Free Republic

(Headline only) Breaking News: Syria accepts Russian proposal to put chemical weapons under international control - Interfax

Headline only. Syria welcomes Russia's proposal for Damascus to put its chemical weapons under international control: Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem by Margarita Noriega (Reuters) 10:41 AM

EXCERPT “We have passed our offer to Al-Muallem [Syrian Foreign Minister] and hope to receive [a] fast and positive answer,” Sergey Lavrov said.

As President Barack Obama kicks off an all-out push for a strike on Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry came under fire on Monday for saying any attack would be “unbelievably small” and suggesting the Syrian ruler still had a week to give up his chemical weapons to avoid a U.S. assault - a remark Kerry’s spokeswoman later attempted to clarify. The off-key comments came in a joint press conference in London with Britain’s foreign secretary, where Kerry said the strike would be able to harm Assad without putting American troops on the ground and with a “very limited, very...

AMMAN, Jordan Rebels including al-Qaeda-linked fighters gained control of a Christian village northeast of the capital Damascus, Syrian activists said Sunday. Government media provided a dramatically different account of the battle suggesting regime forces were winning. Independent information has been nearly impossible to come by in the 2.5-year-old conflict in Syria. Maaloula, a scenic mountain community, is known for being one of the few places in the world where residents still speak the ancient Middle Eastern language of Aramaic. The rebel advance into the area this week was spearheaded by the Jabhat al-Nusra, or Nusra Front, exacerbating fears among Syrians...

<p>On Friday, a man attending a town hall hosted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in Prescott confronted the senator and told him he should be arrested and charged with treason for supporting al Qaeda in Syria.</p> <p>"We the people want you to be representative of the people and for this great nation, but for far too long now on the rest of Congress, including the executive branch of government, along with the judicial and legislative have turned your back on the American people and their core values and principles. I can say with great confidence and speak on behalf of all Americans that your actions against this country are treasonous. All of you -- against the will of the American people -- have aided and abetted the enemy," said the town hall attendee.</p>

Bob Woodward is an associate editor of The Washington Post and the author, most recently, of “The Price of Politics.” This essay is adapted from a new afterword to the book’s paperback edition, coming out this month. House Speaker John Boehner has promised “a whale of a fight.” Some Democrats are warning that the GOP could sink the economy. And so begins another budget showdown. How it ends — and whether the U.S. government can avoid a shutdown and a default — may hinge on whether the two principal combatants, Boehner and President Obama, can figure out a way to...

GOP Senators invited to Biden dinner Sunday: Ayotte,, Blunt, Chambliss, Coats, Collins, Corker, Graham, Fischer, McCain, Murkowski, Thune... Aide says VP Biden has invited a dozen Republican Senators to dinner Sunday to discuss Syria and authorization bill. — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) September 6, 2013

The Senate on Friday formally filed a resolution that would authorize President Barack Obama to launch military strikes in Syria, a move that sets up a series of votes on the high-stakes measure next week. The move sets up a procedural vote on the resolution next Wednesday. Until then, senators will continue to get briefed by top administration officials — one classified session is scheduled for Monday evening.

Headlines only: BREAKING: Russia will help #Syria in case of foreign military assault - Putin http://on.rt.com/0yh5ju DETAILS: Russia sells weapons to #Syria, we have strong economic ties. Syria is our strategic partner - Putin http://on.rt.com/0yh5ju

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for 20 minutes on the sidelines of a G20 summit on Friday but remained at odds over the conflict in Syria, Putin's senior foreign policy adviser said. "They sat down before today's working session, in armchairs, and had a 20-minute chat, one on one," the adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told Reuters. He said Syria was the main topic and said: "No, their (positions) have not come closer."

MOSCOW — A Russian warship carrying "special cargo" will be dispatched toward Syria, a navy source said on Friday, as the Kremlin beefs up its presence in the region ahead of possible US strikes against the Damascus regime. The large landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov will on Friday leave the Ukrainian port city of Sevastopol for the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, from where it will head to Syria's coast, the Interfax news agency quoted a source from the Saint Petersburg-based central naval command as saying. "The ship will make call in Novorossiisk, where it will take on board special...

(Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping told his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama on Friday that the crisis in Syria should not be resolved through a military strike and urged him to consider a political solution, state news agency Xinhua said. Xi's are the highest-level comments from China since an August 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria. They follow remarks by a foreign ministry spokesman, who urged a role for the U.N. Security Council in resolving the crisis after the United States said it had given up trying to work with the council on Syria. "A political solution is the only...

An Associated Press reporter became a symbol Wednesday of journalists' impatience with the Obama administration's course in making a case for military strikes in Syria, asking the State Department's chief spokeswoman whether the White House had undergone a 'group spine removal procedure.' Longtime AP foreign affairs correspondent Matt Lee was invited to ask the first question in a State Department briefing, and asked spokeswoman Jen Psaki why Secretary of State John Kerry called President Obama 'courageous' for seeking congressional approval before taking military action. 'I don’t understand what is courageous,' Lee said, 'about asking permission for something that you say...

The United States on Thursday accused Russia of holding the UN Security Council "hostage" over the Syria chemical weapons crisis. With the White House pushing Congress to approve military strikes on Syria, US ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said she could see no way to seek Security Council approval for action against President Bashar al-Assad because of Russia's blocking. Amid mounting tensions between Washington and Moscow, Power said Russia's protection of Assad has put the whole Security Council system of handling international crises under strain. "Even in the wake of the flagrant shattering of the international norm against...

President Barack Obama was intent on getting the upper hand as he greeted Russia's Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit on Thursday, according to body language experts who watched the frosty exchange. From a jacket-buttoning pause to a hard-pumping handshake, Obama displayed tell-tale signs of dominance after he alit from a limo in front of St. Petersburg's Konstantin Palace, where Putin waited to meet him, communication experts said. There was no outright hostility, but the chill between the two world leaders — at loggerheads over NSA leaker Edward Snowden and a strike against Syria — was evident in clenched-jaw smiles...

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has canceled a trip to California next week so that he can stay in Washington "to work on the Syrian resolution before Congress," a White House official said on Thursday.

Three Russian warships crossed Turkey's Bosphorus Strait Thursday en route to the eastern Mediterranean, near the Syrian coast, amid concern in the region over potential US-led strikes in response to the Damascus regime's alleged use of chemical weapons. The SSV-201 intelligence ship Priazovye, accompanied by the two landing ships Minsk and Novocherkassk passed through the Bosphorus known as the Istanbul strait that separates Asia from Europe, an AFP photographer reported.

A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal ran a high profile article from one Elizabeth O’Bagy arguing that the majority of the Syrian rebels were actually moderates. Senator McCain mentioned Elizabeth O’Bagy’s op-ed during the Senate hearings, when he wasn’t playing poker, and tweeted it. That should come as no surprise, considering that O’Bagy is credited with arranging McCain’s infamous photo op with the Syrian rebel leadership. The Wall Street Journal lists O’Bagy’s role as the Institute for the Study of War. It leaves out the fact that she is the political director for the Syrian Emergency Task Force...

(Reuters) - Europe's top officials warned against a military response in Syria on Thursday, aligning themselves more closely with Russian President Vladimir Putin than President Barack Obama in how best to respond to the chemical attack in the Syrian civil war. While describing the August 21 attack near Damascus, in which an estimated 1,400 people died, as "abhorrent" and a crime against humanity, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said a military strike would not help resolve the crisis. "There is no military solution to the Syrian conflict," Van Rompuy told reporters ahead of a summit of the Group of...