KRAUTHAMMER: He said in advance. That’s not a botch, that’s his objective, is to send a message. I say send a text. It’s less expensive.

President Barack Obama repeatedly denied Wednesday that he ever set a “red line” against the use of chemical weapons in Syria, and he insisted that the “world community” and Congress created the so-called red line, and should enforce the line.

“I didn’t set a red line,” he insisted to reporters at a press conference in Sweden Wednesday morning.

Those “good friends” are officials from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, which are all religious and political enemies of Syria’s embattled dictatorship

Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said Wednesday that there was a “rumor” floating around that the House may not vote on whether to authorize the use of force in Syria.

“There’s a rumor circulating today that perhaps the House will not have a vote on authorization. That the senate will and not on the House side.” Ros-Lehtinen said at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, asking Secretary of State John Kerry to comment on it.

Kerry said he had heard no such thing and declined to make any comment on it.

Das Weisse Haus und seine Medienhuren sagen dem Kongress, dass es zu demütigend ist für den Präsidenten der „einzigen Supermacht der Welt,“ zurückstecken und aufgeben zu müssen, nur weil er gelogen hat. Der Kongress muss „das Gesicht wahren“ für den Lügner, der „Amerikas erster schwarzer Präsident“ ist, oder Prestige und Glaubwürdigkeit der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika werden verloren sein.

Putin said it was absurd to assume that the Syrian government would have decided to use such weapons at a point when it was about to defeat its opponents.

Putin said: „This was very unpleasant and surprising for me. We talk to them (the Americans) and we assume they are decent people, but he is lying and he knows that he is lying. This is sad.“

Putin repeated Russia‘s position that any use of military force against Syria without the approval of the U.N. Security Council would be an act of aggression.

http://t.co/WOVVGFgjzh

Hat der Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) Belege dafür, dass Syriens Präsident Assad den Giftgasangriff nahe Damaskus befohlen hat? Um Klarheit angesichts der aktuellen Spekulationen zu bekommen, fordert Omid Nouripour im Gespräch mit Zeit Online, dass der BND seine Informationen zum Thema offenlegt.

Participants at a confidential meeting of German lawmakers on Monday said the head of the BND foreign intelligence agency told them it had intercepted a phone call believed to be between a high-ranking member of the Lebanese Shi‘ite militant group and the Iranian Embassy in Damascus.

In a statement, the ministry suggested the Russian findings were being ignored and also said that nations that blame the Syrian government for a chemical attack near Damascus last month have played down evidence to the contrary.

Defending France‘s call for military action against Bashar al-Assad, Ayrault told French parliament any response should be „strong, quick and targeting specific objectives“, but ruled out any French troops being sent on the ground.

Barack Obama appealed to the international community to back his plan to punish Syria with a military strikes, saying the „world had set a red line“ over the use of chemical weapons, not him.

Speaking in Stockholm, Obama sought to play down his personal role in the response to the allegations that the Assad regime had gassed its own people in attacks outside Damascus on 21 August.

Secretary of State Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel make their reprise on Capitol Hill Wednesday, this time testifying before members of Congress at the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Syria.

Wenn es ernst wird, merkt man das auch an den kleinen Details, der Kulisse, der Sitzordnung. Zum Beispiel an Teresa Heinz. Der Senatsausschuss für Auswärtiges diskutiert vor grau-weißer Marmorwand über Syrien, und die Ketchup-Millionenerbin, die man sonst nur selten sieht, sitzt in der ersten Zuschauerreihe, direkt hinter John Kerry, ihrem Ehemann.

The parliamentary leader of France’s conservative opposition UMP said on Wednesday that his party could not support Socialist President François Hollande’s plans for military intervention in Syria without the full backing of the United Nations.

Die Konservativen der UMP wollen obendrein die Ergebnisse der Uno-Giftgasexperten abwarten und eine anschließende Entscheidung im Weltsicherheitsrat. Auf diesem Kurs liegen auch die Zentrumsvertreter, während „Front National“ ebenso wie Kommunisten und Linkspartei ein Engagement ablehnen, weil sich Frankreich damit zum „Hilfssheriff“ der USA machen würde.

Für ihn sei es eine peinliche Überraschung gewesen, als US-Außenminister John Kerry die Frage eines Kongressabgeordneten nach Präsenz von Al-Kaida in Syrien verneint habe. „Er lügt. Und er weiß, dass er lügt. Das ist bedauerlich“, sagte Putin.

Der Bundesnachrichtendienst übermittelt der amerikanischen NSA jeden Monat drei Millionen Telekommunikations-Verkehrsdaten. Das geht aus Informationen des Bundeskanzleramts hervor, die netzpolitik.org über Umwege erfahren hat.

„My credibility is not on the line,“ Obama said. „International credibility is on the line.“