Chairman of the Parliamentary Group for South Caucasus in the German Bundestag Johannes Kahrs made a statement on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for „Hauptstadt INSIDER“ publication, the Azerbaijan-Europe society said on Aug. 11.

Eigentlich verfügt Gregor Gysi über ein untrügliches Gespür, was der Linkspartei zumutbar ist. Er ist ein Virtuose des Konsens, der zusammenhält, was nicht unbedingt zusammengehört: sozialdemokratische Realos und linke Fundis zum Beispiel. Anscheinend hat nun sein Radarsystem versagt: Von Ausnahmen wie Jan Korte abgesehen, steht die Partei von rechts bis links gegen die große Integrationsfigur. Das ist neu.

…

(2. Juli) ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A referendum to decide on independence for the autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq “is a question of months,” Kurdish President Massoud Barzani told the BBC in an interview.

“I cannot fix a date right now but it’s a question of months,” Barzani said about a referendum, adding it was up to the Kurdish parliament to decide on the date.

The troops will work with State Department officials and USAID to develop plans to help the Yazidi people, a religious minority displaced on Sinjar Mountain.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel formally announced the deployment in remarks to Marines at Camp Pendleton, California.

„This is not a combat boots on the ground kind of operation,“ Hagel said.

…

(11. August) Hewlett-Packard is having a big conference in Boston and activists are mobilizing a thunderclap campaign to dramatize the company’s complicity in occupation and massacre in Palestine. They are urging folks to tweet at the hashtag #HPBigData2014.

Yes, Goldberg gets sick access, and why? Because the former Israeli corporal is the living embodiment of the Israel lobby in American politics: Jewish leaders read him closely, they trust him. And any ambitious Democratic politician, say Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, who wants to kiss the tuchus of the Israel lobby can do so readily by sitting down across from him and performing in such a manner that Goldberg will proclaim “masterful,” as he does of Hillary’s mind.

The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit convened by President Barack Obama last week is evidence of the growing importance of Africa in the global stage and the realization by the Obama administration that there are gains for the United States in deeper involvement in the continent. For a president who has been criticized for apparent disengagement in global affairs, this summit was important and could signify a turning point in U.S.-Africa relations.

(11. August) As well, they discussed Africa following Renzi‘s mission to Mozambique, Congo and Angola in July and ahead of a US-Africa summit in the American capital on Tuesday, officials said.

Although police cancelled the permit for a protest in Tel Aviv on 9 August 2014 against Israel‘s assault on Gaza, some radical activists showed up anyways, as did a group of pro-war counter-protesters.

#antifa972

…

Legal experts and the ICC’s own bylaws say that it is a court of last resort. This means that the ICC will only intervene when a country is found to be unwilling or unable to carry out its own investigation.

The state asked the High Court of Justice on Tuesday to reject a petition seeking to force it to declare Operation Protective Edge a war.

State Comptroller Yosef Shapira announced Wednesday that he has decided to launch an inquiry into the decision-making process in both the political and military leadership during Operation Protective Edge.

In addition, Shapira will investigate the IDF and Israeli government‘s investigation mechanisms.

Both Benjamin Netanyahu and Egypt’s president are judicious, wise and hate Hamas. Wait, maybe they’re not so similar. In Israel, everyone stands with the leader.

Simone Camilli, 35, died Wednesday when Gaza police engineers were neutralizing unexploded ordnance in the Gaza town of Beit Lahiya left over from fighting between Israel and Islamic militants.

(10. August) The March 14 coalition held an extraordinary expanded meeting at the Center House on Friday evening, in the presence of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri for the first time in over three years following his surprising return to Lebanon earlier in the day.

(27. Juni) JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry signaled on Friday that the U.S. hopes to enlist moderate Syrian opposition fighters that the Obama administration has reluctantly decided to arm and train in the battle against militant extremists in neighboring Iraq.

(30. Juni 2014) President Obama’s plan to spend another half-billion dollars on Syria’s “moderate” rebels will add more fuel to the destructive violence just as the killing was finally dying down. It’s also hard to see how this investment will promote serious negotiations, notes ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.

(26. Juni 2014) President Obama requested $500 million from Congress Thursday to train and arm the moderate opposition in Syria. The request was part of the 2015 war-funding request, which totaled nearly $60 billion.

The request for $500 from Congress would go toward helping a Syrian opposition that is now waging an offensive against President Bashar al-Assad and also against extremist groups like ISIS.

(26. Juni 2014) ISIS now control several border posts with Syria and have stolen U.S.-made weapons from Iraqi forces.

(28. März 2014) The grant was confirmed at a briefing by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s advisor on national security and foreign affairs, who also said that Saudi Arabia had agreed to purchase weapons from Pakistan.

The Pakistan government declined to specify what kind of weapons the Kingdom was looking for and denied that any arms purchased by Saudi Arabia will be sent to Syria.

(16. Januar 2014) Katar und Saudi Arabien sagten jeweils 60 Millionen US-Dollar Hilfsgelder für die vom Krieg drangsalierte syrische Bevölkerung zu. Beide Staaten finanzieren gleichzeitig Kampfverbände in Syrien, die Menschen, die mit ihrem Vorgehen nicht einverstanden sind, aus Wohnungen, Dörfern und Stadtteilen vertrieben haben.

(16. Januar 2014) Geld für die Hungernden zu sammeln ist bitter nötig. Trotzdem bleibt Skepsis angebracht. Denn bislang hat das Regime fast alle Hilfsgüter einkassiert.

Kerry said the U.S. overall pledge of $380 million would bring America’s humanitarian aid contribution to Syrian victims to $1.7 billion since the war began.

Half of the money – $177 million – will go to U.N. programs for victims still in Syria.

(15. Januar 2014) The $1.5 billion pledged via the United Nations at a similar meeting last year in Kuwait was used in Syria and surrounding countries to provide food rations, medicine, drinking water and shelters.

That didn‘t take long.

(17. März 2013) Was hinter dieser nicht von alleine endenden Arie von Nebelkerzen, Märchen und Desinformationen der U.S.-Regierung und der C.I.A. (mit dem Bundesnachrichtendienst an der Leine) steckt, ist simpel. Den Befehlshabern und Betreibern dieser Invasion – den Regierungen in Washington und Berlin, London und Paris – geht es darum die Syrien-Invasion erfolgreich abzuschließen. Wie und um welchen Preis ist völlig egal, solange man nur am Ende als Sieger dasteht.

(14. April 2013) Jordan has agreed to spearhead a Saudi-led push to arm rebel groups through its borders into southern Syria, in a move that coincides with the transfer from Riyadh to Amman of more than $1bn (£650m).

It marks a significant change for Jordan, from a policy of trying to contain the spillover threat posed by the civil war across its border to one of actively aiming to end it before it engulfs the cash-strapped kingdom.

(30. Januar 2013) Geplant ist, dass ein Drittel der jetzt gesammelten Gelder den Menschen in Syrien selbst zugutekommen soll, der Rest den inzwischen fast 700.000 Flüchtlingen in den Nachbarländern.

(29. März 2012) Saudi Arabia has argued strongly for weapons supplies to Syrian rebels despite U.S. concerns. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was traveling Thursday to Saudi Arabia to meet with the king and other senior Saudi officials, was expected to raise any Saudi plans to arm the Syrian rebels, U.S. officials said. The officials said the Obama administration remains opposed to introducing more arms into the conflict.

On 1 November 2011, NATO said it had no intention of taking military action in Syria, after it closed its seven-month campaign in Libya. On that same month, Libyan rulers offered weapons, money and potential volunteers, it was reported that 600 rebel fighters have gone from Libya to Syria in order to support the rebels.

In June 2012, Reuters suggested that the prospect of British special forces entering Syria on the ground is growing, following unconfirmed reports from an Israeli website that SAS Commandos were conducting covert operations within Syrian territory, operating from Turkey on 26 June 2012.

At a conference in Paris in July 2012, Western and Sunni Arab countries nonetheless announced they were going to „massively increase“ aid to the Syrian opposition.

In 2012, the United States, United Kingdom and France provided opposition forces with non-lethal military aid, including communications equipment and medical supplies. The U.K. was also reported to have provided intelligence support from its Cyprus bases, revealing Syrian military movements to Turkish officials, who then pass on the information to the FSA.

A crucial line of support began in spring 2012 as Saudi Arabia and Qatar announced they would begin arming and bankrolling the opposition. Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, and Emile Hokayem of the International Institute of Strategic Studies argued such support would be unlikely to immediately make a decisive impact. A ship carrying weapons from Libya believed destined for Syria‘s rebels has also been intercepted. Qatar is reported to be shipping arms to Sunni Islamists in Syria as a means of cementing alliances in the Middle East.

On 22 April 2013 the European Union lifted its embargo on Syrian oil to import barrels directly from rebel groups. Several of the oil fields are believed to be under control of Jabhat al-Nusra. Some analysts say the decision might also set up a deadly competition between rebel groups over the resource.

In late August 2013 a number of commercial pilots and local residents have reported seeing increased numbers of British military aircraft at RAF Akrotiri including C-130 transports and fighter aircraft.

A vote was held within the British House of Commons on 29 August 2013 to decide whether the United Kingdom would join the United States in initiating militant action against the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Government. Despite support from the Prime Minister David Cameron, the motion was defeated by 285 votes to 272. Cameron said that he would respect this Parliamentary decision and that the United Kingdom would not partake in military action against Syria.

On 19 September 2013, French President François Hollande hinted that France was ready to begin supplying lethal aid to the Free Syrian Army during a press conference in Bamako in a „controlled framework“. Hollande told the conference that „On delivering weapons we have always said that we want to control these supplies so that they do indeed go to the Free Syrian Army … because they represent the Syrian National Coalition that we recognise as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people and today they are caught between a hammer and an anvil. The hammer is the air strikes and actions of the Syrian regime and the anvil is radical Islam.”