Posted on 08/27/2013 5:41:21 AM PDT by maggief
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23849587
Syria crisis: Where key countries stand
It was Prince Bandar’s intelligence agency that first alerted Western allies to the alleged use of sarin gas by the Syrian regime in February.
While a trip earlier this month to the Kremlin to try to cajole President Vladimir Putin into withdrawing his support for President Assad reportedly failed, Prince Bandar automatically has greater leverage in Western capitals, not least because of friendships forged during his time in Washington. His most recent travels, rarely advertised, have taken him to both London and Paris for discussions with senior officials.
As ambassador, Prince Bandar left an imprint that still has not quite faded. His voice was one of the loudest urging the United States to invade Iraq in 2003. In the 1980s, Prince Bandar became mired in the Iran-Contra scandal in Nicaragua.
Months of applying pressure on the White House and Congress over Syria have slowly born fruit. The CIA is believed to have been working with Prince Bandar directly since last year in training rebels at base in Jordan close to the Syrian border.
The Saudis are “indispensable partners on Syria” and have considerable influence on American thinking, a senior US official told The Wall Street Journal yesterday. He added: “No one wants to do anything alone”.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323423804579024452583045962.html
The Saudi ambassador, Mr. Jubeir, has long been courting members of Congress who could pressure the administration to get more involved in Syria. He found early support from Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
(snip)
Mr. Petraeus in mid-2012 won White House approval to provide intelligence and limited training to Syrian rebels at the base, including in the use of arms provided by others. Saudi and Jordanian agents began vetting the fighters to be trained, said Arab diplomats and a former U.S. military official.
Prince Bandar has largely stayed out of Washington but held meetings with U.S. officials in the region. One was in September 2012. Sens. McCain and Graham, who were in Istanbul, met him in an opulent hotel suite on the banks of the Bosporus.
Mr. McCain said he made the case to Prince Bandar that the rebels weren’t getting the kinds of weapons they needed, and the prince, in turn, described the kingdom’s plans. The senator said that in succeeding months he saw “a dramatic increase in Saudi involvement, hands-on, by Bandar.”
(snip)
That winter, the Saudis also started trying to convince Western governments that Mr. Assad had crossed what President Barack Obama a year ago called a “red line”: the use of chemical weapons. Arab diplomats say Saudi agents flew an injured Syrian to Britain, where tests showed sarin gas exposure. Prince Bandar’s spy service, which concluded in February that Mr. Assad was using chemical weapons, relayed evidence to the U.S., which reached a similar conclusion four months later. The Assad regime denies using such weapons.
After Mr. Petraeus’s November resignation over an affair, his job was handled by his deputy, Michael Morell, who privately voiced skepticism the agency could make sure any arms supplied by the U.S. wouldn’t end up with hard-line Islamists, said congressional officials.
Ultimately, the new CIA chief was John Brennan, whose closest Saudi confidant when he was White House counterterrorism adviser was also focused on the risk of inadvertently strengthening al Qaeda. Since moving to the CIA, Mr. Brennan has been in periodic contact by phone with Prince Bandar, officials said.
McCain does act as if HIS life depends on going into Syria. He seems desperate...very strange.
Btw..I was reading your gold posts and had never heard of that before.
“’We have defences which will surprise others”
Might that be China and Russia?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuqZfaj34nc
RT: Gaddafi gold-for-oil, dollar-doom plans behind Libya ‘mission’?
We can’t put boots on the ground and we would have started this war. What’s to say China, Russia and other countries don’t jump onto Syrias side?
We pissed off enough countries over the last 5 years where someone would jump onto the Syrian bandwagon.
From the people that brought you “Baghdad Bob”, we now give you “Damascus Dan.”
Thanks. I am somewhat wary reading RT but it would make sense if this was part of reason. We have no huge stash of gold. It would turn financial markets upside down and crash our entire economy over night.
Hmmmm.....
Are these the same defenses that allowed Israel to take out, at will, their nuclear facilities and arms shipments?
That is oh so funny but with the mobsters we have running our country, it could be oh so true ;-)
I hear you, rating RT on the same level as the WaPo. ;)
This article cites various sources:
Are The Middle East Wars Really About Forcing the World Into Dollars and Private Central Banking?
Posted on January 13, 2012
Yep It’s like what you guys did on the Egypt thread. You almist don’t dare blink for fear that something might pass you by...and we LEARNED a hell of a lot from that thread about the general standard operating procedures of our friendly neighborhood brotherhood. Few people pay attention to every little detail and smidgeon of intel that is brought forward. The devil is ALWAYS in the details. And if you EVER want to know the truth, you follow that devil everywhere he goes right to his damn doorstep and wait to kill him in his sleep.
You have to know history as well. The French and British have been responsible for more wayhem in rhis world than I can begin to express. They have never been friends, just friendly depending on what’s in it for them. This isn’t the first time they have dragged America into the mud with them, and it probably won’t be the last.
Pay for Play. Qatar wants a pipeline through Homs, Syria to supply natural gas to Europe via Turkey and Greece; to Israel, to Lebanon also Jordan. Homs is supposed to be the distribution terminal.
The Qataris are pulling gas from a large gulf resevoir the Iranians are also drawing from. So there’s a competitive Qatar-Iran competition going on for getting their gas to markets. If the Qatar gas pipeline succeeds Russia loses market control and China pays a higher price for gulf gas due to higher European sales revenue.
If the Qatari gas pipeline isn’t completed Iran and Russia receive higher revenue for their gas sales to Europe and China purchases Qatari gas on the cheap since there isn’t a distribution channel to Europe.
So European gas will remain under Russian control or compete with Qatari gas.
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/318695-mccain-graham-call-for-decisive-actions-in-syria
McCain, Graham call for ‘decisive actions’ in Syria
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100988767
On Tuesday, France declared the that use of chemical weapons was unacceptable. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said a “decisive and serious” international stand was required against Damascus.
January 16, 2013
http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/1/16_Germanys_Entire_Gold_Hoard_At_The_Fed_May_Already_Be_Gone.html
Germany’s Entire Gold Hoard At The Fed May Already Be Gone
countries like Germany, Austria, and others are in serious danger of having claims on their gold stored at the Fed evaporate.
Here is what Barron had to say: “This has been happening for quite some time. In fact, I can remember hearing 6 or 7 years ago that Gaddafi wanted all of his gold back from New York. There were several tons going on a transport plane out of New York once a week to Libya.”
Keith Barron continues:
“He (Gaddafi) just didn’t trust any other government with it. Of course we all know what happened to him eventually. His gold has kind of gone missing (appropriated), and nobody knows where it is now. This is the problem the Germans, Austrians, and various other countries are facing.
They don’t want their gold to go missing....
**************************************
Yhere is a lot more to this story but I need to do my oxy now. Be back later.
Thanks both for the articles to help get me up to speed. I have a headache now...lol. So, where is Gaddafi’s gold? Is it really missing? Perhaps in Syria? Perhaps in Chicago..Hawaii....lol?
Perhaps Obie and mccain are both part of something bigger, but with slightly differing philosophies about how to reach the ultimate goal. Toss in some hatred and greed; stir well.
A total cover up and distraction from Benghazi-Gate’s gun-running operation into the wrong hands, costing four Americans their lives and many others wounded!
It was getting hotter and hotter by the day and the gassing could most likely been done by the “rebels” to incite Britt/French/U.S. intervention on their behalf!!
Never trust a Muzzie, NEVER, and Barry and his company in the W.H. are just that, Muzzies!!!
Most likely OIL has something to do with it!!!
http://www.alt-market.com/articles/1667-get-ready-for-the-death-of-the-petrodollar
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