By a 48% to 29% margin, more Americans oppose than support conducting military airstrikes against Syria

AIPAC, an influential lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies in the United States, issued a statement Tuesday urging members of Congress to approve President Barack Obama‘s military strike on Syria.

I have to assume that George W. Bush is laughing today.

A reference to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC was mysteriously cut from a New York Times article published online Monday and in print Tuesday. The first version, published online Monday, quotes an anonymous administration official calling AIPAC the „800-pound gorilla in the room.“ The original article, which is still available on The Boston Globe‘s site, had two paragraphs worth of quotes from officials about the powerful lobbying group‘s position in the Syria debate:

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon cast doubt on U.S. and French intelligence on the alleged chemical attack in Damascus and warned against a U.S. military intervention.

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Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood holds the putschists accountable for safety as well as health of all prisoners, including Brotherhood Chairman Badie.

As the fascist putschists’ desperate media campaign criticizes coup opponents as terrorists, the real traitors and ruthless terrorists are killing and wounding thousands of people, arresting thousands more, chasing, terrorizing and lynching to death people in streets all over Egypt, simply because they look like practicing Muslims.

The Salafist conservative Islamist party Al Nour has agreed to join the assembly that is drafting a new Egyptian constitution. The party will support efforts to base Egyptian legislation on Sharia law.

Broadcaster says it has pinpointed four different sources of jamming after commissioning an interference detection company

„Since 3 July, a total of five journalists have been killed, 80 journalists have been arbitrarily detained (with seven still held) and at least 40 news providers have been physically attacked by the police or by pro-Morsi or pro-army demonstrators,“ RWB wrote. It called the killings „without precedent in the country‘s contemporary history.“

An Egyptian court has ordered the closure of four television channels that have been accused of sympathising with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Die juristischen Berater beriefen sich in ihrem Antrag auf ein Gesetz, das nicht-staatlichen Akteuren die Bildung paramilitärischer Gruppen untersagt.

One of the aims of participating in the committee is “to defend the articles of identity which constitute a true representation of the Egyptian people’s identity, rather than that of a particular political current,” a statement issued by Nour on Sunday said.

In an interview on Al Hayah television programme, Makhioun said protests supporters of overthrown president Mohamed Morsi will “produce no good” as the “Egyptian people require stability”.

There is no agreement on figures for victims of the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, but estimates of the detained range from 1,000 to 8,000

Die Geschichte, mit der die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika ihren geplanten Überfall auf Syrien rechtfertigen, hängt an einer Reihe von Indizien. Im Grossen und Ganzen behaupten sie, dass nachdem Syrien chemische Waffen besitzt und Menschen irgendwelchen Chemikalien ausgesetzt worden sind, es sich um einen Angriff mit chemischen Waffen gehandelt haben muss.

U.S. water fluoridation chemical is Syria‘s „chemical weapon“

The White House released a 4-page document setting forth its case for use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government.

But as shown below, the case is extremely weak (government’s claim in quotes, followed by rebuttal evidence).

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, said on Tuesday she believes Congress will support a resolution authorizing the use of U.S. military force against Syria.

John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said on Tuesday he would support President Barack Obama‘s call for military action in Syria and urged his colleagues in Congress to do the same.

After meeting with President Obama at the White House Tuesday morning, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said he will support Obama’s call for military strikes in Syria and encourage his colleagues in Congress to do the same.

President Obama has put his and the nation’s credibility at stake with his call for congressional authorization to launch a military strike against Syria. But the coming debate also provides an early and important test for any Republican contemplating a campaign for the White House in 2016.

At least one member of the shadow cabinet made it known that he would resign if Miliband, who had not ruled out supporting military strikes, backed Cameron.

Sarah Wollaston, the rebel Tory MP for Totnes, said her office was unable to keep up with emails from constituents who feared, like her, a repeat of Iraq and Afghanistan, and a wider war in the Middle East.

„Uns wurde nicht gesagt, was das für Waffen waren und wie wir damit umgehen sollten“, sagte eine andere Kämpferin. „Wir wussten nicht, dass das Chemiewaffen waren.“

Dutzende Rebellen gaben zu, dass sie von der saudi-arabischen Regierung nicht nur Waffen bekommen, sondern auch bezahlt werden.

Ron Paul was branded a “conspiracy theorist” by Salon for suggesting that the Syrian chemical attack was a false flag operation designed to get America into another Middle East war.

Paul pointed to the false intelligence that led to the Iraq War to back up his statement.

“[Syrian President Bashar] Assad, I don’t think is an idiot. I don’t think he would do this on purpose,” Paul told Fox News host Neil Cavuto on the allegation that Assad used chemical weapons on civilians.

Dabei geht es weniger um die Machtverhältnisse in Syrien oder eine Einmischung in den Bürgerkrieg. Obama, analysiert der Wiener Politologe Heinz Gärtner im Interview mit derStandard.at, muss den Militärschlag durchführen, um sein Gesicht zu wahren.

Rightwingers‘ long months of frustration at perceived US impotence are in danger of boiling over into violent action

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The Guardian has an interesting interview with former NSA boss Bobby Ray Inman, who argues in favor of broad NSA surveillance efforts, but does feel that perhaps the federal government should, you know, stop lying about it:

„Vorläufig haben wir keine Informationen“, sagte der Sprecher des US-Verteidigungsministeriums.

The missile is part of Israel‘s Hetz anti-missile system. The test was carried out with the US Missile Defense Agency.

The Israeli military told Reuters, initially, it was not aware of any missile launches in the the eastern Mediterranean, but it now appears that Israel may have carried out a joint missile test with the U.S., reports said.

(17.März) Zehn Jahre nach der Irak-Invasion hat sich nichts geändert. Der Präsident des Bundesnachrichtendienstes, Gerhard Schindler, folgt wieder einmal den Vorgaben aus den U.S.A.

In geheim eingestuften Unterrichtungen für Sicherheitspolitiker sagte BND-Präsident Gerhard Schindler, ein eindeutiger Beweis fehle zwar. Nach einer eingehenden Plausibilitätsanalyse aber gehe sein Dienst davon aus, dass das Regime Täter sei.

“When the chairman the Joint Chiefs says, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter when we strike,’ well, that’s not a military action,” Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said Sunday on Face the Nation on CBS. “That’s a symbolic action.”