Thread: Saudis Threaten Russia With Olympic Terrorist Attacks Unless It Abandons Syria Suppor

Saudis Threaten Russia With Olympic Terrorist Attacks Unless It Abandons Syria Support

Details of secret talks between Putin, Saudi prince leaked; Intel head admits to controlling Chechen jihadists in Syria

Steve Watson
Infowars.com
Aug 27, 2013

Saudi intelligence has issued a tacit threat to have terrorist attacks carried out in Russia at the Winter Olympics in February 2014, should the state continue to support the Assad regime in Syria.

The threat was revealed in leaked transcripts of a closed-door meeting three weeks ago between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan.



It appears that following initial vocal concerns expressed by Gulf state diplomats and senior leaders of the Syrian opposition, the leaked material was provided to the Russian media. More details then emerged in the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, which is sympathetic to Hezbollah and thus extremely inhospitable toward Saudi Arabia.

The respected middle east news agency Al Monitor carries a translated version of the As-Safir report which suggests that during the talks, Bandar, who heads the primary Saudi intelligence agency, allegedly presented a cornucopia of offers and threats with regards to Syria.

In return for Russia’s cooperation, Bandar is alleged to have promised to safeguard Russia’s naval base in Syria should Assad be forced from power.

Perhaps the most interesting snippet in the report, has Bandar suggesting that should Russia elect not to reach an agreement over Syria, Chechen terrorist attacks may be carried out on the Russian hosted Winter Olympics next year in Sochi.

“I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year.” Bandar is alleged to have said. What makes the pledge threatening is that he is also quoted as saying “The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us.”

Bandar also allegedly stated that Chechen terrorists currently in Syria were a tool that could be used at will.

“The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us, and they will not move in the Syrian territory’s direction without coordinating with us.” Bandar is quoted as saying. “These groups do not scare us. We use them in the face of the Syrian regime but they will have no role or influence in Syria’s political future.” he added.

Bandar also allegedly said that he was speaking with the full backing of the US government.

The London Telegraph also reported on the leaked notes, noting the Saudi prince’s attempt to further sweeten Putin with a secret sweeping oil deal and a pledge to safeguard Russia’s gas contracts should he abandon support for the Assad government.

The deal appears to be in the form of an offer to form a Russian/OPEC alliance on oil production that would significantly affect global markets. While Syria is not a major oil producer, any military action taken against the country could have wider repercussions on oil markets.

Vladimir Putin is said to have responded “We know that you have supported the Chechen terrorist groups for a decade. And that support, which you have frankly talked about just now, is completely incompatible with the common objectives of fighting global terrorism that you mentioned. We are interested in developing friendly relations according to clear and strong principles.”

The Russian president is also said to have commented “Our stance on Assad will never change. We believe that the Syrian regime is the best speaker on behalf of the Syrian people, and not those liver eaters.” referring to the rebels.

Bandar is said to have responded that there would be “no escape from the military option” if Russia were to decline the Saudi terms for accord.

The leaked transcripts do dovetail with initial reports that sourced anonymous European and Arab diplomats.

It is possible that the leaked transcripts could be embellished by Russian intelligence, for propaganda purposes. However, the detail contained within them makes them appear authentic. Regardless, the report makes for compelling reading, particularly considering Saudi Arabia’seagerness to take decisive action to overthrow and remove the Syrian government permanently.

Webster Tarpley has also recently detailed the fallout of the Saudi/Russian standoff:



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Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, andPrisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.

This article was posted: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 at 1:00 pm

Tags: terrorism, war

http://www.infowars.com/saudis-threa...syria-support/

US Attempts to Sabotage UN Chemical Weapons Investigation

Decision to attack Syria already made over a year ago

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
August 27, 2013

Desperate to maintain a narrative that will justify a cruise missile attack on Syria, the Obama administration is seemingly trying everything within its power to sabotage the UN chemical weapons investigation in Syria.

Image: WhiteHouse.gov

The reason is obvious – the last time the United Nations investigated claims of chemical weapons use in Syria, its inspectors concluded that it was the rebels and not Assad’s forces who were likely behind the sarin gas attack.

Eager to avoid a repeat that would completely derail the march to war, the White House in concert with Britain has repeatedly attempted to scupper the UN investigation or render it meaningless.

In the latest example, the Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama administration told UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon that “there wasn’t adequate security for the U.N. inspectors to visit the affected areas to conduct their mission,” a clear warning (or a blatant threat) that inspectors should pull out entirely.

It was announced today that inspectors had postponed their work until Wednesday for “safety” reasons.

This warning followed an incident, almost certainly the work of US-backed rebels, where a convoy of UN vehicles was fired upon by a sniper, causing the inspectors to temporarily suspend their work. Rebels have repeatedly acted with hostility against UN workers and peacekeepers, with one FSA group kidnapping 21 peacekeepers back in March.

While discouraging the UN from completing its investigation, the US and Britain have already declared that last week’s attack involved the use of chemical weapons and that it was the work of Bashar Al-Assad’s forces, despite numerous other examples where rebels have prepared and used chemical weapons themselves.

Even when Syria allowed UN inspectors to enter the affected region, the Obama administration responded that it was “too late,” and that the evidence could have been destroyed – so why bother investigating at all?

Washington and Downing Street are preparing to dive headlong into another potentially catastrophic war in the Middle East based on the evidence of a collection of YouTube videos. As in Iraq, it doesn’t really matter how flimsy the actual justification is because the decision to attack Syria was already made over a year ago, with a hyped humanitarian crisis being the agreed upon pretext, and the intervening period was merely an exercise in manufacturing a casus belli.

Why is the Obama administration and the British government so keen to prevent or dismiss as irrelevant the UN’s investigation?

The only reason is that it would threaten the already agreed upon narrative that Bashar Al-Assad, in complete defiance of any logic, ordered a chemical weapons attack right when UN inspectors were already in the country, timing the attack at the most opportune moment to justify western military intervention.

With western warplanes now already in place in Cyprus, along with a number of warships at sea, the die has been cast and the UN chemical weapons investigation will continue to be sabotaged or simply ignored, lest it turn up evidence that contradicts the rush to war.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.

This article was posted: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 at 6:19 am

Tags: foreign affairs, war


http://www.infowars.com/us-attempts-...investigation/

Obama’s Cruise Missile Attack Will Not Topple Assad

“Boots on the ground” only effective way to remove Bashar al-Assad from power in Syria

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
August 27, 2013

Cruise missiles fired from Navy destroyers deployed in the Mediterranean Sea will not break the resolve of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad or significantly hobble his military.



Defense officials told the Washington Post late last week that a destroyer scheduled to leave the Mediterranean was kept in place to keep more resources in the area. As noted in the above video, other assets are being positioned.
On Sunday, Sen. Bob Corker, who was briefed by Obama administration officials over the weekend, said a “response is imminent” in Syria. “I think we will respond in a surgical way,” he explained.
During a news conference on Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry set the stage for an attack.
A cruise missile attack, however, short of more robust military action will undoubtedly fail, according to Chris Harmer, a senior naval analyst at the Institute for the Study of War.
In July, Harmer wrote a study pointing out how the U.S. could degrade key Syrian military installations with virtually no risk to U.S. personnel, reports John Hudson for Foreign Policy. One aspect of the report suggested TJAM, or Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles, attacks pinpointed against the al-Assad regime. “It could be done quickly, easily, with no risk whatsoever to American personnel, and a relatively minor cost,” said Harmer.
The report was embraced by Arizona Senator John McCain.
In July, McCain cited Harmer’s report. “For a serious accounting of a realistic limited military option in Syria, I would strongly recommend a new study that is being released today by the Institute for the Study of War,” said McCain. “This new study confirms what I and many others have long argued: That it is militarily feasible for the United States and our friends and allies to significantly degrade Assad’s air power at relatively low cost, low risk to our personnel, and in very short order.”
“I never intended my analysis of a cruise missile strike option to be advocacy even though some people took it as that,” Harmer told Foreign Policy. “I made it clear that this is a low cost option, but the broader issue is that low cost options don’t do any good unless they are tied to strategic priorities and objectives,” he explained. “Any ship officer can launch 30 or 40 Tomahawks. It’s not difficult. The difficulty is explaining to strategic planners how this advances U.S. interests.”
“Punitive action is the dumbest of all actions,” he said. “The Assad regime has shown an incredible capacity to endure pain and I don’t think we have the stomach to deploy enough punitive action that would serve as a deterrent.”
In March, Joseph Halliday, a senior analyst for the Institute for the Study of War, produced a comprehensive comparative report on the strategy and capabilities of the Syrian army under both the current president Bashar al-Assad and his father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad.
Halliday concluded that although the CIA’s mercenaries led by the al-Nusra Front and al-Qaeda had taken an appreciable toll of al-Assad’s military, it remains largely intact. A reorganization of loyalist brigades and dependence on irregular army militias have kept the armed forces loyal, writes Lauren Williams for The Daily Star. The report concludes that al-Assad is increasingly dependent on core trusted units to control all of the country.
Although suffering from a high rate of defection, between 55,000-75,000 troops have been reorganized into loyalist units and deployed strategically under the command of trusted elite unit commanders.
“There has been significant reorganization of the deployable units. They have taken the most trusted soldiers out of the conventional battalions,” Holliday told The Daily Star.
“The vast majority of the commanding officers are Alawites, or those in leadership positions have close ties to the regime through family ties or commercial interests. This is true even at division commander level,” Holliday noted.
The Syrian Army employs fear and intimidation to reduce defections. “Loyalist gangs, usually made up of Alawites, and locally coordinated loyalist forces under the name of the Popular Committees, mostly organized along the lines of other minority sects, have been used as an important bolster to army units,” writes Williams.
“There are the shabbiha, Alawite gangs extended to members of the Assad family, or those from, say, slums in mixed areas made up of loyalist gangs who are not Alawite and often responsible for the worst kind of brutality,” Halliday explained.
In June, following a long stalemate, the tide turned against the CIA’s rebels in Syria. Following the loss of the key strategic city of Qusair on the Lebanese border, the rebels, propped up by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, suffered a serious setback.
“Bolstered by his Iranian and Russian backers, Assad’s forces have launched a series of counter-offensives in recent weeks against mainly Sunni Muslim rebels battling to overthrow him and end his minority Alawite family’s four-decade grip on power,” Reuters reported on June 5.
Cruise missile attacks are not likely to reverse this dynamic. If the United States is serious about toppling the al-Assad regime, it will be necessary to deploy “boots on the ground” as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan, an option the Obama administration and the Pentagon have ruled out.
“Nobody has asked us to [go into Syria]. The Syrian opposition does not think that it’s a good idea,”Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication, said in June. “We certainly don’t think it’s in our national interest to send U.S. Troops.”
The neocons in Congress, however, understand that deploying troops inside Syria will be the only effective way to take out al-Assad under the WMD guise. In March, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said troops must be sent into Syria to secure its chemical weapons.
“Absolutely, you’ve got to get on the ground,” Graham said. “There is no substitute for securing these weapons. I don’t care what it takes.”
“Look, there is no way that any strikes inside Syria would be easy to accomplish and they could potentially drag us much deeper into the conflict than we would like, but it is also true that the military is war-weary and is facing budgetary uncertainties,” said Michael P. Noonan, the Director of the Program on National Security at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, after Kerry proposed a “surgical strike option” in April.
Kerry’s proposal was shot down by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

This article was posted: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 at 10:17 am

Tags: domestic news, foreign affairs, war

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http://www.infowars.com/obamas-cruis...-topple-assad/

In Your Face Miley Cyrus Soft Porn As Obama Prepares to Murder Syrians

Miley distraction predominates as the elite prepare to decimate Syria.

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
August 27, 2013

Is it a coincidence that the establishment’s “entertainment” media has dwelled on the girl-next-door suddenly transformed into a grotesque slut as the Obama administration prepares the wallop Syria with cruise missiles?
Corporate media ramps up hype ahead of attack.



Following a speech by blue blood Skull and Bones member and current Secretary of State, John Kerry, on Monday setting the stage for an attack, the corporate media is now reporting that an attack may arrive Thursday.
No doubt the Miley-turned-into-pole-dancer meme will still be going strong in three days and distracting millions of Americans as the missiles fly in Damascus with the inevitable “collateral damage” of men, women and children who have nothing to do with al-Assad or the political prerogatives of the global elite.
On Monday, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that a scant 9 percent of respondents approve of the Obama administration attacking Syria. Even approval of Congress ranks higher at 15 percent approval, according to the Washington Post.
Max Fisher, writing for the former crown jewel of the CIA’s Operation Mockingbird, seems to be as clueless as the rest of the establishment media: “The calculus for and against is complicated enough in foreign policy terms. But the White House is also a political institution, and it will surely keep the domestic politics, which appear to oppose any intervention very strongly, well in mind,” he writes.
In fact, as should be obvious, most of all to those who claim to cover politics in the district of criminals, the White House does not give a whit about “domestic politics” or what the American people think. The White House, after all, is a puppet stage where marionettes posing as esteemed leaders and their over-paid adjutants read from prepared scripts.
Blue blood Kerry’s scripted speech delivered yesterday from the State Department, just down the street from the Council on Foreign Relations (as former Sec. of State Clinton fawningly admitted in 2009), and for good reason, is a primary example of this sort of tedious choreography. Kerry made effusive reference to the children killed in a chemical attack he explicitly blamed on Bashar al-Assad (minus any evidence, never mind compelling evidence) while, of course, steering away from the obvious: cruise missiles, fired willy-nilly into populated urban areas like Damascus, will kill many more innocent children.
If America is, as our appointed leaders and their stage handlers repeatedly tell us, a “representative democracy” (as opposed to a constitutional republic, as the founders designed), then all Americans will once again have the blood of innocents on their hands in much the same way the German people had blood on their hands after Hitler and his Wall Street financed henchmen finished killing millions (a track record exceeded only by the psychopaths Josef Stalin and Mao Tse-tung).
Of course, America is not a democracy or a republic. It is a fascist police state, albeit soft at this juncture in history. It is a plutocracy ruled for and by a small number of international bankers and transnational corporations.
If Syria ends up a smoking ruin, its civilian infrastructure destroyed and population poisoned by depleted uranium, it will be a criminal act completely beyond not only the control of the average American, but his and her comprehension as well.
Polls aside, most Americans have but the slightest inkling of what the corporate-bankster state and its military machine do, as evidenced by Iraq. It is not a subject of documentaries broadcast on CNN, Fox News, or the other Mockingbird alphabet news conglomerates. Reality and dead babies, especially when numbered in the hundreds of thousands, are now routinely papered over.
Instead, we are distracted by a 20-year old woman, a corporate scripted role model for millions of girls who believe that one has to act like a prostitute in order to be popular and cool. It does not matter that young women and girls in Syria will, in short order, be reduced to bloody corpses, possibly by Thursday.



This article was posted: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 at 12:28 pm

Tags: domestic news, foreign affairs, terrorism, war


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http://www.infowars.com/in-your-face...urder-syrians/

Potential military strike in Syria sparks concern in Congress

Stephanie Condon
cbsnews.com
August 27, 2013

Some members of Congress are calling on President Obama to get congressional approval — or at least consult more closely with the legislative branch — before launching military strikes against the Syrian government for its alleged use of chemical weapons.

On Monday — giving a clear indication that the administration is readying for action — Secretary of State John Kerry said the evidence “is screaming at us” that chemical weapons were used in Syria. Mr. Obama and his administration have communicated with some lawmakers on the situation in Syria this week, but some congressmen insist the president should follow the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and receive authorization from Congress before using any military force in Syria.

Rep. Scott Rigell, R-Va., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, began collecting signatures in Congress Tuesday for a letter urging Mr. Obama to get congressional approval before launching any strikes.

Read more

This article was posted: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 at 1:04 pm

Tags: domestic news, war

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http://www.infowars.com/potential-mi...n-in-congress/

Meet Saudi Arabia's Bandar bin Sultan: The Puppetmaster Behind The Syrian War

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2013 15:21 -0400

• China
• Evans-Pritchard
• Iran
• Middle East
• Saudi Arabia
• Turkey

Yesterday the Telegraph's Evans-Pritchard dug up a note that we had posted almost a month ago, relating to the "secret" meeting between Saudi Arabia and Russia, in which Saudi's influential intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan met with Putin and regaled him with gifts, including a multi-billion arms deal and a promise that Saudi is "ready to help Moscow play a bigger role in the Middle East at a time when the United States is disengaging from the region", if only Putin would agree to give up his alliance with Syria's al-Assad and let Syria take over, ostensibly including control of the country's all important natgas transit infrastructure. What was not emphasized by the Telegraph is that Putin laughed at the proposal and brushed aside the Saudi desperation by simply saying "nyet." However, what neither the Telegraph, nor we three weeks ago, picked up on, is what happened after Putin put Syria in its place. We now know, and it's a doozy.

Courtesy of As-Safir (translated here), we learn all the gritty details about what really happened at the meeting, instead of just the Syrian motives and the Russian conclusion, and most importantly what happened just as the meeting ended, unsuccessfully (at least to the Saudi). And by that we mean Saudi Arabia's threats toward Russia and Syria.

First, some less well-known observations on who it was that was supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt even as US support was fading fast:

Bandar said that the matter is not limited to the kingdom and that some countries have overstepped the roles drawn for them, such as Qatar and Turkey. He added, “We said so directly to the Qataris and to the Turks. We rejected their unlimited support to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and elsewhere. The Turks’ role today has become similar to Pakistan’s role in the Afghan war. We do not favor extremist religious regimes, and we wish to establish moderate regimes in the region. It is worthwhile to pay attention to and to follow up on Egypt’s experience. We will continue to support the [Egyptian] army, and we will support Defense Minister Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi because he is keen on having good relations with us and with you. And we suggest to you to be in contact with him, to support him and to give all the conditions for the success of this experiment. We are ready to hold arms deals with you in exchange for supporting these regimes, especially Egypt.”

So while Saudi was openly supporting the Egyptian coup, which is well-known, it was Turkey and most importantly Qatar, the nation that is funding and arming the Syrian rebels, that were the supporters of the now failed regime. One wonders just how much Egypt will straing Saudi-Qatari relations, in light of their joined interests in Syria.

Second, some better-known observations by Putin on Russia's relationship with Iran:

Regarding Iran, Putin said to Bandar that Iran is a neighbor, that Russia and Iran are bound by relations that go back centuries, and that there are common and tangled interests between them. Putin said, “We support the Iranian quest to obtain nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes. And we helped them develop their facilities in this direction. Of course, we will resume negotiations with them as part of the 5P+1 group. I will meet with President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the Central Asia summit and we will discuss a lot of bilateral, regional and international issues. We will inform him that Russia is completely opposed to the UN Security Council imposing new sanctions on Iran. We believe that the sanctions imposed against Iran and Iranians are unfair and that we will not repeat the experience again.”

Then, Putin's position vis-a-vis Turkey, whom he implicitly warns that it is "not immune to Syria's bloodbath."

Regarding the Turkish issue, Putin spoke of his friendship with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan; “Turkey is also a neighboring country with which we have common interests. We are keen to develop our relations in various fields. During the Russian-Turkish meeting, we scrutinized the issues on which we agree and disagree. We found out that we have more converging than diverging views. I have already informed the Turks, and I will reiterate my stance before my friend Erdogan, that what is happening in Syria necessitates a different approach on their part. Turkey will not be immune to Syria’s bloodbath. The Turks ought to be more eager to find a political settlement to the Syrian crisis. We are certain that the political settlement in Syria is inevitable, and therefore they ought to reduce the extent of damage. Our disagreement with them on the Syrian issue does not undermine other understandings between us at the level of economic and investment cooperation. We have recently informed them that we are ready to cooperate with them to build two nuclear reactors. This issue will be on the agenda of the Turkish prime minister during his visit to Moscow in September.”

Of course, there is Syria:

Regarding the Syrian issue, the Russian president responded to Bandar, saying, “Our stance on Assad will never change. We believe that the Syrian regime is the best speaker on behalf of the Syrian people, and not those liver eaters. During the Geneva I Conference, we agreed with the Americans on a package of understandings, and they agreed that the Syrian regime will be part of any settlement. Later on, they decided to renege on Geneva I. In all meetings of Russian and American experts, we reiterated our position. In his upcoming meeting with his American counterpart John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will stress the importance of making every possible effort to rapidly reach a political settlement to the Syrian crisis so as to prevent further bloodshed.”

Alas, that has failed.

So what are some of the stunning disclosures by the Saudis? First this:

Bandar told Putin, “There are many common values ??and goals that bring us together, most notably the fight against terrorism and extremism all over the world. Russia, the US, the EU and the Saudis agree on promoting and consolidating international peace and security. The terrorist threat is growing in light of the phenomena spawned by the Arab Spring. We have lost some regimes. And what we got in return were terrorist experiences, as evidenced by the experience of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the extremist groups in Libya. ... As an example, I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics in the city of Sochi on the Black Sea next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us, and they will not move in the Syrian territory’s direction without coordinating with us. These groups do not scare us. We use them in the face of the Syrian regime but they will have no role or influence in Syria’s political future.”

It is good of the Saudis to admit they control a terrorist organization that "threatens the security" of the Sochi 2014 Olympic games, and that house of Saud uses "in the face of the Syrian regime." Perhaps the next time there is a bombing in Boston by some Chechen-related terrorists, someone can inquire Saudi Arabia what, if anything, they knew about that.

But the piece de resistance is what happened at the end of the dialogue between the two leaders. It was, in not so many words, a threat by Saudi Arabia aimed squarely at Russia:

As soon as Putin finished his speech, Prince Bandar warned that in light of the course of the talks, things were likely to intensify, especially in the Syrian arena, although he appreciated the Russians’ understanding of Saudi Arabia’s position on Egypt and their readiness to support the Egyptian army despite their fears for Egypt's future.

The head of the Saudi intelligence services said that the dispute over the approach to the Syrian issue leads to the conclusion that “there is no escape from the military option, because it is the only currently available choice given that the political settlement ended in stalemate. We believe that the Geneva II Conference will be very difficult in light of this raging situation.”

At the end of the meeting, the Russian and Saudi sides agreed to continue talks, provided that the current meeting remained under wraps. This was before one of the two sides leaked it via the Russian press.

Since we know all about this, it means no more talks, an implicit warning that the Chechens operating in proximity to Sochi may just become a loose cannon (with Saudi's blessing of course), and that about a month ago "there is no escape from the military option, because it is the only currently available choice given that the political settlement ended in stalemate." Four weeks later, we are on the edge of all out war, which may involve not only the US and Europe, but most certainly Saudi Arabia and Russia which automatically means China as well. Or, as some may call it, the world.

And all of it as preordained by a Saudi prince, and all in the name of perpetuating the hegemony of the petrodollar.

P.S. Russia and Saudi Arabia account for 25% of global oil production.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-0...ind-syrian-war

Iranian Official: Israel to Be ‘First Victim’ of U.S. Attack on Syria

Claims U.S. does not have ability to strike Assad

A Syrian army soldier walks on a street in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus, Syria / AP


BY: Adam Kredo
August 27, 2013 1:35 pm

A senior Iranian lawmaker said Israel would be the first casualty of any U.S.-led strike on Syria, according to regional media reports.
Hossein Sheikholeslam, the director general of the Iranian parliament’s International Affairs bureau, claimed the United States would not dare attack Syria but said that if it does, “the Zionist regime will be the first victim.”
“No military attack will be waged against Syria,” Sheikholeslam was quoted as saying on Monday by Iran’s state run Fars News Agency.
“Yet, if such an incident takes place, which is impossible, the Zionist regime will be the first victim of a military attack on Syria,” Sheikholeslam said in an apparent response to the Obama administration’s increasingly stern rhetoric against Syria.
Iran has been one of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s chief allies. It has sent Hezbollah reinforcements to battle rebel forces and acted as Assad’s chief defender in the Middle East.
As the Obama administration hints that it is gearing up to intervene in Syria following the reported use of chemical weapons, Iranian officials have similarly ramped up their rhetoric.
Sheikholeslam said Assad would immediately respond to a U.S. attack by going after the Jewish state with the full force of his military.
Syria can “heavily attack and raze the occupied territories,” Fars reported him as saying.
Another senior Iranian lawmaker said on Monday that the U.S. military is not prepared to handle an operation in Syria.
Mohammad Esmayeeli, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, claimed Washington is not ready for any new military invasion.
He said that if the Obama administration does decide to launch an attack, Moscow will support Damascus.
Russia has consistently thrown its support behind Assad, providing him with advanced weapons and blocking concrete action at the United Nations.
“The U.S. as well as the western and Arab states and certain regional countries are beating on the drums of war, but they should know that this is not to their benefit,” Esmayeeli was quoted as saying by Fars.
Esmayeeli, in an apparent reference to America’s defense budget cuts, went on to say that the United States is in no condition to wage a war against Syria. If America “starts a war with Syria, the U.S. will not achieve its desirable and needed results,” Esmayeeli said.
Meanwhile, newly installed Iranian President Hassan Rowhani condemned the use of chemical weapons, the apparent tipping point for a U.S. strike on Assad.
“Iran gives notice to international community to use all its might to prevent use of chemical weapons anywhere in the world, esp. in #Syria,” Rowhani tweeted on Tuesday.
Syria expert Tony Badran said that despite Iran’s rhetoric, Assad currently has his hands full with the rebel fighters.
“I’m actually not sure they will retaliate against Israel and risk an escalation they can ill afford,” said Badran, research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Of course, anything is possible, and they could conceivably do a repeat of a small-scale, limited Katyusha [and] Grad [rocket] salvo from Lebanon, without anyone taking credit or with some minor faction claiming responsibility in order to avoid a punishing Israeli response.”
It is more likely that smaller pro-Assad factions would strike soft Western targets, Badran said.
“Instead of focusing too much or exclusively on Israel, some groups, such as the PFLP-GC, made a point to say that they would target ‘the interests’ of ‘participants in an aggression against Syria,’ which perhaps suggests softer targets,” Badran said.
These include European targets or even United Nations forces, Badran said
Former Pentagon adviser Michael Rubin warned that Iran’s pro-Assad rhetoric should be viewed as a window into its thinking about nuclear arms.
“Once again, Iran shows why the international community should never let it even come close to a nuclear weapon,” Rubin said. “If Assad can murder Syrians in their sleep, he and his Iranian backers won’t bat an eye to do the same thing to Jordanians, Israelis, or Turks.”
Such rhetoric “shows why the red line should never be the use of WMD, but its possession in the arsenals of the world’s rogues,” Rubin said.
This entry was posted in Middle East and tagged Hassan Rowhani, Iran, Israel, Syria. Bookmark the permalink.


http://freebeacon.com/iranian-offici...tack-on-syria/

Here's the plan of action to Oppose the illegal and unconstitutional war with Syria:

We are launching a global rally on Saturday August 31st in every city and town in the world.

Here's how you get involved:

Go to the FB search bar and search for 'No War With Syria Rally (your city)' example: No War With Syria Rally San Diego

Join the event, invite ALL of your friends to join it as well, then get involved with the locals that are already in the event page to help them any way you can.

*If there is no event page made for your location yet, please make one.
Here's how:

-Simply click on your event tab from your FB homepage

-Click create an event

-Name the event 'No War With Syria Rally (your city)' example: No War With Syria Rally San Diego

-make sure you set the privacy to public so other people can find it when they search for it

-Pick a central and relevant location and start time for your area(please make it on Saturday August 31st)

-Invite ALL of your friends and encourage everyone else to invite their friends as well and do whatever else you can to let people know about the rally

-Try to get some volunteers together to make banners to do some canvassing on friday the night before your rally. Contact the local overpass light brigade or set one up yourself. Make signs.

-Pass out flyers in the days leading up to your rally, if you can't afford them, ask for some donations. Some local businesses may also be willing to help you out with printing

-Contact other activist groups in your area for help(occupy groups, anti-war groups, veterans for peace groups, code pink, civil liberty groups etc)

-contact local media and let them know about your rally. Focus on independent journalists in your area.

-Set up a hashtag for your march and use it on FB, Twitter, and Instagram

-The rest is up to your discretion to handle locally

The time to change the world and stop the war is now. Share this information with anyone and everyone you know, thousands of innocent lives depend on it