Will der Westen wirklich Einfluss auf den Syrien-Konflikt nehmen? Dann sollten die USA aufhören, mit Krieg zu drohen, und die Israelis den Finger vom Abzug nehmen. Hilfreicher wäre es, endlich das Verhältnis zu Iran zu verbessern.

„Unsere westlichen Partner hatten schon mehrmals diesen Weg betreten. Ich hoffe, dass der gesunde Menschenverstand doch noch triumphieren wird“, sagte Lawrow.

In a strongly worded assessment, Kerry said that evidence now being gathered by United Nations experts on the ground in Syria was important but was not necessary to prove what is already “grounded in facts, informed by conscience and guided by common sense.”

“The reality is, one of the great things about this country is we do have a peaceful transfer of power,” said Jindal, chairman of the Republican Governors Assn.

Before the partisan outrage machines rev their engines for a noisy fight about Obama‘s alleged „high crimes and misdemeanors,“ some context might be in order.

The United Nations said on Monday it plans to contact the United States over a report that the U.S. National Security Agency bugged its New York headquarters and warned that countries are expected to respect the world body‘s diplomatic inviolability.

The U.S. knew Hussein was launching some of the worst chemical attacks in history — and still gave him a hand.

..

In the absence of a formal ‚smoking gun‘ provided by the UN inspection, the security council is unlikely to back military action

„The regime in Syria … has chemical weapons, but they wouldn‘t use them around Damascus, 5 km from the (U.N.) committee which is investigating chemical weapons. Of course they are not so stupid as to do so,“ Muslim told Reuters.

Warplanes and military transporters have begun arriving on Britain‘s Akrotiri air base on Cyprus, less than 100 miles from the Syrian coast, in a sign of increasing preparations for a military strike against the Assad regime in Syria.

Snipers opened fire Monday on a convoy of United Nations inspectors heading toward the site of a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, disabling the lead vehicle with multiple shots to the tires and windshield, the United Nations said, but the inspectors still managed to visit two hospitals, interview witnesses and doctors and collect patient samples for the first time since the attack last week that claimed hundreds of lives.

The United Nations said on Monday it was still possible for a U.N. team of chemical weapons experts to gather evidence necessary to investigate last week‘s alleged gas attack in suburbs east of Damascus, despite the lapse of time.

After Sisi‘s military seized power last month, a group of clerics in the kingdom signed a letter calling on King Abdullah to reverse his position, and since the violence began two weeks ago, many Saudis have spoken out on social media.

„For Riyadh to be in the frontline of a confrontation like what is taking place in Egypt is unprecedented. It is making ripples inside Saudi Arabia,“ said a Saudi journalist.

Vor der Invasion des eigenen Landes durch die Westmächte nach Ägypten fliehend, landen syrische Kriegsflüchtlinge dort in Gefangenschaft der Militärjunta.

In a press release late on Sunday, the news monitoring Network RASSD condemned killings and arbitrary arrests of journalists, including 5 of its own correspondents.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday discussed with British Prime Minister David Cameron during a phone call the situation in Syria and issues related to the coming summit of G20 due next month in Petersburg. „The basic topic was related to the situation in Syria in light of press reports about the possibility of using chemical weapons near Damascus,“ Press office of the Russian Presidency announced.

Der Rummel um die Anwendung von chemischen Waffen bei Damaskus ist offensichtlich nicht für die syrischen Behörden, sondern für jene nützlich, die Schläge gegen dieses Land von außen provozieren wollen, so der russische Außenminister Sergej Lawrow am Montag in Moskau in einer Pressekonferenz.

The team of United Nations inspectors probing the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria spent its first day in the suburbs of Damascus at the site of the alleged incident, interviewing witnesses, survivors and doctors, and collecting samples, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today.

The team returned to the site after its convoy was hit by sniper fire earlier this morning. Though its vehicle was destroyed, the team, led by Swedish scientist Dr. Åke Sellström, was unharmed. The Secretary-General said that the UN will register a strong complaint with the Government and opposition authorities about an attack “so the safety…of the investigation team will be secured.”

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon rebuffed the U.S. request to withdraw the inspectors and „stood firm on principle,“ according to a person familiar with the matter, ordering his team to continue their work establishing whether chemical weapons or toxins were responsible for the estimated hundreds of deaths of Syrian civilians.

Terroristen-Scharfschützen haben die von syrischen Sicherheitskräften begleiteten UN-Inspektoren beschossen:

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_08_26/Syria-blames-terrorists-for-firing-on-UN-inspectors-3986/

Die zionistische Propaganda versucht trotzdem die übliche Täter-Opfer-Umkehr und zitiert dazu einen Terroristen, der per Ferndiagnose behauptet, für den Beschuss könnten nur Regierungskräfte verantwortlich sein:

http://www.n24.de/n24/Nachrichten/Politik/d/3411610/heckenschuetzen-feuern-auf-un-experten.html

Die Scharfschützen-Attacke fand in der Gegend von Muadamiya im Südwesten von Damaskus statt.

Mit der Situation vertraute britische Regierungsvertreter sagen, dass sie nicht ausschliessen, die Unterstützung der UNO für den Krieg zu suchen, jedoch nicht erwarten, diese Unterstützung zu bekommen, und bereit sind, die UNO zu ignorieren und irgendwie anzugreifen.

Er lege großen Wert darauf, dass sich Europa abstimmt, sagte Steinbrück der «Südwest Presse».

The 85-year old organization remains committed to peaceful protest, as it exhorts all Egyptians – young and old, Muslims and Christians – to join ranks and wrest their rights and freedoms and the January 25 Revolution from the brutal, bloody putschists.

The leader of Egypt‘s Muslim Brotherhood was beaten by police during his arrest, and his trial is part of an attempt by the military to eliminate its political foes, a defense lawyer said on Sunday.

Die UN-Inspektoren haben den Auftrag festzustellen, ob in Ghouta Chemiewaffen eingesetzt wurden. Herauszufinden, ob die syrische Armee oder eine Rebellengruppe für den Angriff verantwortlich ist, ist nicht Bestandteil ihrer Mission.

Changes suggested by Egypt‘s army-backed rulers would scrap Islamic additions to a constitution forced through under deposed President Mohamed Mursi and revive a voting system dating back to his predecessor Hosni Mubarak.

Q7 Interviewer: Recent statements by the American administration and other Western governments have stated that the US has not ruled out military intervention in Syria. In light of this, is it looking more likely that the US would behave in the same way it did in Iraq, in other words look for a pretext for military intervention?

President al-Assad: This is not the first time that the possibility of military intervention has been raised. From the outset, the US, along with France and Britain, has strived for military intervention in Syria. Unfortunately for them, events took a different course with the balance shifting against their interests in the Security Council despite their numerous attempts to haggle with Russia and China, but to no avail. The negative outcomes that emerged in Libya and Egypt were also not in their favour.

All of this made it impossible for them to convince their constituents and the world that they were following sound or successful policies.

The situation in Libya also differs to that of Egypt and Tunisia, and Syria as I have said is very different from all these. Each country has a unique situation and applying the same scenario across the board is no longer a plausible option. No doubt they can wage wars, but they cannot predict where they will spread or how they will end. This has led them to realise that all their crafted scenarios have now spiralled out of their control.

„It is a problem that will be difficult,“ Laurent Fabius told Europe 1 radio. (..)
„In certain circumstances we can bypass it, but international law does exist,“ he said without elaborating.

Turkey would join any international coalition against Syria even if a wider consensus on action cannot be reached at the U.N. Security Council, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying on Monday.