Gazette - 082613

Monday August 26th 2013

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Syria crisis: UN inspectors' convoy hit by sniper fire

Unidentified snipers have opened fire on a convoy of UN experts investigating suspected chemical weapons attacks in Syria's capital, the UN has said.

One car was shot at "multiple times", forcing the convoy to turn back.
Syrian state media blamed opposition "terrorists" for the attack, though the claim could not be verified.
The UN team later resumed its mission, entering the western district of Muadhamiya to gather evidence, before returning to central Damascus.
Hundreds died in alleged attacks on Wednesday in five districts near Damascus.
The US said there was little doubt that Syrian forces used chemical weapons in the attacks, which reportedly killed more than 300 people in rebel-held areas.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dismissed the accusation as "an insult to common sense" and warned the US against military intervention.
"If someone is dreaming of making Syria a puppet of the West, then this will not happen," he told the Russian newspaper Izvestiya.

Assad: Syrian Troops Did Not Use Chemical Weapons

DAMASCUS, Syria — Snipers opened fire Monday at a U.N. vehicle carrying a team investigating the alleged use of chemical weapons in Damascus, a U.N. spokesman said. The Syrian government accused the rebels of firing at the team, while a rebel representative said a pro-government militia was behind the attack.
Activists said the team later arrived in Moadamiyeh, a western suburb of the capital and one of the areas where last week's attack allegedly occurred. They said the team was meeting with doctors and victims at a makeshift hospital.
The United States has said that there is little doubt that President Bashar Assad's regime was responsible for the attack on Aug. 21 in the capital's suburbs. Activists say the action killed hundreds; the group Doctors Without Borders put the death toll at 355 people.
Monday's shooting came as support for an international military response was mounting if it is confirmed that Assad's troops used chemical weapons.
Martin Nesirky, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said the U.N. vehicle was "deliberately shot at multiple times" in the buffer zone area between rebel- and government-controlled territory, adding that the team was safe.

US will make legal case for striking Syria without UN approval 

Sources tell 'Post' the United States is preparing justification for use of force against Syria with allies, which will circumvent Russia, China vows to block military intervention; military action possible in coming days.

WASHINGTON -- The United States is preparing legal justification for the use of force against Syria with allies Britain and France that would circumvent the United Nations Security Council, where Russia and China have vowed to block any resolution authorizing military intervention in the conflict.
The US will detail its case soon, with military action possible in the coming days, sources tell The Jerusalem Post.
Yesterday, the US dismissed Syria's decision to grant UN inspectors access to the the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, where Syrian rebels claim the army of nominal president Bashar Assad used sarin gas last week to kill hundreds of civilians as they slept.

Iran warns US against action on Syria

A war of words erupted on Sunday over Syria as Washington said it was ready to take action over chemical weapons attacks and Tehran warned US intervention would carry "harsh consequences".
Pressure mounted on Damascus to allow a UN probe of chemical attacks, with French President Francois Hollande saying evidence indicated the regime in war-ravaged Syria was to blame and Israel demanding action against its neighbour.
The Al-Nusra Front, a fierce Al-Qaeda-linked group fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad, vowed revenge against villages of the Syrian president's minority Alawite community.

Doctors Without Borders said 355 people died this week of "neurotoxic" symptoms, after Syria's opposition claimed regime forces unleashed chemicals east and southwest of Damascus on Wednesday causing more than 1300 deaths.

If confirmed, it would be the deadliest use of chemical agents since late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein gassed Iranian troops and Kurdish rebels in the 1980s.
As international outrage over the attacks grew, the Syrian government denied it used chemical weapons and said it had found chemical supplies in areas seized from rebel forces. Russia, an ally of the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, accused the rebels of using the weapons, but few analysts believe they have the supplies or ability to do so.
Determining the nature of the attack could affect the course of Western involvement in the war, and the US, Russia and others have called for a United Nations team, sent to Syria to investigate past suspected chemical weapons use, to be given access to the site. UN disarmament chief Angela Kane arrived in Damascus to push for the team to have access.
US President Barack Obama said a year ago that the use of chemical weapons by Assad's forces was a "red line" that could trigger Western intervention.
On Sunday a strident warning came from Washington's archfoe Iran.
"If the United States crosses this red line, there will be harsh consequences for the White House," armed forces deputy chief of staff Massoud Jazayeri said.
His comments come a day after Obama held a rare meeting with his top aides and discussed Syria by phone with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Palestinians call off peace talks after deadly West Bank clash

A Palestinian official says planned peace talks with the Israelis scheduled for Monday have been called off following a deadly clash in the West Bank.

Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinians Monday during clashes outside Jerusalem.
The Palestinian official says the Palestinians decided to postpone Monday's meeting to protest the killings. He says the Palestinians are also upset about an Israeli announcement on Sunday pushing forward with new settlement construction in east Jerusalem.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
It was not immediately known when peace talks would resume.

Iraq violence: Baghdad and Baquba hit by bomb attacks

A wave of bomb attacks across Iraq has killed at least 46 people, police and medical sources say.

Worst affected were Baghdad and the central city of Baquba, which were hit by numerous blasts.
Violence during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which ended in early August, left more than 670 people dead - one of the highest tolls for years.
The rising level of casualties comes amid heightened tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslims.
Sunnis say they are being marginalised by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Shia-led government.
In Baquba, there were reports of four bombings, two of which were said to have targeted a Shia wedding.
Several blasts - car bombs and a roadside bomb - were reported in Baghdad, one of them inside a coffee shop. At least nine people were killed.
At least four people are reported to have died in a car bomb blast in the town of Balad, north of the capital. The blast happened as a judge drove past. He was among several others wounded, local police said.
Five soldiers died when their vehicle was fired on after being stopped at a fake checkpoint near the northern city of Mosul, according to police. 

Militants abduct and kill 6 north of Baghdad

Iraqi officials say militants have killed six farmers after abducting them from their houses north of Baghdad.

Two police officers say a group of gunmen disguised in military uniforms launched a pre-dawn raid Monday in an agricultural area in the Sunni town of Tarmiyah and took the six from their homes. The bodies were found hours later in a nearby orchard with shots to their heads and chests.
Tarmiyah is located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Baghdad. Insurgents are believed to use the belt of communities around the capital as bases to stage attacks into the city.
A medical official confirmed the deaths. All officials spoke anonymously as they were not authorized to release information.
Militants frequently disguise themselves in police or army uniforms to carry out attacks.

Insurgent Attacks Kill Dozens In Iraq

BAGHDAD — Insurgents bent on destabilizing Iraq killed at least 46 people in numerous attacks scattered around the country on Sunday, striking targets as varied as a coffee shop, a wedding party convoy and a carload of off-duty soldiers.
The attacks are part of a months-long wave of killing that is the country's worst spate of bloodshed since 2008. The violence is calling into question the security forces' ability to protect the country and raising fears that Iraq's sectarian and ethnic divisions are pushing it back toward the brink of civil war.
One of the day's boldest attacks happened near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, where militants set up a fake security checkpoint, captured five soldiers and shot them dead, a police officer said. The soldiers were dressed in civilian clothes and returning to base in a taxi.
Inside Mosul, other gunmen in a speeding car shot and killed a grocer, he said, though the motive was not immediately clear. The grocer was a member of the Shabak ethnic group, which has its own distinct language and religious beliefs.
Mosul, a former insurgent stronghold, is about 360 kilometers (220 miles) northwest of Baghdad.
Another police officer said a car bomb exploded as a judge drove past in the northern town of Balad, killing three nurses and a man who had been walking nearby. Thirteen other people were wounded, including the judge, his brother and a driver, he added.

Karzai calls for Pak help in peace process

ISLAMABAD: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday stressed the need for Pakistan's help in arranging peace talks with the Taliban in a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who assured him of his support.

Pakistan backed the Taliban's rise to power in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s and is seen as

a crucial gatekeeper in attempts by the US and Afghan governments to contact insurgent leaders who fled to Pakistan after the group's 2001 ouster.

But Afghanistan has long accused Pakistan of playing a double game in the 12-year-old war, saying its neighbour, facing a Taliban insurgency of its own, makes pronouncements about peace, but allows elements of its military to play a spoiling role.

Pakistan is keen to limit the influence of its old rival, India, in Afghanistan.

Karzai, who has close ties with India, said he had "primarily and with emphasis" asked the Pakistanis to help with reconciliation as most foreign troops prepare to leave Afghanistan by the end of next year.

He wants Pakistan to help arrange contacts between the Taliban and the Afghan High Peace Council, the government body tasked with reconciliation, or release high-ranking Taliban prisoners who might act as interlocutors.

As Crisis Worsens, Fukushima Operator Calls For Help 

HIRONO, Japan, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co , the operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, said it would invite foreign decommissioning experts to advise it on how to deal with highly radioactive water leaking from the site, and Japan signalled it may dip into a $3.6 billion emergency reserve fund to help pay for the clean-up.

Visiting the plant crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, Toshimitsu Motegi, the trade and industry minister, said on Monday he would set up a taskforce to take charge of the clean-up, and send officials to Fukushima to oversee operations.

"I strongly feel that the government should get fully involved," he told reporters after touring the Fukushima Daiichi facility, which is 220 km (137 miles) north of Tokyo.

Motegi ordered Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco, to replace storage tanks that are at risk of leaking radioactive water. Tepco acknowledged last week that hundreds of tonnes of highly radioactive water had leaked from one of around 350 tanks that were assembled quickly after the 2011 nuclear meltdowns at the site. The tanks are used to store water pumped through the reactors to keep fuel in the melted cores from overheating. 

Burmese Buddhists riot after rumours of sexual assault by Muslim man

Dozens of homes and shops set on fire as hundreds rampage through village in latest outbreak of sectarian violence

Hundreds of Buddhists carrying sticks and swords went on a rampage in a village in north-western Burma, setting fire to dozens of homes and shops after rumours that a young woman had been sexually assaulted by a Muslim man.
There were no reports of injuries in the latest round of sectarian violence to sweep the country.
The hours-long riot in Htan Gone, located 16 kilometres (10 miles) south of the town of Kantbalu in the Sagaing region of Burma, began late on Saturday after a crowd surrounded a police station, demanding that the assault suspect be handed over, a police officer told the Associated Press. The officer requested anonymity because he did not have the authority to speak to reporters.
State television reported that about 42 houses and 15 shops – most belonging to Muslims – were burned and destroyed before security forces shot in the air to disperse the mob early on Sunday.
The predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million has been grappling with sectarian violence since the military rulers handed over power to a nominally civilian government in 2011.
The unrest, which has killed more than 250 people and left 140,000 others displaced, began last year in the western state of Rakhine, where Buddhists accuse the Rohingya Muslim community of illegally entering the country and encroaching on their land.
The violence, on a smaller scale but still deadly, spread to other parts of the country this year, fuelling deep-seated prejudices against the Muslim minority and threatening Burma's transition to democracy.
Almost all of the victims have been Muslims, often attacked as security forces stood by.

Is it time for the 2016 election already?

Jan. 1, 2016, is 859 days away. But, judging from the headlines about the 2016 presidential race blaring across news Web sites and cable channels this August, you might think it were next month.

Hillary Rodham Clinton (along with her husband and daughter) is trying to raise $250 million for the family’s philanthropic foundation prior to 2016, in hopes of avoiding bad optics if she runs for president. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) spent last weekend in Iowa and was in New Hampshire on Friday. Vice President Biden’s political team is making clear that he is thinking seriously about the next presidential contest, and he’ll be in Iowa next month to show just how serious he is.

Under Obama, Little Progress on High-Level Jobs for Women

WASHINGTON — Behind the roiling conversation over whether President Obama might make Janet L. Yellen the first female leader of the Federal Reserve is an uncomfortable reality for the White House: the administration has named no more women to high-level executive branch posts than the Clinton administration did almost two decades ago.

The White House has taken steps to even its gender balance in recent months with high-profile nominations like Samantha Power as ambassador to the United Nations and Susan E. Rice as national security adviser. But by most measures of gender diversity, including the proportion of women at cabinet level, the executive branch looks little different from 20 years ago, even as the House of Representatives, the Senate and corporate America have placed significantly more women in senior roles.

“There’s room for improvement, and we’ve seen some missed opportunities,” said Debbie Walsh, the director for the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. “We’re all watching the Fed to see what will happen there.”

Mr. Obama is choosing from a small pool of candidates for the Federal Reserve position — probably the most important economic appointment he will make in his second term. The finalists include Ms. Yellen, the Fed’s current vice chairwoman and a former Clinton administration official. The favored candidate among several top Obama aides is Lawrence H. Summers, the former Treasury secretary and Obama economic adviser. 

Could Obama’s blood ties to Muslim Brotherhood reveal him as an accessory to murder?

Following the first in a series of planned town hall meetings, constituents in & around the city of Spanish Fork, Utah approached attending Republican Senator Mike Lee, expressing their belief Barack Hussein Obama had violated the law & was deserving of impeachment. Their convictions undoubtedly met with bitter disappointment given Lee’s pronouncement, “No matter how much conservatives disagree with his policies, it isn’t evident he has committed any “high crimes and misdemeanors” at this point.” Lee summarized his belief with the equally demoralizing: ”We’re stuck with him.” Around the time Lee made his dispiriting assertion, information surfaced revealing Obama’s Kenyan half-brother, Malik Obama, having a significant connection to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt with his oversight of their international investments. A connection which ligatured directly into Obama’s IRS scandal, implicating IRS supervisor Lois Lerner who, in her capacity as director of Exempt Organizations, signed & expedited Malik Obama’s own tax-exempt approval letter. Even as her department conducted an extensive systematic targeting & harassment of Tea Party & faith based political Groups & organizations.

400 Tons of Weapons Sent to Insurgents in Syria Through Turkey…

Compliments of the Obama administration via the arms trade network established, maintained & run and continued during & after his death Amb Chris Stevens! A shipment of arms from Libya to Turkey is suggested but unconfirmed “what I don’t know is that there is currently a shipment going from Libya filled with arms headed to the insurgents. The name of the ship is Al Entisar”. Take note this ISN’T the first time we have heard this ship mentioned; it was reported on October 2012 following the Benghazi attack! Here we are a year later hearing this ship mentioned again!

IMO Stevens was the target of the 9/11/12 Benghazi attack. Now you know why Stevens was left for dead along with Glen Doherty, Sean Smith and Ty Woods who were considered expendable. On 9/11/12 prior to the attack Stevens met with the Turkish General Consul, who is alleged to have ties with rebels and terror organizations in Syria! Those in the know the “dozens of CIA operatives on the ground” as reported by CNN have been silenced or as Rep Gowdy stated their names changed and hidden around the world!

The puzzle pieces are coming together easily now folks! Is it not obvious by now of the arms deal and gun running into the middle east?! How much more do leaders in DC need to see and hear to start investigations into this administration?
Sooner or later the truth will come out, but we need solid evidence to tie Benghazi to this administration.
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“Weapons sent to insurgents in Syria through Turkey” PressTV
…Historian Hasan Bogun told Press TV that the news could be a fabrication aimed at helping the militants in what he called a psychological warfare. He also said it may be factual because Turkey’s ruling AK Party has financed and helped the insurgents before.
Analysts believe this could be a tactic used by the West and its allies in the region before resorting to any type of ground invasion, as they have been sternly warned by Syria that any US-led invasion into the country would be no picnic…

Possible naval showdown: U.S. 6th Fleet vs. Russian Mediterranean Task Force

With the possibility of chemical weapons being used in the ongoing Syrian Civil War, the Obama Administration has upped the ante by ordering a fourth cruise missile-armed warship into the Eastern Mediterranean area, as reported by both the news portal IsraelHayom.com and the Associated Press via ABC News on Aug. 25, 2013.
The USS Mahan has joined her sister ships, the USS Gravely, the USS Barry and the USS Rampage in the waters off Syria if Barack Obama orders a cruise missile strike against presumably the forces of Syrian President Bashar Hafez al-Assad due to accusations by Hezbollah, Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda-allied rebels against Assad of allegedly using chemical weapons against 1,000 Syrian civilians.
For his part, Assad denies the accusations and blames the rebel forces of fabricating the claim in hopes of garnering Western military support.
To date, there has been no independent or objective verification if any chemical attack by either side has been launched and/or civilians have been killed or wounded.

Now Egypt looks to 'expose' Obama

Strategy may include embarrassing White House
The evidence is mounting that the military government currently ruling Egypt has decided to embarrass the Obama administration as part of a strategy to suppress Muslim Brotherhood activity in Egypt.
Last week, WND reported that Tehani al-Gebali, the vice president of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, gave a speech and participated in an interview broadcast on Egyptian television that identified Malik Obama, the Kenyan half-brother of President Obama, as “a major architect” managing investments for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

In the speech, Gebali said she would like “open files” to expose nations like the United States that are resisting the current military-controlled government of Egypt by continuing to support “terrorist” groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The Egyptian people are astounded,” wrote Coptic Egyptian author Michael Armanious in an article titled “Egyptians Bewildered Over Support for the Muslim Brotherhood,” published by the Gatestone Institute International Policy Council. “They simply do not understand the Obama Administration’s efforts to bring the Muslim Brotherhood back to power.”
Armanious puzzled over why the Obama administration supported the Muslim Brotherhood when the result of the “Arab Spring” was to oust Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and elect Muslim Brotherhood-backed Mohamed Morsi as president June 30, 2012.
“In an effort to make some sense of the Obama Administration’s policies, Amr Adeeb, a prominent Egyptian commentator, argues that the U.S. is helping the Muslim Brotherhood to achieve power, in order to turn Egypt into a magnet for jihadist fighters,” Armanious continued. “The goal, Adeeb states, is to turn Egypt into another Syria or Afghanistan and discredit Islamism as a viable political movement.”
Armanious argued the theory helped explain why the Obama administration has continued to side with the Muslim Brotherhood.
“To Westerners, this may seem like a bizarre conspiracy theory, but for Egyptians it helps explain why the U.S. government is supporting an organization that has openly declared jihad against the West, engaged in threats of war with Israel and Ethiopia, demolished dozens of ancient historic churches, set hospitals on fire, and murdered Christians in the streets. The Muslim Brotherhood has no respect for the rule of law, but the Obama Administration treats the Egyptian military that removed the group from power as a threat to democracy itself.”
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