Gazette 091013

Tuesday September 10th 2013

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Syria Accepts Russian Plan To Relinquish And Destroy Chemical Weapons

The Associated Press reports Syria's Foreign Minister has said his country has accepted a Russian proposal to relinquish control of its chemical arms stores:

On Monday, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem stated that his country welcomed the Russian proposal, which called for Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control and for the weapons to be destroyed.
No time frame or further details were given about the proposal. It remained unclear whether Syria was making genuine strides toward a diplomatic resolution to the conflict that began in March 2011, or if the proposal was a ploy by Syrian President Bashar Assad to buy more time in the face of a potential U.S. strike.

Syrian Opposition Urges Strike Despite Russian Proposal

CAIRO -- The Arab League chief has expressed support for Russia's proposal to put Syria's chemical weapons under international control.
Nabil Elaraby told reporters on Tuesday that the Arab League has been always in favor of a "political resolution." He added, "thank God."
The Arab league has blamed the Syrian government for the alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus that killed hundreds of people and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. However it didn't support military action without U.N. consent.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
Syria's main opposition bloc on Tuesday urged the West to strike Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime despite Russia's initiative to have Damascus surrender its chemical weapons to international control, dismissing the proposal as maneuver to escape punishment.
Even as the Syrian National Coalition tried to push back against the proposal, momentum for it was building. In Moscow, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Tuesday that Damascus accepts the initiative, saying it did so to "uproot U.S. aggression."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that Assad could resolve the crisis by surrendering control of "every single bit" of his arsenal to the international community by the end of the week.

 UN rights council says Syria gas attack videos, photos fake: Russia

 

Russia says the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) has confirmed that the videos and photos purporting to show the victims of a chemical attack near the Syrian capital, Damascus, were fabricated.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a Tuesday statement that international experts as well as Syrian public and religious leaders presented their evidence to the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on September 9.

It also said evidence provided by numerous witnesses confirms that militants fighting against the Syrian government used chemical weapons in the Damascus suburb of western Ghouta last month.

The participants in the UN Human Rights Council session warned of the consequences of a military strike against Syria, noting that such an attack would constitute a crude violation of international law.

The US administration has been using the footage and the photos in question to lobby for a military strike on Syria.

The recent war rhetoric against Syria first gained momentum on August 21, when the militants operating inside the Middle Eastern country and the country’s foreign-backed opposition claimed that over a thousand people had been killed in a government chemical attack on the outskirts of Damascus.

The Syrian government categorically rejected the accusation. Nevertheless, a number of Western countries, with the US being at the forefront, quickly started campaigning for war.

Rouhani outflanks hardliners on Syria, nuclear talks

Tehran: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani appears to be outmanoeuvring hard-liners with his move to take control of stalled nuclear negotiations and in curbing bombastic declarations to defend ally Syria from threatened US airstrikes.
In sharp contrast with the bellicose posturing of his predecessor, former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mr Rouhani has kept expectations low that Iran will provide military aid to Syrian President Bashar Assad if Western forces attack his government.
Another former president and influential backer of Mr Rouhani, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, last week was reported to have publicly blamed Dr Assad's forces for an alleged chemical weapons attack August 21 on the suburbs of Damascus that reportedly killed hundreds of civilians.

The reports that banned weapons of mass destruction were used in the 2 1/2-year-old Syrian civil war have spurred international outrage and calls for punitive airstrikes to degrade Dr Assad's military capability.
In a clear signal of change under his month-old administration, Mr Rouhani said on Thursday that his government had assumed responsibility for nuclear talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, which are set to resume September 27 after a five-month hiatus. The negotiations, stalemated for years by Iranian foreign policy hard-liners loyal to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were previously under the control of the religious hierarchy's Supreme National Security Council.
Numerous meetings between IAEA officials and Iran's former chief nuclear negotiator, Khamenei adviser Saeed Jalili, failed to yield progress during the Ahmadinejad regime. Nor did 10 sessions over the last 17 months between Jalili and six major world powers, including the US, move Tehran any closer to agreeing to stop enriching uranium to levels suitable for weapons production.

US warns China of North Korean chemical weapons threat

The United States is trying to enlist Beijing's support for military action against Syria by arguing that it would help deter North Korea from using chemical weapons and threatening security in China's neighborhood, a U.S. official said Tuesday. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy James Miller, who was in Beijing to meet with Chinese officials, said a retaliatory strike against the Syrian government would uphold the international norm that chemical weapons must not be used.
Miller said he emphasized to his Chinese counterpart that lowering the threshold for chemical weapons use could put U.S. troops at risk and threaten China's security and that of the entire globe.
"I emphasized the massive chemical weapons arsenal that North Korea has and that we didn't want to live in a world in which North Korea felt that the threshold for chemical weapons usage had been lowered," Miller told reporters at a briefing following his talks Monday with Wang Guanzhong, the Chinese army's deputy chief of staff.

Kurdish PKK rebels 'halt Turkey pull-out'

The rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) says it has halted its withdrawal from Turkey, a website linked to the armed militant group reports.

The PKK accused the Turkish government of failing to move towards "democratisation and the resolution of the Kurdish problem", the Firat news agency reported.
The PKK had started the withdrawal earlier this year, under a peace plan.
The 30-year Kurdish conflict has left more than 40,000 people dead.
The PKK said the ceasefire it announced in March would remain in force. But it urged Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government to "take action in line with the project of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan", the jailed PKK commander who negotiated the peace deal.
Ankara insists on a full PKK withdrawal for peace talks to progress.
Under the deal, Turkey is expected to improve Kurdish rights, such as by scrapping a controversial anti-terrorism law and allowing Kurdish children to be educated in their own language.

Japan considers stationing workers on disputed islands

China says it will not tolerate 'any provocative acts of escalation' in dispute over uninhabited islands in East China Sea

China and Japan have exchanged fiery diplomatic rhetoric about a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea, with a Japanese government spokesperson suggesting the country may station workers on the islands, after an unidentified drone nearly entered Japanese airspace.
A territorial dispute over the uninhabited islands, called the Diaoyu by China and the Senkakus by Japan, has strained political and economic ties since last year, when the Japanese government purchased three of the islands from a private owner. This Wednesday will mark the one-year anniversary of the purchase.
On Monday Japan scrambled an unspecified number of fighter jets after an unmanned aerial vehicle flew within 130 miles of the islands. The drone, which did not bear a national flag, circled the islands before flying north-west towards China, according to Japan's defence ministry. It did not enter Japanese airspace.
"Japan will enforce increased security to protect our land, sea, and airspace around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea," Japan's chief cabinet secretary and top government spokesperson, Yoshihide Suga, told reporters on Tuesday, according to Kyodo News International. He said stationing government workers on the islands was an option.
China's foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, responded to Suga's remarks at a regular news briefing on Tuesday. "The Chinese government has an unshakeable resolve and determination to protect the country's territorial sovereignty and will not tolerate any provocative acts of escalation over China's sovereignty," he said. "If the Japanese side recklessly makes provocative moves it will have to accept the consequences."

Philippines rebels dig in, take more hostages

MANILA: Muslim rebels seized scores more hostages and traded gunfire with Philippines troops on Tuesday, in the second day of a stand-off after mounting a deadly attack on a southern city, officials said.

Gunshots rang out at dawn on the coastal outskirts of Zamboanga, in the confrontation between the government and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) gunmen aimed at derailing peace talks.

The rebels seized 20 hostages at the start of the crisis, but Zamboanga mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco Salazar said they were now holding 170 people in six villages where they are holed up.

The initial attack killed four people and left 14 injured, the mayor told reporters on Tuesday, reducing the toll from Monday when she said there were six dead and 24 wounded, and giving no explanation for the revision.

"What we are seeing is that they are being used as human shields," Salazar said in an interview with ABS-CBN television. "We are working for the release of the hostages and a peaceful resolution of this problem."

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala estimated they were facing about 180 gunmen armed with rifles and mortars, revising down an earlier estimate of 200-300. 

Egypt tightens Sinai security, assesses militant threat

The group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis claimed responsibility Thursday's suicide bombing aimed at Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim.

CAIRO - Egypt has tightened control of crossings from the Sinai peninsula and continued assaults on militants after an Islamist group based there said it tried to kill the interior minister in Cairo last week, the state news agency reported on Monday.
The group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis claimed responsibility on Sunday for Thursday's suicide bombing aimed at Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim. It promised more attacks in revenge for a crackdown on Egypt's Islamists, raising fears that militant violence in Sinai could spread across the country.

The Egyptian military on Saturday launched a major assault on militants in North Sinai, killing or wounding at least 30 people in clashes close to the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
The assault continued on Monday, with security forces killing nine and arresting 10 "armed elements" near Sinai cities of Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, state news agency MENA reported early on Tuesday, citing security sources.
MENA said Ibrahim decided to boost security surveillance and tighten control of crossings from Sinai to other Egyptian regions in conjunction with a broad security campaign in the peninsula.

U.K. denies security breach after Cameron leaves official ‘red box’ on train

Downing Street officials say Britain’s secrets weren’t at risk despite a photograph showing Prime Minister David Cameron’s official red box of papers left in public view on a train table.
A front-page photograph Monday in the Daily Mirror showed the famous, battered red box marked “Prime Minister” apparently unattended while Cameron left his seat on a weekend train to Scotland.
The newspaper said other passengers could have rifled through the box and studied secret plans for military options in Syria or details about disagreements with Russia over policy toward Syria.
A Downing Street statement, however, indicated that Cameron’s security team was in place and the box was not unattended.
In the past, British government-owned laptops containing sensitive information have been left on public transport, prompting tighter rules on security.

55 killed in Bossangoa clashes

At least 55 people have been killed in clashes between gunmen loyal to Central African Republic's former president and the ex-rebels who ousted him. The clashes took place around Bossangoa, 300 km north of the capital Bangui over the weekend.
The country has slipped into chaos since northern rebels captured Bangui in March, over-running South African troops protecting Bozize.

30 militants killed or injured in Egypt's Sinai raid: source

(Xinhua) -- At least 30 militants were killed or injured on Saturday in a raid launched by the Egyptian army on hideouts of Jihadist militants in North Sinai governorate bordering Israel, a security source told Xinhua.

The raids targeted 12 villages in Sheikh Zuwaid city, and the clashes are still going on between security forces and militants, the source said.
"It is the biggest military campaign in Sinai since the 1973 war," the source said, adding around 2,500 soldiers and officers from the army, police and central security forces took part in the operation.
Military helicopters carried out several air strikes on suspected militants hideouts, and several houses and weapon warehouses were also destroyed, he said.
Three vehicles belonging to the militants were destroyed, but the exact death toll was not clear yet, he added.
Meanwhile, official news agency MENA reported at least 15 militants were arrested.
Security conditions deteriorated in the Sinai Peninsula after the ouster of Islamic President Mohamed Morsi. The army hence intensified its operations to eradicate the focal points of terrorists and hardline Jihadist movements.
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Syria strike test vote put on hold as Obama backs off 'red line'

President Obama will address the nation Tuesday night to discuss the ongoing crisis in Syria, with the debate in Congress over a possible military strike effectively on hold as the president backs away from the "red line" and opens the door to a "diplomatic track." 
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has postponed a test vote originally teed up for Wednesday. That decision came as the president said in an interview with Fox News that he's open to negotiations on an alternative plan that could avert a military strike.
Reid cited "international discussions" in postponing the vote to advance debate on the resolution authorizing the use of force against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government. Reid said it was not important to, "see how fast we can do this," but rather "how well we can do this."
The possible breakthrough pertains to a proposal, floated by Secretary of State John Kerry and then formally put forward by the Russians, to have the Assad regime turn over its chemical weapons to international control. Obama, in an interview with Fox News on Monday, opened the door to pursuing that option. 
"We will pursue this diplomatic track," Obama told Fox News. "I fervently hope that this can be resolved in a non-military way." 

McCain Sounds Off On Syria Compromise

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain says the United States has no choice but to allow time for a new diplomatic offensive on Syria to "play out," even though he's skeptical that the plan is genuine.
McCain was asked in a nationally broadcast "CBS This Morning" interview to comment on a proposal by Russia, embraced by Syria, for President Bashar Assad to relinquish his chemical weapons stockpile.
Assad has not publicly acknowledged having such weapons, and President Barack Obama is seeking congressional authorization to attack Syria in reprisal for an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack that the U.S. blames on Assad's regime.
McCain, an Arizona Republican and harsh Obama critic, said Tuesday there is "incoherence" in the administration's statements. But he also said that "not to pursue" the diplomatic option "would be a mistake."
McCain said he will propose an amendment to the Senate's Syria resolution incorporating the proposal for Syria to surrender its chemical weapons. The amendment would require verification through international monitors and call for guidelines and benchmarks to be met.

'She Simply Cannot Be Trusted'

A Republican super PAC is criticizing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's national security credentials ahead of a speech in Philadelphia, ABC News reported Monday.
In a research document titled "Clinton Can't Be Trusted On Privacy," the group claims that Clinton's planned remarks at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center "will not be driven by concerns over either national security or privacy, but rather by politics."
"It doesn’t matter what Hillary Clinton says next Tuesday, because her record on civil liberties in
intelligence gathering is one of political expedience over privacy or national security," America Rising executive director Tim Miller wrote in the six-page memo. "She simply cannot be trusted."
As ABC reported, the document links Clinton to the Obama administration's surveillance programs, which have drawn intense scrutiny as former defense contractor Edward Snowden leaks secret documents on the National Security Agency's practices.

Kerry’s false claim he opposed the war in Iraq

“You know, Senator Chuck Hagel, when he was senator, Senator Chuck Hagel, now secretary of defense, and when I was a senator, we opposed the president’s decision to go into Iraq, but we know full well how that evidence was used to persuade all of us that authority ought to be given.”
— Secretary of State John F. Kerry, in an interview with MSNBC, Sept. 5, 2013
This is at least the second time since becoming secretary that Kerry has asserted that he opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as a Democratic senator from Massachusetts. The first time the Kerry made this claim, during a student forum in Ethiopia, his statement mysteriously disappeared from the official State Department transcript.
But then he said it again, on television, also dragging Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel into the mix. So let’s take a trip back in time and see what Kerry actually said in 2003.

The Facts

When it comes to war, Kerry often takes a highly nuanced position. He voted against the congressional resolution authorizing force in the 1991 Gulf War, but voted for the 2002 resolution that supported military action against Iraq. Both votes turned out to be bad political bets.
When Kerry opposed the 1991 resolution, he complained that the George H.W. Bush administration had done too little to involve the rest of the world in its campaign to oust Iraq from Kuwait. But in 2002, he praised the coalition that had been formed for the first Gulf War, in part to complain that George W. Bush had thus far failed to secure the same level of cooperation.
When Kerry voted for the 2002 resolution, he warned he would not support war if Bush failed to win the support of the international community in the absence of an imminent threat. “Let me be clear, the vote I will give to the president is for one reason and one reason only: To disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, if we cannot accomplish that objective through new, tough weapons inspections in joint concert with our allies,” Kerry said.
But Kerry also said that the burden to avoid war was on the Iraqi leader: “Saddam Hussein has a choice: He can continue to defy the international community, or he can fulfill his longstanding obligations to disarm. He is the person who has brought the world to this brink of confrontation.”

Hill leaders to meet on shutdown

Capitol Hill’s top four lawmakers will meet privately Thursday to begin discussing the debt ceiling and how to avert a government shutdown.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will huddle for the first time since before the August recess to discuss the two major fall fiscal battles.

Reid requested the meeting in a letter he sent to Boehner Sept. 5.

The fiscal issues come up in rapid succession this fall. Government funding runs dry at the end of September. The House is likely to try to pass a continuing resolution this week which would fund the government until Dec. 13. In an attempt to satisfy those who want to defund Obamacare, Republicans plan to attach a resolution to the otherwise non-controversial stopgap bill that would strip funding for the law when it is presented to President Barack Obama. It’s unclear if this will satisfy conservatives, but if it does, the Senate is certain to defeat that add-on.

Joe Oliver says environmental proposals not concessions to U.S.

Natural resources minister met with U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz

Canada's Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver says the government does not consider its move to co-operate with the U.S. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as an environmental concession.
Oliver made the comments following a recent CBC News report that the government was willing to accept targets to advance the Keystone pipeline project.
"We don't regard the proposed policies as concessions," Oliver said after a meeting with U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz in Washington, D.C.
"It has been our objective to continue to make progress on environmental enhancement for two reasons. One, because we have a responsibility as global citizens and two because we need to have the social licence to continue to develop our resources," he said.
CBC News reported last week that Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently wrote a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama formally proposing "joint action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the oil and gas sector" in order to advance the Keystone pipeline project.
Sources told CBC News the prime minister is willing to accept targets proposed by the United States for reducing the climate-changing emissions and is prepared to work in concert with Obama to provide whatever political cover he needs to approve the Keystone extension.
Harper and Obama met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Friday, but Obama's attention is focused on Syria. The White House has yet to respond to Harper's letter.
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