Turkey denies major arms shipment sent to Syria via Turkey
Turkish trucks transporting goods wait to cross to Syria near the Cilvegözü border gate which is located opposite of Syrian commercial crossing point Bab al-Hawa, in Hatay.
Posted on 07/05/2013 2:20:03 PM PDT by kristinn
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/08/dangerous_times_russia_rising_in_the_middle_east.html
August 24, 2013
Dangerous Times: Russia Rising in the Middle East
By James Lewis
Now that America is leading from behind, more serious powers are rushing to fill the vacuum. Obama seems ready to let that happen, which is why India just launched its first homemade aircraft carrier and why Japan is rearming to keep China from stealing the whole South China Sea.
When America bugs out, what follows is not love and peace — contrary to deeply delusional liberals. What happens is a worldwide scramble for king of the hill. Instability breeds war, as we can see in the news headlines. Obama knocked over the Mubarak regime in Egypt, a pillar of peace and stability for thirty years. Now civil war has erupted all over the place — Egypt, Libya, and Syria. So much for the vaunted “Arab Spring.” The Iranians are laughing their heads off, getting ready to sucker the West again.
And to show his profound concern for all the killing, Obama is sending vacation postcards from Martha’s Vineyard, laughing and smiling and having fun.
The Arabs aren’t smiling. In Egypt, both sides blame Obama. In Libya and Syria, we have alienated both sides, too. Behind the scenes, the Saudis are paying for the Egyptian military to knock down the Muslim Brotherhood, while the oil sheikhs of Qatar are trying to shaft the Saudis.
Only Israel is democratic, stable, and prosperous, nervously watching while her enemies kill each other. Egypt is now at war with Hamas in Gaza, where the Muslim Brotherhood is hiding out. Hezbollah is entangled in Syria, defending the regime against Al Qaida rebels.
In the absence of American strength and reliability, all the players are turning to Russia, which is emerging:
. as a vocal defender of Christianity against Muslim persecution around the world;
. as a plausible peacemaker in the Middle East, with far better relationships with Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Syria than America has today;
. as the monopoly natural gas supplier for Germany, with the consent of the Franco-German axis;
. as the only country with a credible a nuclear umbrella to protect its friends and deter its enemies;
. as a country that understands the value of relatively free markets — witness the 14% flat tax Putin just introduced in Russia.
Vladimir Putin now looks like the heir of Peter the Great, the modernizing Tsar. This is another bizarre twist in history, but facts are facts.
Putin’s Russia is not a Marxist imperialist power. That’s important, because we are used to thinking about an expansionist Soviet Empire. Today, Putin has to be practical, to build up Russian strength after decades of imperial overreach and national decay. He is therefore using the Russian Orthodox Church as his ideological base, to build his own popularity. He is following in the footsteps of the Tsars. So far he is not moving aggressively, aiming instead for international prestige, economic gains, and influence in the near abroad. One reason is that he has a global competitor, China.
That doesn’t mean Putin is a nice man, or that Russia isn’t going to pursue greater power. Putin is a Great Russian ruler. China, Europe, and Islam are his biggest historical threats. But in the nuclear age there are threats all around.
Putin is therefore looking to take our place as the decisive power in the Middle East. He also wants to play a big role in the next OPEC, based on shale gas and oil. He also likes to poke us in the eye.
The biggest surprise is that in contrast to Obama, our most America-loathing president ever, Vladimir Putin is emerging as a defender of traditional Western values.
Is that weird enough for ya?
(snip)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3058588/posts
Engel, Corker: U.S. action in Syria may not wait
POLITICO ^ | August 25, 2013 | LEIGH MUNSIL
President Barack Obama should not necessarily wait for Congress to return from recess before taking action in Syria, two lawmakers said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“We have to move, and we have to move quickly,” said Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Congress needs to be involved, but perhaps not initially.”
The U.S. can and should act to respond after reported widespread chemical attacks in Syria, using cruise missile strikes but not “boots on the ground” to destroy Bashar al Assad’s runways, munitions and fuel, Engel added. “I think we have to respond, and we have to respond in conjunction with our NATO allies. ... We cannot afford to sit back and wait.”
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s ranking member, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), agreed, adding that the amount of social media coming out of Syria indicates that the chemical attacks actually are happening, and weren’t just invented by the opposition to drum up sympathy.
“My sense is that this has happened, I think we will respond in a surgical way,” Corker said. “And I hope the president as soon as we get back to Washington will ask for authorization from Congress to do something in a very surgical and proportional way. Something that gets their attention, that causes them to understand that we are not going to put up with this kind of activity.”
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Engel, Corker: U.S. action in Syria may not wait
POLITICO ^ | August 25, 2013 | LEIGH MUNSIL
President Barack Obama should not necessarily wait for Congress to return from recess before taking action in Syria, two lawmakers said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“We have to move, and we have to move quickly,” said Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Congress needs to be involved, but perhaps not initially.”
The U.S. can and should act to respond after reported widespread chemical attacks in Syria, using cruise missile strikes but not “boots on the ground” to destroy Bashar al Assad's runways, munitions and fuel, Engel added. “I think we have to respond, and we have to respond in conjunction with our NATO allies. ... We cannot afford to sit back and wait.”
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's ranking member, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), agreed, adding that the amount of social media coming out of Syria indicates that the chemical attacks actually are happening, and weren't just invented by the opposition to drum up sympathy.
“My sense is that this has happened, I think we will respond in a surgical way,” Corker said. “And I hope the president as soon as we get back to Washington will ask for authorization from Congress to do something in a very surgical and proportional way. Something that gets their attention, that causes them to understand that we are not going to put up with this kind of activity.”
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3058597/posts
McCain and Graham: U.S. Must ‘Take Limited Military Actions in Syria’
The Weekly Standard ^ | Aug 25, 2013 | Daniel Halper
In a statement released this morning, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham call for the U.S. to “take limited military actions in Syria.”
“Recent reports and information from Syria lend additional credibility to what has been clear since last week: Assad and his forces have once again used chemical weapons against civilians in Syria and are, in fact, escalating their use. Their recent massacre of hundreds of men, women, and children around Damascus clearly constitutes the commission of a war crime, and it is the responsibility of civilized nations everywhere to ensure that those responsible are held accountable,” the statement reads.
“Now is the time for decisive actions. The United States must rally our friends and allies to take limited military actions in Syria that can change the balance of power on the ground and create conditions for a negotiated end to the conflict and an end to Assad's rule. Using stand-off weapons, without boots on the ground, and at minimal risk to our men and women in uniform, we can significantly degrade Assad's air power and ballistic missile capabilities and help to establish and defend safe areas on the ground. In addition, we must begin a large-scale effort to train and equip moderate, vetted elements of the Syrian opposition with the game-changing weapons they need to shift the military balance against Assad's forces.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-25/short-guide-middle-east#comments
“A Short Guide To The Middle East”
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/25/2013 10:40 -0400
From K-N Al-Sabah, posted in the FT:
Sir, Iran is backing Assad. Gulf states are against Assad!
Assad is against Muslim Brotherhood. Muslim Brotherhood and Obama are against General Sisi.
But Gulf states are pro Sisi! Which means they are against Muslim Brotherhood!
Iran is pro Hamas, but Hamas is backing Muslim Brotherhood!
Obama is backing Muslim Brotherhood, yet Hamas is against the US!
Gulf states are pro US. But Turkey is with Gulf states against Assad; yet Turkey is pro Muslim Brotherhood against General Sisi. And General Sisi is being backed by the Gulf states!
Welcome to the Middle East and have a nice day.
I haven’t found a picture NOT YET if I know UK Papers they get that one
How long before the Brit Royal family was force to release new Prince George picture every UK Paper want that exclusively
Reading that is enough to give anyone a headache!
What a flippin disaster.
Again I ask, where the heck is code pink with their bloody hands?? I am so disgusted with the overt hypocrites.
We live in such an interesting and dangerous time.
ROTFLOL!!
Frick and Frack at it yet again. Good grief!
Thanks Maggief.
Right on the mark. Putin can do what he pleases and is spanking 0b0z0 who LOVES to lead from HIS behind as much as he LOVES Reggie!
In Jarrett’s USA, do you expect anything else?
Thanks Maggief.
Right on the mark. Putin can do what he pleases and is spanking 0b0z0 who LOVES to lead from HIS behind as much as he LOVES Reggie!
In Jarrett’s USA, do you expect anything else?
#BREAKING Governor of #Syria’s province of #Hama assassinated in car bomb attack
Ahram:
17:48 BREAKING: Hama province governor assassinated: Syria state TV
17:04 UPDATE: UN experts to start probe of alleged chemical arms site Monday
AFP:
The governor of Hama province in central Syria was assassinated in a car bombing on Sunday, state television reported, in an attack it blamed on rebels.
“Terrorists assassinated Anas Abdel Razzaq al-Naem, the Hama governor, in a car bomb attack in the Jarajma district of Hama,” it said.
Just in...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/25/us-usa-security-nsa-idUSBRE97O08120130825
U.S. spy agency bugged U.N. headquarters: Germany’s Spiegel
BERLIN | Sun Aug 25, 2013 11:30am EDT
(Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency has bugged the United Nations’ New York headquarters, Germany’s Der Spiegel weekly said on Sunday in a report on U.S. spying that could further strain relations between Washington and its allies.
Citing secret U.S. documents obtained by fugitive former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, Der Spiegel said the files showed how the United States systematically spied on other states and institutions.
Der Spiegel said the European Union and the U.N.’s Vienna-based nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), were among those targeted by U.S. intelligence agents.
(snip)
“The data traffic gives us internal video teleconferences of the United Nations (yay!),” Der Spiegel quoted one document as saying, adding that within three weeks the number of decoded communications rose to 458 from 12.
(snip)
Any word out of Putin today?
“while the Administration continues to work at the constitution”
Very important! As soon as this is done, political Islam IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL!
The MB will be outlawed and POTUS, Jarrett, can cry all she wants and Huma can go play with her Weiner!
Nothing yet ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/25/us-syria-crisis-usa-idUSBRE97O08S20130825
U.S. says Syrian offer on chemical site inspection is too late
(Reuters) - The United States has little doubt the Syrian government used chemical weapons against civilians last week, and any decision to open the site to U.N. inspectors was “too late to be credible,” a senior official in the U.S. administration said on Sunday.
“Based on the reported number of victims, reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured, witness accounts, and other facts gathered by open sources, the U.S. intelligence community, and international partners, there is very little doubt at this point that a chemical weapon was used by the Syrian regime against civilians in this incident,” the official told Reuters.
The official made clear the Syrian government’s agreement to let United Nations inspectors visit the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack was inadequate.
“At this juncture, any belated decision by the regime to grant access to the U.N. team would be considered too late to be credible, including because the evidence available has been significantly corrupted as a result of the regime’s persistent shelling and other intentional actions over the last five days,” the official said.
(snip)
Rep. McCaul on CBS: Syrian Chemical Weapons Threat to U.S.
Published August 25, 2013 | By NewsMax
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee on Sunday warned that dangerous chemicals recently used against the Syrian people could be captured by al-Qaida & used on Americans unless President Barack Obama acts quickly to destroy the weapon stockpile.
Rep. Michael McCaul, Texas Republican, told CBS‘s “Face the Nation” that securing & destroying the weapons used last week in a Damascus suburb must be the president’s top priority.
“My greatest fear as chairman of Homeland Security is these weapons ending up in the wrong hands of some al-Qaida jihadists, who we know are there fighting in the rebel forces, & that could be a direct threat not only to Western interest in the Middle East, yet moreover directly to the homeland security of the United States,” McCaul said.
(snip)
Disastrous daily releases are managed by Putin to keep 0b0z0 twisting in the wind.
The Europeans will smack 0b0z0 officially, soon!
In other news, Tunisian Tamarrod collected close to a million signatures to remove their Nahda government!
The MB is and will be routed internationally. The more they weaken, the more they are disrespected, the less financing!
I predict that a Turkish army REAL COUP will occur in the near future and that Erdogan would be lucky to escape a terrible fate!
Too late? WTH??
Get ready..Obama fixin to wag the dog. Good God!
Shows me that Obama and his MB buddies don’t want inspectors in there and are trying to put out reasons why the evidence might be ‘corrupted’ before it is possibly proven that the Islamists that he supports did this.
This is BS.
Turkey denies major arms shipment sent to Syria via Turkey
Turkish trucks transporting goods wait to cross to Syria near the Cilvegözü border gate which is located opposite of Syrian commercial crossing point Bab al-Hawa, in Hatay.
“My greatest fear as chairman of Homeland Security is these weapons ending up in the wrong hands of some al-Qaida jihadists, who we know are there fighting in the rebel forces, & that could be a direct threat not only to Western interest in the Middle East, yet moreover directly to the homeland security of the United States,” McCaul said.
Did he make the same comments in regards to Benghazi?
My head hurts reading all this. Who are these people?
What a mess.
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