Stephen Lendman

It's no secret. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov affirmed what he said many times before. Russia has clear evidence. It proves Western-enlisted death squads have CWs. It proves they use them.

The Syrian Arab Army seized more than 200 barrels with
chemicals from insurgents at a farm in Banias, Tartus.

On Saturday, Russia's Channel One interviewed Lavrov. He said Moscow intercepted a phone call between two insurgents. They discussed using chemical weapons. Russia informed Washington and other anti-Assad governments. It called on them "to make sure that their 'charges' kept their hands off any chemical weapons or their components, to say nothing of using them." According to Lavrov:

"We are certain that militants have more than once attempted such provocations. Therefore, the direct sponsors of opposition forces who offer them support must also see to it that they give up on further provocations."

Syria must play the lead role in its own security.

"The main idea is to let OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) experts play the first fiddle, while the UN plays a supporting role by providing additional personnel if needed and, first and foremost, by protecting watchdogs that are to inspect Syrian chemical arms depots as listed by the country's government. Of course, we are still to agree on the details of this plan. In this sense, the UN Security Council's resolution will entitle the UN secretary general to come forth with his recommendations during consultations with the OPCW's chief."

Assad and opposition forces are obligated to observe Security Council provisions to eliminate all chemical weapons in Syria. UN member states must not let insurgents with chemical weapons use their territories. Security Council Resolution 2118 "stresses chemical weapons must not fall into the hands of non-governmental entities, which the opposition is," said Lavrov. "It also emphasizes that all UN member states, primarily Syria's neighbors, must take comprehensive measures to prevent the use of their territories for the provision of the opposition with chemical weapons and their components," he added.

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Paul Craig Roberts

'Superbia' - arrogance, pride, haughtiness (latin-dictionary.org)

The war criminal barack obama has declared his “outrage” over the 62 deaths associated with the takeover of a Nairobi, Kenya, shopping mall by al-Shabaab fighters. But the attack on the shopping mall was obama’s fault. Al Shabaab spokesmen said that the attack on the Nairobi mall was a retaliatory response to the Kenyan troops sent to fight against them in Somalia. The Kenyan troops, of course, were sent to Somalia as a result of pressure from Washington.

Just as the outbreak of violence in Mali resulted from the fighters that obama used against Gaddafi moving into Mali, Washington’s violence against Somalia has resulted in the terrorist attack on the Nairobi mall.

This fact again raises the never asked question: What is the real agenda of Washington’s “war on terror”? The western presstitutes never ask this question, nor do western legislative bodies.

Washington has offered a variety of justifications for its twelve years of wars. One is that Washington is rooting out terrorism in order to protect Americans from 9/11 type events. Another is that “dictators” must be overthrown and replaced with “freedom and democracy.” Still another is false claims of the possession of “weapons of mass destruction” (Iraq) and the use of “weapons of mass destruction” (Syria).

None of Washington’s claims can withstand the barest scrutiny. None of the governments that Washington has overthrown and seeks to overthrow are terrorist states. Indeed, some are not even Islamist governments. Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had a secular government, as does Assad’s Syria.

Washington’s explanations for murdering Pakistanis and Yemenis with drones are even more nebulous. Moreover, using military means to kill citizens of countries with which the US is not at war lacks all legality.

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Pepe Escobar

Obama and spy supremo Keith Alexander swear that the Orwellian privatized intelligence-corporate-industrial complex is essential to prevent terrorism. It is not. This is a monumental lie - and Obama is complicit.

HONG KONG - So it's going to be Our Man in Quito. The narrative may not be as elegant as Graham Greene's, but the plot certainly beats the Bourne trilogy - because it's happening live, in real time, right in front of our eyes.

It takes a former CIA asset to beat US "intelligence" - more like intel deprivation. The story of Edward Snowden's escape from Hong Kong is textbook. This correspondent, at dim sum on Sunday, was alerted by a source; "Get ready for something big; he's leaving soon." That was about 12:30 pm Hong Kong time. In fact Snowden had already flown from Chek Lap Kok on SU 213 bound for Moscow at 11:00 am. But nobody knew it yet. Hong Kong was still digesting the front page of the South China Morning Post displaying yet more devastating evidence of US cyber-spying of China.

By 2:00 pm there was a first, one-line alert from the South China Morning Post; he was on a plane to Moscow. I talked to RT in Moscow; they were stunned and sprang into action. Still total silence from Western corporate media. Then the Post confirmed the breaking news with more detail. Yet it took ages for Reuters to release its first short dispatch - as I had commented on my Facebook page. When the "international community" started to learn about it Snowden was already five hours into his flight.

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Bill Van Auken

In a series of raids in the capital of Istanbul and in the southern provinces of Mersin, Adana and Hatay near the Syrian border, Turkish police rounded up 12 members of Syria’s Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra Front along with chemical weapons materials.

The Turkish media initially reported that police recovered four and a half pounds of sarin, the deadly never gas which had earlier been linked to chemical weapons attacks inside Syria.

While widely reported in the Turkish press, the arrests Wednesday have been virtually blacked out by the corporate media in the US. Newspapers like the New York Times, which have openly promoted a US intervention in Syria, citing alleged chemical weapons use by the regime of Bashar al-Assad as a pretext, have posted not a word about the raids in Turkey.

The daily newspaper Zaman reported that “the al-Nusra members had been planning a bomb attack for Thursday in [the Turkish city of] Adana but that the attack was averted when the police caught the suspects. Along with the sarin gas, the police seized a number of handguns, grenades, bullets and documents during their search.”

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Stephen Lendman

Munich's Security Conference is held annually. This year marks the 49th session. Dozens of countries participated. Hundreds of world leaders attended. They included heads of state, foreign affairs and defense ministers, as well as other senior figures. Active engagement was prioritized. Current and future security challenges were discussed.

In 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin took full advantage. He pulled no punches. He sharply criticized US foreign policy. He called it:

"very dangerous (in its) uncontained hyper-use of force - military force - in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts." US imperialism, he stressed, "overstepped its national borders in every way." "(U)nilateral illegal actions have not resolved any single problem. They have become a hotbed of further conflicts." "We are seeing increasing disregard for the fundamental principles of international law....No one feels safe! Because no one can feel that international law is like a stone wall that will protect them." "Of course, such a policy stimulates an arms race. The dominance of force inevitably encourages a number of countries to acquire weapons of mass destruction."

Putin also addressed a "unipolar world." He called it one

"in which there is one master, one sovereign. And at the end of the day, this is pernicious not only for all those within this system, but also for the sovereign itself because it destroys itself from within." [He added that] "We are constantly being taught about democracy. But for some reason those who teach us do not want to learn themselves."

America deplores democracy at home and abroad. It prioritizes unchallenged dominance. It demands what it says goes. Russia supports peace, not war. It favors diplomatic conflict resolution.

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Stephen Lendman

So-called "Free Syrian Army" fighters and residents carry the
bodies of people killed at a bakery in Halfaya, northern Syria.

Syrians struggle valiantly to defeat Western-recruited invaders. Islamofasists infest their ranks. They're cold-blooded killers. Assad is falsely blamed for their crimes. They include horrific atrocities.

On December 23, Hama province residents were slaughtered. Reports said up to 100 in Halfaya. Headlines claimed a government air strike hit a bakery. Suspect videos showed bloodstained corpses amid rubble and shrapnel.

On December 24, Voice of Russia headlined "Syria: Halfaya residents massacred," saying "The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said "Militants have massacred the residents of Halfaya in Hama (Syria).""

Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, and Western media falsely blamed Assad.

"The terrorists photographed them in a way enabling them to accuse the local residents of an attack on the government forces at the moment when the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lahdar Brahimi arrived in Damascus."

Russia Today quoted Syrian TV. Insurgents were blamed. They were accused of "filming the aftermath to 'frame the army.' " Videos are easy to fake. An amateur YouTube one "has not been independently verified." Why would Syrian forces target civilians lined up to buy bread? Dubious sources don't explain.

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Stephen Lendman

Never bet against Washington's imperial plans. New tactics follow failed ones. Efforts to oust Assad continue. Proxy killers can't do it alone. They're no match against Syria's superior military strength. It's committed to rout them. Expect NATO intervention anytime or perhaps post-US November elections. Libya 2.0 looks increasingly likely. What better way to finesse it than by staging a false flag attack blamed on Assad. America's false flag history suggests it.

■ In 1898, Spain was falsely accused of blowing up the USS Maine in Havana, Cuba harbor. The Spanish-American war followed.
■ Roosevelt manipulated Japan to attack Pearl Harbor. South Korea was used to instigate war on the North. Lyndon Johnson wanted war on Vietnam and got it.
■ Fake threats sent US marines to Grenada. Manufactured incidents precipitated America's Panama invasion.
■ Saddam was head-faked into invading Kuwait. The Gulf War, two decades of sanctions, another war, and occupation followed.
■ September 11, 2001 was the mother of all false flags. It's the big lie of our time. Eleven years of imperial wars followed. One segues to another without end. Syria is Washington's latest. Iran is next. Proxy wars always rage. Media silence makes pretexts unnecessary.

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Stephen Lendman

ICRC hasn't been doing all that much for the Palestinians either...

Progressive News Hour regular James Petras once said most NGOs skim 90% of donations for themselves. They're predators, not humanitarians. They serve political agendas for profit. They avoid denouncing governmental patrons providing financing. They don't link neoliberal exploitation and human rights violations to imperial agendas. They support wrong over right. They prey on the world's vulnerable. They commit flagrant abuses for self-enrichment and close ties to top government officials. ICRC is no exception. More on it below.

On July 18, Security Council members again vote on a Western resolution. Russia and China vetoed two earlier ones. They reject one-sided proposals. They advance the ball for war. This one includes UN Charter Chapter VII provisions. They range from economic sanctions to blockades or military intervention if other measures fail. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejects Chapter VII authorization. [He said]:

We will vote against the U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria if it is not based on the Geneva agreements.

Geneva language left much to be desired. It agreed on

"facilitat(ing) a Syrian led political process," but overstepped at the same time. Contrary to international law, it accepted "agreed guidelines and principles for a political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people."

Syrians had their say earlier. They overwhelmingly adopted a new constitution by national referendum. First time ever parliamentary elections were held. Turnout was high. Voting went smoothly. Independent monitors judged the process open, free and fair. Why repeat what's already accomplished? Most important is that international law prohibits interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. Doing so in Geneva or elsewhere lacks legitimacy.

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Moon of Alabama

Tremseh "Massacre" Was A Legitimate Military Operation

The false reporting on the Tremseh "massacre" was supposed to put pressure on Russia and China to agree to a Chapter 7 UN Security Council resolution. Chapter 7 [of the UN Charter] allows the use of force and such a resolution could be used as an excuse for armed intervention. Kofi Annan took that position when, after Tremseh, he urged the UNSC to threaten Syria with "consequences" for not retreating from cities and villages. Annan and Ban Ki Moon were dispatched to Russia and China to further press the issue.

But the Tremseh information operation fell apart when the UN observers confirmed the Syrian government version of the story. Writes the Wall Street Journal:

New evidence on last week's killings in a village in central Syria suggests the bloodshed followed a raid by government forces to arrest male rebels, rather than a deliberate massacre of around 200 civilians as some Syrian opposition leaders and their Western allies first reported.

The findings could ease the pressure on Russia and China to back tougher measures against Bashar al-Assad's government, underscoring how competing narratives and interpretations of events in Syria continue to divide world powers over how to end a conflict now recognized by most as a civil war.

The Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov is scheduled to meet with Kofi Annan tomorrow. He just held a press conference in which he laid out the Russian and Chinese position.

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Ray McGovern

Consortium News Exclusive: Hard-headed realism and outside-the-box thinking might be needed to avert another catastrophe in the Middle East, this time an Israeli attack on Iran and the unpredictable consequences. In that light, ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern imagines a bleak report that an Iranian intelligence officer might send back to Tehran.

In CIA jargon, “Aardwolf” is a label for a special genre of intelligence report from field stations abroad to headquarters in Washington. An Aardwolf conveys the Chief of Station’s formal assessment regarding the direction events are taking in his or her country of assignment – and frequently the news is bad.

An Aardwolf is relatively rare and is avidly read; it is candid — and often unwelcome. (In the 2006 book, State of War, author James Risen describes two Aardwolfs sent to CIA headquarters in the latter half of 2003 by the station chief in Baghdad describing the deteriorating situation in Iraq — and angering many of his bosses.)

So, let’s assume there is an Iranian Chief of Station embedded in, say, Iran’s UN representation in New York. It is quite likely that he or she would be tasked with crafting periodic Aardwolf-type assessments for senior officials of the Islamic Republic.

And in this time of heightened tensions with the United States and the West, Tehran presumably would be interested in a think piece assessing, based on the events of recent months, what the second half of 2012 might have in store on front-burner questions like the nuclear issue and the triangular Iran-U.S.-Israel relationship.

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