Syriens Ratifizierung der Chemiewaffenkonvention (CWC) senkt die Zahl der Länder auf dem Planeten, die nicht Mitglieder sind, auf sechs, und wirft einige unerwünschte neue Aufmerksamkeit auf das eine, an Syrien grenzende Land: Israel.

Darauf einigten sich die beiden Außenamtschefs, Sergej Lawrow und Wang Yi, am Dienstag in einem Telefongespräch, teilte das russische Außenministerium mit. Die Positionen würden sowohl auf der Ebene der Organisation für das Verbot der chemischen Waffen als auch auf der der Vereinten Nationen koordiniert, hieß es. Das Gespräch fand auf Initiative der chinesischen Seite statt.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood condemns the putschists’ repressive practices and urges them to apologize to the Egyptian people, leave politics to politicians and go back to their sacred mission of protecting the country’s borders.

Murad Ali says he was put in a foul-smelling cell on death row, sleeping on a concrete floor, and denied light and human contact after his arrest in Egypt‘s crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. „It was as dark as a grave,“ he wrote in a letter addressed to friends and family and seen by Reuters.

Egyptian police arrested Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad on Tuesday, three security officials said, the latest high-profile detention in the army-backed authorities‘ crackdown on the Islamist movement.

Bei den sowjetischen Geschossen, deren Splitter die UN-Kontrolleure am Ort des C-Waffen-Einsatzes bei Damaskus gefunden haben, handelt es sich laut Ruslan Puchow, Direktor des Moskauer Zentrums für Strategie- und Technologieanalyse, um Munition für Mehrfachraketenwerfer, von denen die syrische Armee schon seit langem keine mehr hat.

Diplomats from the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China will meet in New York on Tuesday to discuss a Western-drafted resolution on eradicating Syria‘s chemical arsenal in line with a U.S.-Russian agreement, a U.S. official said.

The UN‘s confirmation that a chemical attack took place in Damascus last month appears almost dated, given how fast diplomatic wrangling has come in the past few weeks. That might be why few have bothered to go as far as reading the data published in the UN‘s report.

If the NSA can‘t even keep track of how its systems work, how can we trust them to know that the system isn‘t being abused (or that it‘s accurately doing what the NSA claims):

Rousseff, who was infuriated by the spying reports, decided to cancel despite a 20-minute telephone call from President Barack Obama on Monday night in a last-minute attempt to salvage the trip, O Globo newspaper said.

In Bremen wird jeder dritte Euro aus den gesamten Steuereinnahmen für die Zinstilgung verwendet. Das geht aus einer neuen Studie des Kölner Wirtschaftsinstitut hervor. Auch andere Bundesländer werden von der hohen Zinslast zunehmend erdrückt. Diese Steuergelder gehen genau an die Finanzinstitute, die vom Staat regelmäßig “gerettet” werden – mit unseren Steuergeldern.

„Die Resolution, die der Rat der Organisation für das Verbot chemischer Waffen billigen soll, wird nicht aufgrund des Artikels 7 (der Charta) angenommen. Wir haben dies in Genf deutlich formuliert und das von uns abgestimmte Dokument enthält kein Wort darüber“, sagte Lawrow am Dienstag in Moskau in einer Pressekonferenz nach Verhandlungen mit dem französischen Außenminister Laurent Fabius.

Syria accused Western powers on Tuesday of trying to wreck prospects for a negotiated settlement to the country‘s 2-1/2-year conflict by imposing preconditions on the peace process and supporting rebel fighters.

French President Francois Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius met British Foreign Secretary William Hague and US Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris on Monday to discuss the crisis.

A Pentagon spokesman told ProPublica that revealing such a list could cause “serious damage to national security.”

“Because elements that might be considered ‘associated forces’ can build credibility by being listed as such by the United States, we have classified the list,” said the spokesman, Lt. Col. Jim Gregory.

(26.07.) At a hearing in May, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked the Defense Department to provide him with a current list of Al Qaeda affiliates.

The Pentagon responded – but Levin’s office told ProPublica they aren’t allowed to share it.

(28.07.) Vergangenen Mai erklärte Obama in einer Ansprache mehrmals, die USA führt Krieg gegen „Al-Kaida, den Taliban und mit ihnen assoziierten Kräften“. Er sagte an der National Defense University in Fort McNair, Washington D.C. am 23. Mai, „im vergangenen Jahrzehnt hat unser Land weit über ein Billion Dollar für Kriege ausgegeben, was unser Defizit explodieren lies … Fast 7‘000 Amerikaner haben ihr Leben dafür geopfert … Wir müssen die Arbeit beenden und Al-Kaida und die assoziierten Kräfte besiegen.“ Wer diese Kräfte genau sind ist aber ein Geheimnis.

„The greatest danger to Israel is by the strategic arc that extends from Tehran, to Damascus to Beirut. And we saw the Assad regime as the keystone in that arc,“ he said.

(15.02.2012) Vor diesem Hintergrund gewinnt die erste Videobotschaft von Al-Kaida-Führer Aiman al-Sawahiri zur Syrienkrise an Gewicht. (..) Man solle sich nur auf Allah stützen; er appelliert an „Entschlossenheit zu Widerstand und Opfer zu bringen“.

“Bad guys” backed by Iran are worse for Israel than “bad guys” who are not supported by the Islamic Republic, Israel’s outgoing ambassador to the US Michael Oren told The Jerusalem Post in a parting interview.

(1.April 2005) All this regional mischief-making is critical because we are at the dawn of an Arab Spring — the first bloom of democracy in Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine and throughout the greater Middle East — and its emerging mortal enemy is a new axis of evil whose fulcrum is Syria.

(08.05.2013) Israel, Saudi-Arabien, die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate, Jordanien und die Türkei wollen einen Militärpakt gründen. Die U.S.A. befördern die Angelegenheit, so israelische “Offizielle”.

States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. (..)

None of us would ever wish the evil that was done on September the 11th. Yet after America was attacked, it was as if our entire country looked into a mirror and saw our better selves. We were reminded that we are citizens, with obligations to each other, to our country, and to history. We began to think less of the goods we can accumulate, and more about the good we can do.

For too long our culture has said, „If it feels good, do it.“ Now America is embracing a new ethic and a new creed: „Let‘s roll.“

Die Achse des Bösen (Axis of Evil) ist ein am 29. Januar 2002 vom damaligen US-Präsidenten George W. Bush in einer Rede zur Lage der Nation geprägtes politisches Schlagwort, mit dem er die Länder Nordkorea, Iran und Irak in einen gemeinsamen Kontext stellte und behauptete, sie seien mit Terroristen alliiert und rüsteten auf, um den Weltfrieden zu bedrohen.

North Korean ambassador So Se Pyong, addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council, said: „Such a mechanism is only a product of politicisation of human rights on the part of the EU and Japan in alliance with the U.S. hostile policy against the DPRK (Democratic People‘s Republic of Korea).“

Michael Kirby, head of the independent inquiry, said testimony from North Korean exiles, including former political prison camps inmates, given at public hearings in Seoul and Tokyo last month, suggested a pattern of behavior by the state.

„Wir sind der Auffassung, dass auch die Meldung über einen C-Waffen-Einsatz nach dem 21. August unbedingt untersucht werden muss. Den Inspektoren steht es bevor, all das zu tun. Danach werden sie einen endgültigen Bericht über ihre Mission vorlegen müssen“, sagte Lawrow auf einer Pressekonferenz nach Verhandlungen mit dem französischen Außenminister Laurent Fabius.

Although the report did not assign blame, France, Britain and United States seized upon it, saying there was „little doubt“ Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces were responsible for the onslaught.

„Geht man davon aus, dass diese Provokation als Vorwand für einen US-Militärschlag gedacht und dass die bewaffnete Opposition involviert war, dann spielt die Verwendung von Geschossen aus sowjetscher bzw. russischer Produktion dem Westen in die Hand“, urteilte Korotschenko, Direktor des Moskauer Forschungszentrums für Weltwaffenhandel (CAWAT) und Chefredakteur des Magazins „National Defence“, am Dienstag.

Both sides in Syria’s civil war see the deal to dismantle President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons stockpiles as a major turning point. It left rebels deflated and government supporters jubilant. And both sides say it means the United States knows Mr. Assad is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Mindestens 22 Regimegegner sind bei einem Gefecht zwischen der Terrororganisation Dschabhat an-Nusra und anderen Rebellengruppen in Syriens drittgrößter Stadt Homs getötet worden, berichtet das Staatsfernsehen. Das Gefecht ereignete sich im Stadtviertel Bab Hud.

The Israeli military said its troops opened fire as the man tried to flee arrest…

Defense minister says Syrian disarmament deal proves military threat can ultimately bring about diplomatic solution, urges international community to address Iran‘s nuclear program

First meeting of US and Iranian leaders since 1979 revolution could open way to diplomatic end to Iranian nuclear standoff

(15.09.) Obama confirmed publicly for the first time on “This Week” that he has exchanged letters with new Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, who has vowed to act forcefully to prevent any Western military intervention in Syria, using “all efforts to prevent it.”

Iran first announced the exchange last week. It was confirmed by Obama in a U.S. interview broadcast Sunday.

23 September – Disability and development : „The way forward: a disability inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond“
24 September to 4 October – General Debate
26 September – High-level meeting of the General Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament
3-4 October – High-level dialogue on international migration and development

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the closing of the sixty-seventh session of the General Assembly in New York on 16 September:

Like most Americans, you probably have no idea who Janet Yellen is, and you probably don‘t care.

But she might soon be — or at least should be — in charge of the Federal Reserve, making her one of the most powerful people on the planet.

Global markets are euphoric over the defeat of Larry Summers, blocked by Senate Democrats from taking over the US Federal Reserve. His ties to Wall Street doomed him.

(12.09.) Washington, DC – United States Senator Elizabeth Warren today addressed Better Markets and George Washington Law School‘s Center for Law, Economics, and Finance in a speech on the five year anniversary of the financial crisis. In her remarks, the senator questioned the adequacy of steps taken to end ‘Too Big to Fail‘ and the effectiveness of regulatory agencies‘ oversight to deter future crises, noting that the four biggest banks are thirty percent larger than they were five years ago and the five largest banks currently hold more than half of the total banking assets in the country.