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Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Did President Obama just start World War III by waiving the U.S. ban on arming terrorists? The Washington Examiner has just reported:Obama waives ban on arming terrorists to allow aid to Syrian oppositionPresident Obama waived a provision of federal law designed to prevent the supply of arms to terrorist groups to clear the way for the U.S. to provide military assistance to “vetted” opposition groups fighting Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.Some elements of the Syrian opposition are associated with radical Islamic terrorist groups, including al QaedaThe law allows the president to waive those prohibitions if he “determines...

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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.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is sending a missile cruiser to the east Mediterranean to take over the navy's operations in the region, state agency Interfax quoted a military source as saying on Wednesday, as the United States prepares for a possible military strike in Syria. The ship, Moskva, will take over operations from a naval unit in the region that Moscow says is needed to protect national interests. It will be joined by a destroyer from Russia's Baltic Fleet and a frigate from the Black Sea Fleet.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a liar, claiming he had denied that al Qaeda was fighting with the Syrian opposition in that country's civil war. Speaking to his human rights council, Putin recalled watching a congressional debate where Kerry was asked about al Qaeda. Putin said he had denied that it was operating in Syria, even though he was aware of the al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra group. Putin said: "This was very unpleasant and surprising for me. We talk to them (the Americans) and we assume they are decent people, but he...

VIENNA (AP) — Russia is warning that a U.S. strike on Syria's atomic facilities might result in a nuclear catastrophe and is urging the U.N. to present a risk analysis of such a scenario. The warning comes from Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Alexander Lukashevich. He said in a statement Wednesday that a strike on a miniature reactor near Damascus or other nuclear installations could contaminate the region with radioactivity, adding: "The consequences could be catastrophic." IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor told the AP in an email Thursday that her agency is ready to "consider the questions raised" by Lukashevich if it...

Syria said Wednesday it was mobilising its allies against a possible US-led military strike over a suspected gas attack and would never give in, even if a third world war erupts. In an exclusive interview with AFP, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad said Syria had taken "every measure" to retaliate against a potential strike, but refused to provide any clue as to what that might mean. He also insisted that Russia had not wavered in its support for its long-time ally, despite comments by President Vladimir Putin suggesting a more conciliatory tone towards the West. "The United States is currently...

MOSCOW, September 3 (Itar-Tass) - Launching of two ballistic missiles in the Mediterranean water area testifies to the ongoing U.S. preparations for air strikes against Syria, a top-rank Russian military expert said in an exclusive interview with Itar-Tass Tuesday night. The U.S. and Israel actually wanted to watch the reaction to the launch on the part of Russia, China and Iran, said Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov, Ret. From 1996 through to 2001, Gen Ivashov was chief of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Main Department for International Defense Cooperation. He is President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems at present. He believes that...

“The Russian Navy continues stage-by-stage rotation of warships and support ships of the standing naval force in the Mediterranean,” the spokesman said. “Having passed through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, the big landing ships will reach the designated area in the Mediterranean Sea on September 5 or 6 to start their mission under the command of the remote zone headquartered onboard the big anti-submarine ship of the Russian Pacific Fleet Admiral Panteleyev.” Currently, one of the key tasks of the Russian standing naval force in the Mediterranean is “comprehensive monitoring over the air, underwater and surface situation in the zone...

By “implodes,” he means a situation where Assad loses control of his WMD and we need to go in and grab them before some fanatic native outfit grabs them first. Which is funny because, right offhand, I can’t think of anything that’s more likely to increase the risk of that happening than bombing the hell out of Syrian military units who are in charge of those weapons. I think we’re about done here, guys.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama this week plans to urge reluctant world leaders to support a U.S.-led military strike against Syria as he attends a global summit in Russia and makes a stop in Sweden. His three-day overseas trip comes as his administration seeks authorization from Congress. Top lawmakers signalled support Tuesday after meeting with Obama, while France said it will wait for Congress' decision before any military action of its own. Obama's presence at the Group of 20 gathering in Russia is bound to bring questions about Syria, recently leaked U.S. surveillance programs and especially his tense relationship with...

Secretary of State John F. Kerry refused Tuesday to rule out putting U.S. troops on the ground in Syria, saying the president needs to retain the ability to send in forces in very select circumstances as the Obama administration officially began to make its case for retaliatory military strikes on the Assad regime. Testifying to the Senate, Mr. Kerry accused critics of “armchair isolationism” and said there are risks to acting, but that the risks of inaction are even worse. But asked whether President Obama would accept an authorization from Congress that specifically banned putting U.S. troops on the ground...

Some took a prior report the that the "developed" nations would use Cyprus as a warplane strike base just as a leaked memo predicted in 2011, skeptically. Today we finally got official confirmation from that Britain that it is sending six RAF Typhoon jets to Cyprus "as a defensive measure amid growing tensions over Syria and talks of Western military intervention." It's defensive in case Syria launches an airborne assault of the UK we take it? A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said the air-to-air interceptor jets would be deployed to the British Akrotiri base in Cyprus on Thursday....

... Obama on Wednesday evening appeared to back away from the idea of an imminent strike on Syria, saying multiple times in an interview broadcast on several US networks, “I have not made a decision.” Obama spoke after the UK clearly backtracked from Prime Minister David Cameron’s earlier supportive stance, with the Conservative-led government indicating it would now wait several days for a report by UN inspectors looking into last Wednesday’s alleged chemical attack on Syrian civilians by the forces of President Bashar Assad, and for Parliament to vote on the matter.

The latest atrocities in the Syrian civil war, which has killed more than 100,000 people, demand an urgent response to deter further massacres and to punish President Bashar al-Assad. But there is widespread confusion over the legal basis for the use of force in these terrible circumstances. As a legal matter, the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons does not automatically justify armed intervention by the United States. There are moral reasons for disregarding the law, and I believe the Obama administration should intervene in Syria. But it should not pretend that there is a legal justification in existing law....

Russia will "over the next few days" be sending an anti-submarine ship and a missile cruiser to the Mediterranean as the West prepares for possible strikes against Syria, the Interfax news agency said on Thursday. "The well-known situation shaping up in the eastern Mediterranean called for certain corrections to the make-up of the naval forces," a source in the Russian General Staff told Interfax.

Official: White House seeks Syria response 'just muscular enough not to get mocked' By Justin Sink - 08/28/13 12:45 PM ET A U.S. official briefed on the military options being considered by President Obama told the Los Angeles Times that the White House is seeking a strike on Syria "just muscular enough not to get mocked." "They are looking at what is just enough to mean something, just enough to be more than symbolic," the official told the paper, giving credence to similar reports describing a limited military strike in the aftermath of last week's alleged chemical weapons attack. NBC...

North Korea greeted the weekend by stating through its KCNA news agency that it is entering a "state of war" with South Korea. This seems like much more serious news than an earlier KCNA story about using nutritious leeks in seasonal dishes, but there's reason to be skeptical that NoKo's latest declaration means anything at all. The statement wasn't accompanied by an actual attack, which would have been the most obvious sign that North Korea was serious about this. Instead, it's just more chest-beating, this time in response to the "provocation" of the U.S. flying stealth bombers over South Korea....

March 1981, and inside 10 Downing Street, Margaret Thatcher is confronting the most terrible dilemma any British Prime Minister has ever faced. The news could hardly be worse. Across Britain, tens of thousands of terrified people are streaming out of the major cities. Looting is widespread, while every day brings bomb attacks at railway stations and RAF bases. Abroad, the Red Army has sliced through the West’s defences, using chemical weapons to punch through Nato’s front lines. Yugoslavia has fallen, and West Germany and Norway are on the verge of succumbing. After four days of Russian air raids, killing hundreds...

Islamic Madness—Are Arabs Stupid? By Ari Bussel Once the common belief was that Arabs are stupid. But they are not. For over a century they have tried to eliminate any Jewish presence from the Holy Land. They butchered the local Jewish population, let some time pass and always returned to their old habits. Much like the Pogroms in Europe, the massacres by the Arabs were consistent and brutal. When the global community officially recognized the Jewish right to self-determination in their ancient land, the Arabs were outraged. They engaged in numerous wars, were driven, thus relentless, to achieve their mission...