Chris Hedges and Paul Jay discuss President Obama‘s statement that he has decided to attack Syria and seek authorization from Congress … Even though he says he doesn‘t need it.

William Hague, the UK’s foreign secretary, has ruled out military intervention in Syria stating Britain will only be offering diplomatic support in the light of PM Cameron’s defeat on the parliament vote. The UK Chancellor slammed Labour “opportunists.”

Die Ratten verlassen das Schiff. Obamas engste Alliierte halten den Gestank der Lügen nicht mehr aus, die die Grundlage für den Krieg gegen Syrien bilden. Sogar England, dessen gesamte Aussenpolitik sich auf die Frage „wie hoch?“ beschränkt, wenn die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika sagen „spring!“ entschied sich dafür, angesichts Obamas Aufforderung zum Krieg auf dem Boden zu bleiben.

Obama is asking a jury of safe spectators to press the yes or no button for military strikes. Will they vote for an end to empire?

The lesson from the Syria vote is that Britons are fed up with Blair-style messianic leadership. It should be binned

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told foreign ministers meeting in Cairo that condemnation of Syria over the poison gas attack, which U.S. officials say killed 1,429 people, was not enough. He said opposing international action on the grounds that it was „foreign intervention“ was no longer acceptable.

„We think that any military aggression against Syria would spread and expand out of the Syrian borders to all of the Middle East, which would be set on fire,“ he stressed.

(30.08.) Comparing Kerry and Obama on Syria: As President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry made the case for United States military action against the Syrian government on Friday, each carried his arguments with a different tone.

Sheikh Reza accused the 87-year-old leader of setting the stage for US-led attacks on Iraq and Libya through his speeches.

The outspoken cleric said Qaradawi is now beating the drums for another war in the Muslim world by supporting Western military action against Syria.

Al-Azhar, which is considered the largest Islamic institution in the Sunni Muslim world, expressed in a statement on Sunday its strong rejection and condemnation of American President Barack Obama’s decision to carry out a military strike against Syria, surpassing all international norms.

(2) Does the proposed AUMF authorize the President to use force against Iran or Hezbollah, in Iran or Lebanon? Again, yes, as long as the President determines that Iran or Hezbollah has a (mere) a connection to the use of WMD in the Syrian civil war, and the use of force against Iran or Hezbollah would prevent or deter the use or proliferation of WMD within, or to and from, Syria, or protect the U.S. or its allies (e.g. Israel) against the (mere) threat posed by those weapons. Again, very easy to imagine.

(a) Authorization. — The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in connection with the use of chemical weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in the conflict in Syria in order to —

(1) prevent or deter the use or proliferation (including the transfer to terrorist groups or other state or non-state actors), within, to or from Syria, of any weapons of mass destruction, including chemical or biological weapons or components of or materials used in such weapons; or

(2) protect the United States and its allies and partners against the threat posed by such weapons.

After 9/11 there was some debate over the substance of the eventual Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). The Bush administration wanted maximum executive power, including a specific provision authorizing the president to order military force within the United States itself. (…)
Whatever limits Congress tries to place on the president’s authority, we can be sure that the president will insist that he has the authority as the nation’s executive and as the Commander-in-Chief to take whatever action he thinks needs to be taken in the national interest.

“So we’re bombing Syria because Syria is bombing Syria? And I’m the idiot?” Mrs. Palin asked on Friday. “President Obama wants America involved in Syria’s civil war pitting the antagonistic Assad regime against equally antagonistic Al Qaeda affiliated rebels. But he’s not quite sure which side is doing what, what the ultimate end game is, or even whose side we should be on.”

„The evidence collected by the team will now undergo laboratory analysis and technical evaluation,“ said the group based in The Hague where the team arrived yesterday.

„These procedures may take up to three weeks for completion in a systematic, orderly and objective manner.“

aides said Obama, who as a candidate for the White House criticized President George W. Bush‘s for rushing to war in Iraq, saw formal consultation with Congress as a central part of his desired legacy to take the United States off a permanent war footing.

Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it was time for the world to do everything it could to prevent aggression against the Syrian people, and that it would back a U.S. strike on Syria if the Syrian people did.

President Obama „has the right to do this no matter what Congress does“, said secretary of state John Kerry, one of the leading advocates of a military assault on dictator Bashar al-Assad

Clearly, there is an important Constitutional issue here. The question is whether you will again choose to be silent, or whether you will give Secretary Chuck Hagel and the President notice that your oath to support and defend the Constitution precludes complicity in end-running Congress on Syria.

If, Resign

We do not understand why the White House has so far been unwilling to await the results of the UN inspection in Damascus, but we are all too familiar with what happens once the juggernaut starts rolling to war. However, if despite Thursday’s vote in the British Parliament and the increased opposition in Congress to war without the authorization of Congress, the President decides to order an attack on Syria, we urge you to act in accordance with your solemn oath to support and defend the Constitution, as well as your own conscience.

In such circumstances, we believe strongly that you should resign and explain your reasons at once to the American people.

Very Respectfully,

For the Steering Group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

William Binney, Senior Scientist, NSA (ret.)

Thomas Drake, Senior Executive, NSA (former)

Dan Ellsberg, VIPS Member Emeritus

Philip Giraldi, CIA, Operations Officer (ret.)

Larry Johnson, CIA & State Department (ret.)

W. Patrick Lang, Senior Executive and Defense Intelligence Officer, DIA (ret.)

David MacMichael, National Intelligence Council (ret.)

Elizabeth Murray, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Middle East (ret.)

Todd Pierce, US Army Judge Advocate General (ret.)

Coleen Rowley, Division Council & Special Agent, FBI (ret.)

Larry Wilkerson, Col., US Army (ret); Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell

Ann Wright, Col., US Army (ret); Foreign Service Officer (ret.)

Kennen Sie Edward Snowden noch? Wissen Sie, wer Glenn Greenwald ist? Sagen Ihnen Prism, Tempora und XKeyscore etwas? Wissen Sie, für was die Abkürzungen NSA, BND und GCHQ stehen? Ist Ihnen bewusst, dass wir aktuell den grössten Überwachungsskandal aller Zeiten erleben? Sind Sie sich des Ausmasses der Überwachung durch die Geheimdienste bewusst? Haben Sie deswegen schlaflose Nächte? Denken Sie ernsthaft, dass die Schweiz davon nicht betroffen ist?

The Obama administration begins taking its case for a strike against Syria to the American people Sunday morning, with Secretary of State John Kerry making rounds on morning television news shows.

Vor der Syrien-Rede von US-Präsident Barack Obama am Samstagabend hat Washington um ein Telefongespräch zwischen Außenamtschef John Kerry und Russlands Außenminister Sergej Lawrow gebeten. Unmittelbar vor dem vereinbarten Termin sagte aber die amerikanische Seite das Gespräch ab, erfuhr RIA Novosti aus einer diplomatischen Quelle in Moskau.

„Blood and hair samples that have come to us through an appropriate chain of custody from east Damascus from first responders — it has tested positive for signatures of sarin,“ Kerry said.

The evidence — which was gathered independently of the United Nations — strengthens President Barack Obama‘s call for military action, he said.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on multiple occasions last week that Syria was Iran‘s „testing ground.“

Iran, he said and Obama implied, was watching carefully to see how the world would respond to its client state‘s use of chemical weapons.

(08.08.) The U.S. has urged Israel to refrain from expanding settlements on land it seized during the 1967 Mideast War.

We can safely conclude that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu did not happily agree to release 104 savage Palestinian murderers as the prize for Palestinian agreement to once again sit at the negotiating table. In so doing, he damaged not just his political standing, but whatever remains of his moral authority and reputation for strategic thinking.

With the U.S. Congress in recess until Sept. 9, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday told the public not to let down its guard.

„Israeli citizens must also know that our enemies have very good reasons not to test our strength – they know why,“ he said during a cabinet meeting.

„Israel is calm and self-assured. Israeli citizens know very well that we are prepared for any possible scenario,“ Netanyahu told his Cabinet. „Israeli citizens must also know that our enemies have very good reasons not to test our strength. They know why.“

„Begrenzte Militärschläge gegen Syrien, die nicht Teil einer vollwertigen Strategie sind, welche das Kräfteverhältnis auf dem Schlachtfeld verändern, Assads Absetzung ermöglichen und dem Konflikt ein Ende setzen würde, können wir nicht unterstützen“, heißt es in einer gemeinsamen Erklärung der Senatoren.

(24.08.) Henry Porter is a journalist specialising in liberty and civil rights, and Malcolm Rifkind is a Conservative politician and the former foreign secretary.

“We now have another week with new evidence coming forward every day,” Rifkind said, citing the Obama administration’s conclusion that Assad’s security forces mounted the horrific Aug. 21 attack, which the U.S. says killed more than 1,400 people.

The Syrian opposition coalition has urged the United States Congress to support military intervention in Syria.

The Syrian government calls on the UN Secretary General to shoulder his responsibilities for preventing any aggression on Syria and pushing forward reaching a political solution to the crisis in Syria, Syria‘s permanent representative to the UN Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari, said.

It‘s a potent sign of how low the American political bar is set that gratitude is expressed because a US president says he will ask Congress to vote before he starts bombing another country that is not attacking or threatening the US. That the US will not become involved in foreign wars of choice without the consent of the American people through their representatives Congress is a central mandate of the US Constitution, not some enlightened, progressive innovation of the 21st century.

(27.05.) While the group says that putting the “Syrian house in order” is its first order of business, it says that it eventually plans to deal with the “Zionist enemy” and end the “occupation,” first of the Golan, and then of the “rest of Palestine.”

The Obama administration is using a time-tested pitch to get Congress to back military strikes in Syria: It will help protect Israel.

Reports that former South African President Nelson Mandela has been discharged from hospital are incorrect, South Africa’s presidency says.

Britain has definitively ruled out any involvement in military strikes against Syria even if further, more serious chemical weapons attacks take place, William Hague and George Osborne have said.

The people of the world have reached a critical mass of intolerance towards the rogue terror states of the US, Britain, France, Israel and a few other accomplices. We have watched their relentless mass murder and exploitation of fellow humans in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. We have witnessed how this tiny group of state terrorists imposes on the vast majority of humanity their vile criminality and in the process then insult us with grotesque lies and justifications. We have seen how these rogue states have stolen land, poisoned people’s water, burnt their crops, dispossessed their homes, assassinated families with aerial drones and ground drones in the form of death squads. They have committed all these shocking crimes with lies and impunity to the point where now these state terrorists are operating in more than one country simultaneously in a permanent state of relentless war, pushing the very future of humanity to the brink.

However, despite this lawlessness and gangsterism, the people of the world are fighting back.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I will say honestly that it was a complete surprise for me. I think that in recent years all of us, myself included, have become accustomed to the Western community accepting everything without much discussion, or so it seems to outsiders, in accordance with the wishes and policies of their senior partner, that is the United States.

But, first, what Putin said in this historic statement from Vladivostok:
A. He has been taken by surprise by the groundswell of refusal in Europe to accept anything and everything “in accordance with the wishes and policies” of the US. “I did not expect this, and what’s more I’m even surprised by it.” Putin took note that even the US’s “geopolitical ally” Britain is being guided by “national interests and common sense” and considerations of its “sovereignty.” Europe has begun, finally, to “analyse events, draw conclusions and act accordingly.”