Syria - Opposition Organises against Assad

[Kev Bar]

Kev...... I'm as anxious as the next to see " yanks panicing as their old order crumbles"..... but there's an awful lot of wishful thinking going down here.

The lies told about all the wars that the US has been involved have all been gradually exposed from Vietnam right up to Iraq ...... When Hilary Clinton says something ... I know she is lying ..... it makes no difference who corroborates it.

These guys can't tell the truth to save their lives . period.

If the US is for it .... I'm against it.

Sounds very George W to me.

[Kev Bar]

Fisk doing what he does:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion...t-8096841.html

[Kev Bar]

And check this out.

Morsi calls on Iran to support Syrian rebels.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...-syrian-rebels

[Count Bobulescu]

And check this out.

Morsi calls on Iran to support Syrian rebels.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...-syrian-rebels

That’s interesting, Morsi has everyone scratching their heads. He upset US/Israel by going to Tehran. Iran wanted him to join them in an anti Saudi pact. He might be doing something right.

http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/pos...at_into_iran_0

[Count Bobulescu]

More trouble in Syria.

Western spy agencies suspect the Syrian government has dispersed several hundred tons of chemical weapons and precursor components across as many as 20 sites across the country, heightening anxieties over the ability to secure the arsenals in the event of a complete breakdown of authority in the war-torn nation, U.S. and Middle Eastern officials say.

Officials are monitoring the sites, but the officials said there is growing fear that they have not identified every location and that some of the poisons could be stolen or used by Syrian troops against civilians.

The stockpile appears to be larger and more scattered than originally believed, according to two officials who have seen the intelligence reports. They said the most dangerous chemical stocks are kept in bunkers in about a half-dozen locations, while as many as 14 other facilities are used to store or manufacture components.

Because of the risks posed by the stockpile, U.S. intelligence agencies have devoted enormous resources to monitoring the facilities while they devise plans to safeguard them if the crisis worsens, current and former U.S. officials said.

Syria is believed to possess the world’s third-largest stockpile of chemical weapons after United States and Russia, whose Cold War arsenals are being dismantled and destroyed. Syria’s weapons, predominantly deadly nerve agents that can be delivered by artillery rockets, shells and aircraft munitions, were developed for use in a war against Israel.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...y.html?hpid=z1

[riposte]

Can't be true...... if U.S. intelligence agencies said it.

[C. Flower]

More trouble in Syria.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...y.html?hpid=z1

Syria has moved chemical weapons to avoid having them fall into opposition hands. I'm not a supporter of Assad by any means, or of chemical weapons. It is cynical of Obama/the US to focus on the moving of these weapons, as they know quite well that they have been moved, and would have to be moved again, if they were stored in an area that might be overrun by forces unknown or shelled.

The US knows quite well that this is the case. So why are they pushing this point ?

[Count Bobulescu]

Syria has moved chemical weapons to avoid having them fall into opposition hands. I'm not a supporter of Assad by any means, or of chemical weapons. It is cynical of Obama/the US to focus on the moving of these weapons, as they know quite well that they have been moved, and would have to be moved again, if they were stored in an area that might be overrun by forces unknown or shelled.

The US knows quite well that this is the case. So why are they pushing this point ?

I think the issue of concern is that when Assad finally goes, accounting for chemical weapons will be a priority, lest they fall into dangerous hands. That will likely be done by the west, and the US has announced that it now realizes that it does not have as good a handle on there locations as was previously believed, thus alerting for caution.

[riposte]

I think the issue of concern is that when Assad finally goes, accounting for chemical weapons will be a priority, lest they fall into dangerous hands. .

They are already in dangerous hands .... the USA has them.

[C. Flower]

I think the issue of concern is that when Assad finally goes, accounting for chemical weapons will be a priority, lest they fall into dangerous hands. That will likely be done by the west, and the US has announced that it now realizes that it does not have as good a handle on there locations as was previously believed, thus alerting for caution.

The sheer arrogance of "the west" is extraordinary.

I well remember the conferences not that long ago at which "the west" decided what was going to happen in Syria, and who should form a government.

The idea that Syria is a sovereign state in international law did not seem to come in to it.

[Count Bobulescu]

The sheer arrogance of "the west" is extraordinary.

I well remember the conferences not that long ago at which "the west" decided what was going to happen in Syria, and who should form a government.

The idea that Syria is a sovereign state in international law did not seem to come in to it.

Who would you employ to secure the world's 3rd largest stockpile of chemical weapons?

[Count Bobulescu]

Boots on the ground.

BEIRUT — The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said Sunday that members of its elite Quds Force are inside Syria but are not involved directly in military work, the first time a senior official has publicly admitted the involvement of Iranian military personnel in the Syrian conflict.

The Iranian’s comments are one of the clearest signs yet that the conflict in Syria has evolved into a broader regional showdown with Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah supporting the government of President Bashar al-
Assad and Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar supporting the rebels. Both sides have been accused of funneling arms into the country.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...y.html?hpid=z7

[Kev Bar]

Boots on the ground.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...y.html?hpid=z7

A depressing account of the evolving tragedy of Syria

An Alawite state would not be viable in any case: the old Alawite heartlands have never had much in the way of utilities or employment opportunities and the community would be dependent on outside backers such as Russia or Iran. A Lebanese solution for Syria, in which different areas have different outside backers, may be the end result, but it is nobody’s goal.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v34/n18/nir-ros...g-the-alawites

[riposte]

Syrian rebels latest handiwork at a medieval souk in Aleppo, Syria.

[C. Flower]

Another kind of tragedy, destruction of culture, a feature of the Iraq war too, and now Libya. RTE reported on the burning of the Souk this morning.

The shift from protest to heavily armed battles has pushed protest off the street.

U.K. and U.S. intelligence, working out of Cyprus and Turkey, said to be doing most of the arming and providing information on Syrian troop movements.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/syria-rebel...041638306.html

Amnesty International is reporting that armed forces of both sides are carrying out atrocities.