Yearly Archives: 2013

Mother Agnes Mariam: ‘Footage of Syria Chemical Attack is a Fraud’

"Mother Agnes Mariam el-Salib, mother superior of St. James Monastery in Qara, Syria, told RT today that she has evidence that the video footage currently being shopped around by Sen. Feinstein and the Obama administration as proof that the Syrian president used gas on his own people is a fraud. Part of the problem with the videos is that they were all taken nearly at the same time as the alleged attack itself. How to gather all the bodies in one place and begin videotaping in some cases before the attack had even taken place?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMother Agnes Mariam: ‘Footage of Syria Chemical Attack is a Fraud’

Obama: Our ideals and principles, national security at stake in Syria

"Obama repeated his pledge that a prospective U.S. attack on his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad’s forces would not draw American troops into a ground-based conflict. 'The United States military doesn’t do pinpricks,' Obama said. 'Even a limited strike will send a message to Assad that no other nation can deliver.' 'To my friends on the right, I ask you to reconcile your commitment to America’s military might with a failure to act when a cause is so plainly just,' Obama urged. 'To my friends on the left, I ask you to reconcile your belief in freedom and dignity for all people with those images of children writhing in pain and going still on a cold hospital floor.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama: Our ideals and principles, national security at stake in Syria

Syria tentatively accepts surrender of alleged chemical weapons arsenal

"Obama warned Monday he had not taken military strikes off the table but, in agreeing to consider the Russian initiative, he effectively pushed back the timetable for possible action. 'I think what we’re seeing is that a credible threat of a military strike from the United States, supported potentially by a number of other countries around the world, has given them pause and makes them consider whether or not they would make this move,' he told NBC television. 'And if they do, then this could potentially be a significant breakthrough. But we have to be skeptical because this is not how we’ve seen them operate over the last couple of years.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSyria tentatively accepts surrender of alleged chemical weapons arsenal

Russia urges Syria hand over chemical weapons to int’l control

"Russia has urged Syria to put its chemical weapons under international control for subsequent destruction to avert a possible military strike. The Foreign Minister’s statement comes shortly after US Secretary of State John Kerry’s comment that the Syrian President 'could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community' to avoid a military strike on the country. 'Sure, he could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week - turn it over, all of it without delay and allow the full and total accounting [of it[, but he isn't about to do it and it can't be done,' Kerry said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRussia urges Syria hand over chemical weapons to int’l control

What Do Americans Know That Their Government Doesn’t Know?

"Since morality and social order cannot be imposed by foreign attacks and aggressive wars to alter governments and entire societies, what these American intrusions have caused is death and destruction in one country after another, plus hatred and revenge visited upon the invaders. What Americans now recognize, if only by gut instinct, is that the war policy has backfired. The global war on terror has backfired. Interventionism has backfired. America has done wrong, morally and pragmatically. Americans are coming to recognize this while their leaders are still caught up in their false notions that power and their power in particular can remake the world for the better." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat Do Americans Know That Their Government Doesn’t Know?

Assad did not order Syria chemical weapons attack, says German press

"President Bashar al-Assad did not personally order last month's chemical weapons attack near Damascus that has triggered calls for US military intervention, and blocked numerous requests from his military commanders to use chemical weapons against regime opponents in recent months, a German newspaper has reported, citing unidentified, high-level national security sources. The intelligence findings were based on phone calls intercepted by a German surveillance ship operated by the BND, the German intelligence service, and deployed off the Syrian coast, Bild am Sonntag said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAssad did not order Syria chemical weapons attack, says German press

Patrick Buchanan: America Says ‘No!’ to a Beltway War

"How many Syrians should we kill to restore the credibility of Barack Obama? How many Syrians should we kill to impress upon Iran how resolute we are? How many Syrians should we kill to reassure nervous allies that Uncle Sam will forever come fight their wars for them? In America, before we put a man to death, we prove him guilty of murder 'beyond a reasonable doubt.' Should we not set as high a standard of proof before we kill a thousand Syrians and plunge the United States into another war?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPatrick Buchanan: America Says ‘No!’ to a Beltway War

Scheuer: Ten questions worth pondering on Obama, Syria, and Interventionism

"Question: Is it justifiable for America to go to war in Syria to get President Obama out of the box he created for himself by talking about a 'red line' in the Syrian civil war, a conflict in which no genuine U.S. national interests are at risk? Answer: No. Obama’s inexperience in foreign affairs and his seeming personal arrogance got him — and America — into this mess, and so little a man is he that he now refuses to accept responsibility for foolishly drawing the red line, instead blaming it on 'the world.' Let him swing. Question: Will America’s credibility as a great military power be denigrated if it does not attack Syria? Answer: No. We have already lost most of that credibility [..]" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingScheuer: Ten questions worth pondering on Obama, Syria, and Interventionism

Is the U.S. Producing Democracies?

"There is a political science literature whose research indicates that economic development fosters democratic government, as opposed to dictatorships and autocracies. This is not to say that democracies are an end to be sought, because they in turn stifle economic development. But it is to say that the U.S. and NATO policy of tearing down dictatorships does not achieve the oft-advertised aim of producing democracies. This is especially true when the means is a devastating war that destroys physical, cultural, social and human capital. Recent evidence for this includes countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya." Continue reading →

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Chinese versus US Arms Transfers to Autocrats and Violators of Human Rights

"An academic article by Paul Midford and Indra de Soysa examines which government supports more autocratic regimes and sends arms into civil wars, China or the U.S. They find that the U.S. does." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChinese versus US Arms Transfers to Autocrats and Violators of Human Rights