France says force needed if Syrian chemical attack proved true

PARIS (Reuters) - France said on Thursday that the international community would need to respond with force if allegations that the Syrian government was responsible for a chemical attack on civilians proved true.

"There would have to be reaction with force in Syria from the international community, but there is no question of sending troops on the ground," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told French television network BFM.

If the U.N. Security Council could not make a decision, one would have to be taken "in other ways," he said, without elaborating.

Opposition activists accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces of gassing hundreds, including women and children, in Wednesday's attack.

What would be the world's most lethal chemical weapons attack since the 1980s led to an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York.

The council did not explicitly demand a U.N. investigation of the incident, although it said "clarity" was needed and welcomed U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's calls for a prompt investigation by a U.N. inspection team already in Syria.

The council's statement was watered down to accommodate objections from Russia and China, diplomats said. Moscow and Beijing have vetoed previous Western efforts to impose U.N. penalties on Assad.

Fabius, who had a working dinner with his British counterpart William Hague in Paris on Wednesday night to discuss Syria, said the alleged attack had come almost exactly a year after U.S. President Barack Obama warned that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a red line.

The attack highlighted the sense of impunity within Assad's government, he said.

Fabius said that if Assad refused to let the U.N. inspection team investigate the site, he would have been caught with "his hand in the till."

Yahoo News

Russia suggests Syria ‘chemical attack’ was ‘planned provocation’

Reports by “biased regional media” about alleged chemical weapons use near Damascus might be “a provocation planned in advance,” says Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich.

“It draws attention to the fact that biased regional media have immediately, as if on command, begun an aggressive information attack, laying all the responsibility on the government,” Lukashevich said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, citing its sources, said that a homemade rocket carrying unidentified chemical substances had been launched from an area controlled by the opposition.

“A homemade rocket with a poisonous substance that has not been identified yet – one similar to the rocket used by terrorists on March 19 in Khan al-Assal - was fired early on August 21 [at Damascus suburbs] from a position occupied by the insurgents,” Lukashevich said.

Earlier on Wednesday, conflicting reports emerged of recent chemical weapons use in Syria. This comes on the same day that the UN inspectors arrive in Damascus to investigate allegations of use of toxic arms. The casualty figures range from dozens to almost 1,300 deaths.

The Russian diplomat stated that it seems as though it was “a provocation planned in advance.” The “criminal action” near Damascus coincided with the beginning of UN experts’ work in Syria - which speaks in favor of such a conclusion.



A handout image released by the Syrian opposition's Shaam News Network shows bodies of children wrapped in shrouds laid out on the ground as Syrian rebels claim they were killed in a toxic gas attack by pro-government forces in eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21, 2013.(AFP Photo / Daya Al-Deen)

Lukashevich pointed out that similar reports about Syrian authorities allegedly using chemical weapons have popped up before. However, the information has never been confirmed. 

In Moscow’s view, the latest possible “provocation” might be the opposition’s attempt to get support from the UN Security Council and undermine the Geneva peace talks on Syria.

Russia believes the incident should be thoroughly investigated by professionals. It urged everyone who has influence on armed extremists to do everything possible to finally put an end to such provocations involving chemical poisonous substances.

Meanwhile, Washington said it has no independent verification about the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The US is planning to consult the UN Security Council about the allegations, Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters, as cited by Reuters.

The chief UN chemical weapons investigator Ake Sellstrom discussed the alleged chemical attack with the Syrian government. The organization’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was shocked by the report of the alleged attack, his press office said.

UN Security Сouncil gathered for an emergency meeting on alleged Syria gas attack at 1900 GMT on Wednesday.


The UK, one of the five permanent members of the body, will demand that the UN team of investigators gets “unrestricted access” to the area of the alleged attack, Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters.

If reports are verified, it would mark “a shocking escalation” of the use of chemical weapons in Syria,” he said, adding that “we are determined the people responsible will one day be held to account.”



A view shows bodies of children whom activists say were killed by gas attack in the Ghouta area, in the eastern suburbs of Damascus August 21, 2013.(Reuters / Mohamed Abdullah)

The Syrian government has no information regarding opposition forces using chemical weapons in the Damascus area, the country’s information minister told RT Arabic. Omran Al-Zoubi mentioned that the pro-Assad army has suffered no losses because of such weapons. He did not rule out, however, that the poisonous substances could have been used against civilians – as was the case in the Khan al-Assal incident outside Aleppo, in which over 30 people died.

In Al-Zoubi’s opinion, the goal of Wednesday’s “collateral” reports about the alleged chemical attack by government forces was to undermine the work of UN investigators who arrived in Syria after receiving a request from Damascus.

If the UN commission successfully completes its work, investigators will discover that chemical weapons were used in Khan al-Assal and that the Syrian army did not use such arms, the minister stated.

RT

Presidential Meeting Signals Catastrophic Event? “There Is a Crisis Unfolding Somewhere in the Background”

If there’s one thing we know about how the US government operates, it’s that the American people are often the last to know about serious problems that may be taking place behind the scenes.

This week, in a move that has spooked a lot of economic and financial analysts, President Barack Obama held a special, closed door meeting with the heads of the U.S. government’s financial, monetary and oversight agencies. It included members of the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the CFTC, the SEC, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

This has left many wondering what is really going on – and if a serious event is about to take place yet again.

I guess I’m always unnerved as a result of what happened in April, the last time the President of the United States had a meeting with all of the bank heads, and two days later the price of gold was smashed for over $200.
Now, the President is meeting with all of the heads of the various agencies, institutions, the Fed, and all of the other key money entities in the United States today. What’s that all about?
But clearly if the President is having this meeting, there is a crisis unfolding somewhere in the background, and it could very well relate to the dollar, interest rates, and the massive derivatives market associated with interest rates…

This surge in interest rates may have already seriously destabilized the entire financial system, and that’s why there is this meeting taking place in the White House today. The fact is that the vast majority of derivatives in the global financial system are related to interest rates.
Now, the entire financial system may be on the precipice of some sort of catastrophic event unfolding because of what we have already seen in the bond market, and how the derivatives are so heavily intertwined. Meaning, we may be on the verge of another disastrous derivatives meltdown. 

  

John Embry – King World News via Steve Quayle Ahead of the 2008 collapse, as the pillars of our financial system were undergoing a controlled detonation, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve assured us the crisis had been contained. Experts and pundits on television werescreaming to investors that everything was fine and to keep buying the dips.

Behind the scenes, however, President Bush, the Federal Reserve, and the world’s leading financial institutions were scrambling to figure out how to keep the whole thing from falling apart. As former US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson noted, we were on the brink of a historic collapse, and they knew it well ahead of time.

The American people were not as fortunate. Most of us came to the realization things had taken a turn for the worse only after 50% of our wealth had been wiped out in a stock market and housing crash.

Today, like before, all of the experts in Washington and the mainstream media are making a point to reassure us that we are in the midst of an economic recovery. However, key economic indicators suggest otherwise. We are seeing a plunge in global shipping, a halt in consumer spending, and perhaps most importantly, a significant rise in interest rates and the US government’s borrowing costs.

Now, as the President meets with a veritable who’s who of government finance, lending and monetary policy one can’t help but think something is amiss.

Are we on the brink of another global disaster?

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Russia to Deliver 12 Su-30 Fighter Jets to Vietnam

MOSCOW, August 21 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will deliver another batch of 12 Sukhoi Su-30MK2 fighter aircraft under a recent contract worth about $450 million, a defense industry source told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

The contract was reportedly signed last week, and the Su-30s are expected to be delivered to Vietnam in 2014-2015.

“A similar modification, priced at $35-37 million per plane, had been earlier sold to China,” the source said.

Russia has delivered a total of 20 Su-30 fighter jets under two previous contracts signed in 2009 and 2010.

Su-30MK2 is an advanced two-seat version of theSu-27 Flanker multirole fighter with upgraded electronics and capability to launch anti-ship missiles.

Combat aircraft remain the core of the Russian arms exports. Sukhoi Su-27/30 Flanker andMikoyan MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter jets, Mil Mi-24/35 helicopter gunships, Mi-17 combat transport helicopters and Kamov Ka-28/31 naval helicopters are among the best-selling items in the aviation segment of arms exports.

RIA Novosti