● Last week’s US-Russian deal on Syrian chemical weapons disarmament has been through a bumpy past few days, but seems to be on track again after the US and France backed off another round of attempts to get the UN to authorize war with Syria.
● The nations began pushing again on the war after the UN report was released on Monday, and was threatening to destroy the deal outright since Russia was unwilling to go along with the resolution adding a “use of force” option.
● It’s been incredible how many times Western officials have tried to revitalize the idea of authorizing a war in the deal, as Russia has made it clear repeatedly that they would not let that happen, and nothing has suggested that might change.
● France in particular has seemed desperate to get some sort of war authorization out of all of this, with analysts saying that the Hollande government has been hoping to use its push for war on Syria to underscore its perception of France as a great power.

Reuters: Russia says U.N. report on Syria attack preconceived, political
PressTV: Chemical attack near Syrian capital smart provocation: Putin

If you want to take over a nation, then first take over its airwaves. Broadcast your messages and interdict the enemy’s ability to broadcast theirs. When the U.S. attacked Iraq in 1991, or NATO bombed Serbia in 1999, among the first targets destroyed were TV and radio stations. When there is a military coup in Africa, the first buildings the rebels usually grab are the radio and TV studios. So it is illuminating that the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), the organization that oversees America’s elite special forces, is quietly searching for equipment that will effectively give it control over every FM and AM radio station in an area.

Vote breakdown: 10 Yes; 7 No; 1 Present. The measure includes new language saying U.S. policy is to "change the momentum on the battlefield in Syria" in way that brings about negotiated settlement of conflict, leading to a democratic govt in Syria. In other words: a pro-Qatari/Saudi coalition government that will permit the passage of natgas pipelines under Syria, through Turkey and into Europe, breaking Gazpromia's marginal energy monopoly over the broke continent.

Following is the full text of the interview conducted on Tuesday by Former U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Journalist Greg Palkot.

[There's something fundamentally indecent about this whole situation, where two representatives of the American establishment, Kucinich and Palkot, are rudely grilling a Head of State about chemical weapons...The Americans an Israelis have supplied chemical weapons to the terrorist lung-eaters and encouraged them to use them on the civilian population in Syria, while on the other hand there are no proofs whatever against Syrian government as to whethether it has used such weapons. There are plenty of proofs against CIA's & Mossad's so-called rebels, however. Kucinich and Palkot should have been grilling Obama and Netanyahu, not the Syrian president. - The Editor]

Fox News: Hello Mr. President, thank you very much for providing Fox News with this opportunity for an interview. I’m joined by my colleague, reporter Greg Palkot, and we’re very interested in proceeding. As you know, there’s been a number of breaking stories which we need to discuss with you. The UN has just released its chemical weapon report. My colleague Greg Palkot will be discussing that with you in a moment. I want to talk to you about other major developments regarding the chemical weapons plan, which has been agreed to by the US and the Russian government. Do you agree with this plan to secure and to eventually destroy the chemical weapons?
President Assad: Last week we joined the international agreement of preventing chemical WMDs, and part of this agreement, the main part, is to not to manufacture these armaments, not to store, and not to use, and of course not to distribute, and part of it is to get rid of those materials, the chemical materials. Of course, when we are part now of this agreement, we have to agree on that chapter.

Syrian Radio & TV: President al-Assad's interview with Fox News
Syrian Arab News Agency: President al-Assad's interview with American CBS News
Syrian Arab News Agency: President al-Assad: Syria will never become a western puppet state
AWIP: Leaked Footage of Islam Battalion Launching Infamous Ghouta Chemical Attack on Aug 21 - VIDEO
VoR: Russia may hand over evidence of rebels’ chemical weps use to UN today
Russia Today: Assad vows to destroy chemical weapons within about a year

Peter Symonds: Russia challenges UN report on Syrian gas attack ■ Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday countered a barrage of claims by the US and its allies that the UN report into the August 21 chemical weapon attack in Syria proved that the government of President Bashar al-Assad was responsible. Lavrov described the report as one-sided and biased, claiming that ample evidence pointed to the involvement of anti-Assad forces in chemical attacks. He said he would provide evidence to the UN Security Council demonstrating that Syrian opposition militias had carried out the attack in Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus.

Yoichi Shimatsu: The Sellstrom Report: The United Nations’ Syria Inspector Shills for NATO and Israel ■ Instead of a non-politicized investigation and lab analysis, the UN investigation of alleged nerve-gas attacks inside Syria was led by Professor Ake Sellstrom, a man of mystery who keeps a veil of secrecy around his research and political-military relationships. Sellstrom’s report on Syria for the UN and his prior inspections record in Iraq are dubious, to say the least. In the eyes of laymen, his seeming objectivity and non-partisanship is based on the myth of Sweden’s neutrality. The public assumes – wrongly- that Sweden never takes sides in wars or geopolitical conflicts. This cosmetic veneer of Swedish neutrality has been deftly exploited by Israel and NATO to perpetrate falsehoods throughout Sellstrom’s work for the UN, including denial of the chemical-and-biological causes for “Gulf War Syndrome” and the shipments of U.S. chemical weapons to the Saddam Hussein regime. The salient critique of the UN inspections in Iraq was made by American inspector Scott Ritter who accused the team of spying for Washington and NATO. The same question hangs over Sellstrom’s report on Syria. Is Sellstrom acting on behalf of Washington and Tel Aviv?

Lyuba Lulko: Angela Merkel sets Germany up for Israel ■ German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview with Jewish Voice from Germany that "support for Israel's security is part of our national ethos," that "Israel is still the only true democracy in the Middle East," and vowed to protect the country from the Iranian threat. What happened to the political instincts of Mrs. Chancellor? In an interview on September 13 with Jewish Voice from Germany Angela Merkel said that heinous crimes committed by Germany against the Jews that nearly led to the collapse of civilization would always be present in the relations between the countries. "We can shape the future of the resulting special relations between Germany and Israel in awareness of that. Our relations are very good," Merkel said. Each line of the interview shows guilt before the Jewish people, but Ms. Merkel is not personally to blame for the Holocaust, so why is she making her people hostage to Israel's security, and is even including it in the ideology of "ethos" of the Germans?

● In cold war style, US Senators have urged the Obama administration to freeze assets of three major Russian banks, ban their activities in the US, and deny employees’ entry into the country on the suspicion they are doing business with the Assad regime.
● Having failed to galvanize allies for military action, and politically trumped by President Putin’s proposal for peaceful intervention in Syria, American congressmen have now turned to soft power to regain a grip on the Syria conflict. The senators are blaming Russia’s banking giants VTB, Gazprombank, and Vnesheconombank -the state development bank known as VEB– for ‘undermining’ UN sanctions by ‘aiding Assad’.
● “We can freeze their assets. We can stop them from doing business in the United States, prevent their employees from traveling here and, in effect, impose very heavy financial pain on the Russians,” Blumenthal said.

Ray McGovern: How War on Syria Lost Its Way