Posted on 08/28/2013 7:06:18 AM PDT by kristinn
As the war drums for Syria get louder, let this thread serve as a repository for news, background, Tweets, photos, video, on-the-ground reports, etc., as was done recently with Egypt.
Case you missed it...Col. North said today on Hannity.... “the Obam Administration has so many leaks they need to wear pampers!”...
.......and interesting McCain mentioned the degree of leaks coming from the administration as more than he’s ever seen in a Presidency....
So likely this is about confusing and deceiving any who really think anyone knows what is going to take place...until it happens...if it happens.
It’s disturbing to me because usually before the US does act...there is a lot of propaganda...the pundits speak, the representatives chime in one way or another...and the International leaders as well....which may indicate Obam will act along the way here....but not without other nations to cover his hind quarters from any political fallout.
That’s baloney...Assad is not going to bomb his own people with chemical weapons.....but at this point he has nothing to loose with the International dynamics as they are....
Assad said from the beginning...who the enemy really is and the International Community wouldn’t buy it...now they’re screaming things have come this far....Assad also state this war would likely be at least ten years. He knows the Brotherhood does not let go easily and will channel all it’s resources now toward his country.
Just planting this article for thread:
http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/08/in-rush-to-strike-syria-u-s-tried-to-derail-u-n-probe/
Oh I don’t believe Assad would do it.....
Caww, I was thinking the exact same thing earlier about the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Incredible. This article says he didn’t want to UN in because their presence is making him delay a strike. And we can see he’s got an itchy finger. But, it makes me wonder if he just didn’t want the UN to find the source of gas. Perhaps it’s just better to cover up the crime scene.
There’s a whole lot of confusion - that is for sure.
A reminder....
CNN is paid by the US government for reporting on some events, and not reporting on others. The Obama Administration pays CNN for ‘content control’.
CNN and CNN ‘International’... are also paid by foreign governments to avoid stories that are damaging, and construct narratives that show them in a better, albeit false, light.
lol. That’s a good one
Yes...it's not what Putin, Obama, and Cameron and the rest of the players are “saying” to the media....it's about ‘the language’ they are speaking by how each moves or not it's Miltary and maneuvering of....that IS the language to pay attention to...not what they're saying as much... It was so in the Cuban Missle crisis as well...few realize we were a hair breadth away from all out Nuclear War at that time...it was that close ..too close.
http://ara.reuters.com/article/topNews/idARACAE9B2NNT20130829
Many are Shiite Muslims and Alawites 'who have supported Assad'... as he seeks to crush a rebellion of largely Sunni Muslims who want to topple his dictatorship.
"In some areas, there is mass migration by Alawites and other Shiites — they are taking everything with them, even furniture,"... said Abu Foad, a reporter for Orient, a pro-opposition television channel, based in outer Damascus. ...."They are fleeing from areas that are likely going to get hit.
Eastern Lebanese Border town of Marj near the border with Syria on Aug. 28.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/08/28/syria-refugees-attack/2722071
Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/egyptians-may-shut-suez-canal-as-bar-to-wests-anti-assad-efforts/2013/08/28/
Hassan Shahin, the Tamarod spokesperson
Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/egyptians-may-shut-suez-canal-as-bar-to-wests-anti-assad-efforts/2013/08/28/
Re. McCain
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.
#
Same talking points?
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.
I'm just trying to see the down side of muslims killing muslims rather that killing infidels. Yes, I realize it could escalate, but if not, it keeps the Sunnis and Shiites busy while killing each other.
And no. I don't care about collateral damage: Think Dresdan and Hiroshima. Just awful, but got their damn attention! ,which ultimately saved many more lives, including my Father's who after beating down Hitler was getting ready to ship out to the Pacific - until the nuclear bombs dropped.
Someone used chemical weapons in Syria.
There are about five different theories floating around the web about 'who done it.' As far as I can tell, we don't have 'proof' Assad did it other than Kerry and McCain's assertion that Assad did it.
Obama is 'in a hurry' to get this done - bypass UN, bypass Congress, bypass the fact 91% of the American people don't want an American war in Syria. Hey Barry, what's the big hurry? And why now? 9/11 is two weeks away. . Is that part of your decision?
The potential fallout goes from nothing (fat chance) to an escalating worldwide conflagration. We attack Syria, Syria kamikazes our ships, Syria and Iran hit Israel, Israel uses a tactical nuke, Putin gets huffy and invades Saudi Arabia, China gets in, and . . . it's anyone's guess. Are you prepared to help defend our only ally in the region, Israel, if they are attacked? Have you thought out all of the scenarios - two and three steps out?
Hey Barry, are you so narcissistic that you think you'll lose your street cred if you don't respond to your checkmate red line rebuff?
It's time for your to Put the Brakes on and see that this is 'Guns of August' redo. You can't take the risk.
A real leader would swallow his pride and say the 'red line' was a mistake and let them duke it out. The Syrian Civil War in not in our national interest. If you go ahead, we'll know your true colors - this has nothing to do with American national security and all about MB califate building vs globalist agenda vs destroy our military vs scandal diversion vs give American sovereignty to the UN vs whatever other intrapsychic issues you have going on.
Barry, put the Brakes On.
Oh, and another thought, after you decide not to cruise missile Syria, (and maybe save millions of lives), talk to us. Go on national TV and say you decided not to token bomb Syria to avoid the potential 18 scenarios - all bad - and you didn't think it was in US National interests, wasn't worth risking our military, etc. You'll be surprised how America responds to that speech.
Put the Brakes On!
Not entirely true. Ever hear of Mediterranean Fleet? The surface ships are always there, not to mention where our Trident and supporting attack subs are in vicinity. We don't need the Suez Canal. We also have the Pacific fleet in the Indian ocean. All the bad guys know this. It's no big secret, other that where the subs are, which makes me sleep well at night.
BM
Any truth to either of these reports? Yes, Debka can be unreliable.
Saudis offer Russia secret oil deal if it drops Syria
Saudi Arabia has secretly offered Russia a sweeping deal to control the global oil market and safeguard Russia’s gas contracts, if the Kremlin backs away from the Assad regime in Syria.
27 Aug 2013
EXCERPT
Leaked transcripts of a closed-door meeting between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan shed an extraordinary light on the hard-nosed Realpolitik of the two sides.
Prince Bandar, head of Saudi intelligence, allegedly confronted the Kremlin with a mix of inducements and threats in a bid to break the deadlock over Syria. “Let us examine how to put together a unified Russian-Saudi strategy on the subject of oil. The aim is to agree on the price of oil and production quantities that keep the price stable in global oil markets,” he said at the four-hour meeting with Mr Putin. They met at Mr Putin’s dacha outside Moscow three weeks ago.
“We understand Russia’s great interest in the oil and gas in the Mediterranean from Israel to Cyprus. And we understand the importance of the Russian gas pipeline to Europe. We are not interested in competing with that. We can cooperate in this area,” he said, purporting to speak with the full backing of the US.
The talks appear to offer an alliance between the OPEC cartel and Russia, which together produce over 40m barrels a day of oil, 45pc of global output. Such a move would alter the strategic landscape.
The details of the talks were first leaked to the Russian press. A more detailed version has since appeared in the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, which has Hezbollah links and is hostile to the Saudis.
As-Safir said Prince Bandar pledged to safeguard Russia’s naval base in Syria if the Assad regime is toppled, but he also hinted at Chechen terrorist attacks on Russia’s Winter Olympics in Sochi if there is no accord. “I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us,” he allegedly said.
Another were grumbles from the president’s circle that President Obama had found himself jammed in an awkward timeline generated by his foreign travel schedule – he is due to take off next Wednesday, Sept. 4, for Sweden on his way to the G-20 summit in St. Petersburg of Sep. 5-6.
This left the optimal dates for his decision to go through with the attack as Friday night, early Saturday, Aug. 31 or after Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 2.
Although Obama appeared still to be standing by that decision, debkafile’s Washington and Moscow sources disclose he has applied the brakes on the momentum for its implemention to buy time for US Secretary of State John Kerry to wind up secret negotiations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and strike a deal: The US would soften its military action against the Assad regime and his army and reduce it to a token blow, after which the American and Russian presidents would announce the convening of Geneva-2 to hammer out a solution of the Syrian crisis and end the civil war.
The Kerry-Lavrov back channel has not yet achieved results and so, Thursday, the fate of the US strike on Syria was still highly fluid and its timeline changeable.
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