantly, it was also not lost on Moscow.

Russia has much to lose if Assad is toppled. Syria has long been an important strategic partner in the Middle East and its significance has grown since the end of the Cold War. The Syrian port of Tartus now provides Russia with its only naval base in the Mediterranean. Moreover, Russia sells a great deal of conventional weaponry to Syria and Russian firms have invested significantly in the Syrian energy sector. Moscow is also generally opposed to western intervention in the context of internal security situations.

While it remains to be seen whether or not Syria will live up to its commitment to chemically disarm, and there are many reasons to doubt that it will, Russia's diplomatic manoeuvring has significantly reduced the likelihood of external intervention for the time being.
Ultimately, however, for both Damascus and Moscow, it is the new and acute perception of liability that chemical weapons use has brought that is the real game-changer here.

Wyn Bowen is Professor of Non-proliferation and International Security at King's College London, where he directs the Centre for Science and Security Studies. He is author of Libya and Nuclear Proliferation: Stepping back from the brink
Matthew Moran is Lecturer in International Security at King's College London. He is author of Exploring Regional Responses to a Nuclear Iran: Nuclear Dominoes?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...cal-arsenal-became-a-strategic-liability.html

iraniam, Sep 19, 2013

#1277
iraniam Member

Syria meets deadline to submit chemical weapons list

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Syria had crossed the first hurdle set down in an agreement between Russia and the United States intended to ward off a punitive western bombing campaign.

“We have received an initial disclosure from Syria of its chemical weapons programme,” a statement said. “It’s now being examined by the Technical Secretariat.”

The decision by President Bashar al-Assad to abandon decades of secrecy over his chemical weapons arsenal, said to be the biggest in the Middle East, and join treaties controlling their use, was initially met with scepticism. Critics portrayed it as a delaying tactic.

The OPCW did not initially give details of what was contained in the disclosures. But its principal backer, Russia, which played a key role in forcing Mr Assad to agree to the chemical weapons deal, already agrees with American assessments of its size, and that is unlikely to be a major issue.

Analysts say the regime has about 1,000 tons of stocks including sarin, VX nerve agent and mustard gas, along with delivery systems.
The OPCW however also admitted that a meeting of its council, comprising ambassadors to The Hague, set for Sunday had been postponed. No reason was given, but it is likely to be because of continuing debate between the US and Russia over the terms for the next stage of the deal - the verification and disposal of the stocks, along with what penalties will be imposed if President Assad reneges on the deal’s terms.

Ultimately, that argument is headed for the UN security council, where Russia has used its veto to prevent punitive action against the Assad regime since the start of the crisis.

It is holding out for a broader peace conference at which President Assad would be represented. It was joined in its campaign yesterday by President Hassan Rouhani, the newly elected political leader of Iran.
In a continuation of his unparalleled media campaign to present a conciliatory image to the West, Mr Rouhani wrote an article in the Washington Post offering to mediate in the Syrian crisis.

“I announce my government’s readiness to help facilitate dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition,” he said. Iran has pledged to back Mr Assad and his intervention was met with scorn by Syrian opposition figures, but with President Barack Obama keen also to come to terms with Mr Rouhani over Iran’s nuclear programme, his approach will be hard for the West to ignore.

At the same time, a Syrian deputy prime minister, Qadri Jamil, said in an interview with The Guardian that the regime was ready for a ceasefire, as it was now obvious neither side could win militarily.
“Neither the armed opposition nor the regime is capable of defeating the other side,” he said. “This zero balance of forces will not change for a while.”

He also hinted without confirming that the key opposition demand - Mr Assad’s removal - was up for question. “Let nobody have any fear that the regime in its present form will continue,” he said. “For all practical purposes the regime in its previous form has ended. In order to realise our progressive reforms we need the west and all those who are involved in Syria to get off our shoulders.”
A “Geneva II” peace conference would bring the Syrian National Coalition, other unspecified opposition groups, and the regime to the table, as originally suggested by a peace conference in the Swiss city early last year.

There have been two major stumbling blocks to date: the SNC has always insisted that Mr Assad’s departure is non-negotiable. Meanwhile the regime says it will not talk to “terrorists", as it calls the armed opposition.

Mr Jamil is a communist former opposition leader brought into the cabinet last year to broaden Mr Assad’s international appeal, and is regarded as close to Moscow rather than part of the “Assad regime proper". His intervention came after a visit to Damascus by Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov and appeared carefully worded to suggest compromise was possible without weakening the regime’s core position.
While both Russia and Iran have publicly backed Mr Assad and stated they believe the chemical weapons attack in East and West Ghouta a month ago was the work of the rebels, the latest concessions by the regime suggest they are saying different things in private.

That attack, followed by the failure of western governments to muster public support for intervention, has revived international leaders’ attempts to negotiate an end to the war, which was seen to be drifting towards stalemate without either side admitting its chances of outright victory were lessening.

The rebels may also be more amenable to talks after being seriously weakened by splits in their own ranks. Fighting has broken out across northern Syria, including in the town of Azaz on the Turkish border, between al-Qaeda linked groups led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and other brigades, including secular and more "moderate", western-aligned groups, as well as Kurds.
ISIS has opposed all western intervention in the war, and has named its operation against rival militias “Expunging Filth".
A ceasefire was announced overnight between ISIS and Northern Storm, the group which formerly ran Azaz, mediated by a third brigade, the Liwa Tawhid, which has worked with both groups in Aleppo province.

However it is not clear whether it will be a basis for co-operation in other parts of northern Syria where disputes are continuing.
The rise of ISIL is one principal reason why President Barack Obama has been hesitant to back the rebels more directly, with some analysts saying the United States would rather see Mr Assad hold on to power than engineer his downfall, allowing a power vacuum that al-Qaeda could fill.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...deadline-to-submit-chemical-weapons-list.html

iraniam, Sep 20, 2013

#1278
iraniam Member

Syria discloses details of chemical-weapons arsenal

http://america.aljazeera.com/articl...rfinalchemicalweaponsinventorytowatchdog.html

iraniam, Sep 21, 2013

#1279
iamiran

MOpeebeeughhuh said: ↑

Hello. I believe you forgot your costume. MORON.
Everything you said is utter bullshit.

Hello, Jewfag/Mossad tool/Godwinner
Since you enjoyed my post so much the first time, here it is again. Consider it as a personal message to you from me.

"Hello OP, you worthless Western dog.

September 11th has NOT A THING to do with Iran, nor with Syria.
If the US government has PTSD over it, let them get therapy, and stop their projection of their infirmity onto the rest of us. We grow tired of their (your) ridiculous adventurism on Israel's behalf. "

There was nothing "anti-Semitic" in my post, as your Godwin-fail would seem to imply.
You have a problem with anti-Zionists? Get ready to take on the world.

We don't care what you do in your useless empire run from Tel Aviv.
Hopefully, you'll die painfully in a fire soon.

iamiran, Sep 21, 2013

#1280
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