Peace Intelligence – Page 341 – Public Intelligence Blog

In what NPR called “perhaps President Obama’s last best chance” to make his case for launching a war against Syria, the president tellingly didn’t make a single effort to present hard, compelling evidence to prove that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad had been behind the alleged Sarin Aug. 21 attack on residents of a suburb of Damascus.

Not one piece of evidence.

Instead, he continued the talking point of the past week, focussing on the admitted horror of seeing young children “writhing in pain and going still on a cold hospital floor.”

Given that two thirds of Americans, according to polls, do not want the US to unilaterally attack Syria, and really do not want yet another war in the Middle East, it is truly amazing that the president didn’t try to make the case, at least, that Assad was the guilty party.

He simply stated, as was done in the two-page propaganda article posted on the White House website, that “We know the Assad regime was responsible” for the gas attack.

Read full article.

2013/09/11

NIGHTWATCH: Astounding Syrian Concessions Protect Israel — US Analysts Dull [Ignorant] — World Edges Away from Brink of WWIII — NIGHTWATCH Tutorial for Dull Analysts

03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 05 Iran, 06 Russia, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, Cultural Intelligence, Peace Intelligence

Syria: Update. Opposition sources say government forces attacked the hills around Ma'aloula village early on Monday under the cover of heavy shelling. The Christian village is reported to be almost empty after most of its residents fled following the arrival of the foreign-backed militants last week. According to a resident, who left the area in the past days, only around 50 people remain there.

Militants from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front and the Qalamun Liberation Front are reported to be in control of some parts of the historic village, which is located about 70 kilometers northeast of Damascus.

Comment: Since 1999 this village has been on UNESCO's Tentative List of World Heritage sites.

Politics. The Syrian government has accepted a Russian proposal to put its chemical weapons under international control to avoid a possible U.S. military strike, Interfax news agency quoted Syria's foreign minister as saying on Tuesday.

Syrian Foreign Minister Mu'allim said, “We held a very fruitful round of talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday, and he proposed an initiative relating to chemical weapons. And in the evening we agreed to the Russian initiative.” He said Syria had agreed because this would “remove the grounds for American aggression.”

Before leaving Moscow, the Foreign Minister made several astounding announcements reported by Russian media. He said,

Continue reading “NIGHTWATCH: Astounding Syrian Concessions Protect Israel — US Analysts Dull [Ignorant] — World Edges Away from Brink of WWIII — NIGHTWATCH Tutorial for Dull Analysts”

2013/09/092013/09/09

Owl: Dark Days in America — Mid-November?

01 Poverty, 03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 05 Iran, 06 Russia, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement, Media, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

“There are very dark storm clouds gathering around the country and North America as a whole. Things are about to get dark, very dark in just a few short weeks. In just over two months, on November 13-14, 2013, the lights are about to go out. Will the lights come back on? It depends on who you ask. Given the past behavior of those in power, it would behoove all of us to prepare for the fact that we could be living for an extended time with no electricity…The working scenario that has emerged is that World War III is on the horizon. Syria was to be the flash point. However, with American and international sentiment running so high against American involvement in the Syrian conflict, Obama needs a Plan B in order to get America into war, because it does not appear that Congress is going to give him the authorization that he needs to force our way in Syria culminating in a military stand off between the Russians and the Chinese and the United States. Subsequently, if Obama fails to obtain Congressional support to attack Syria, he could very well turn his attention to the take down of the power grid and he could still achieve his goals in under two months.

Continue reading “Owl: Dark Days in America — Mid-November?”

2013/09/09

Berto Jongman: 40 Years Later, Agent Orange Still Deforming Children

03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 06 Family, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Earth Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Lessons, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

London surgeons help ‘children of Agent Orange'

Includes 4 Minute Video – Compelling

The Vietnam War ended nearly 40 years ago, but the casualties continue as birth defects plague the country.

There are claims that thousands of children continue to be born with horrific facial deformities due to the 20 million gallons of Agent Orange chemical sprayed by the United States.

The Vietnamese call the disfigured youngsters ‘the children of Agent Orange'.

Da Nang in central Vietnam is thought to have the highest level of congenital deformity in the world.

Inside Out's Mark Jordan joins a team of top London plastic surgeons on their unpaid mission to help these children through the charity Facing the World.

Inside Out is broadcast on Monday, 9 September at 19:30 BST on BBC One London and nationwide on the iPlayer for seven days thereafter.

2013/09/09

SchwartzReport: Cost of 11 Days of War = 1 Year Free Tuition at All Public Colleges

04 Education, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Idiocy, Peace Intelligence

The headline says it all, and I have been unable to get this statistic out of my mind since I read it this morning. We have beggared ourselves as a nation through an endless series of wars whose only beneficiaries are the war profiteers

11 Days US Unlawful Wars Cost = 1 Year Free Tuition For All US Public Colleges

CARL HERMAN – Washington's Blog

2013/09/092013/09/09

NIGHTWATCH: Russia, Syria, Lebanon — and Adana, Turkey [US Air Base]

05 Iran, 06 Russia, 08 Wild Cards, Peace Intelligence

Russia: Russia will send another large landing ship, the Nikolai Filchenkov, toward Syria's coast, a Russian navy source said Sept. 6, Reuters reported, citing Interfax. The ship will take special cargo on board in Novorossiysk before heading to Syria. No details about the cargo were provided.

Comment: This is the sixth large landing ship that Russia has deployed to the Syrian coast. That makes nine ships mentioned by name since 4 September and moving to Syria. Russia does not want a naval engagement with the US, but might not be averse to a non-shooting confrontation.

Russia is evacuating by air Russian passport holders who wish to leave. An aircraft arrived at Latakia for that purpose on 8 September.

Comment: In August Russia sent two flights to evacuate 116 Russians and citizens from ex-Soviet states. The large landing ships would be essential for a large scale evacuation, which Russia denies it has ordered.

Lebanon: The US ordered the evacuation of non-emergency official personnel and families from Beirut and offered to evacuate Americans from Adana, Turkey on Friday. It advised against travel to Lebanon and southeastern Turkey and for residents to be alert for violence in light of tensions in the region..

Comment: This evacuation aims to put the most vulnerable Americans beyond the reach of Hizballah which vows retaliation for any US attack against Syria. It also supposedly is a safety precaution before the anniversary of 9/11. Senior American officials have argued in public that Syria, Iran and Hizballah will not retaliate. On the other hand, spokesmen from each entity have vowed they will.

The inclusion of Adana in the order provides a little insight into the US war plan. Americans in Adana will be a risk from US operations. apparently. That implies that more than cruise missile launches will be involved.

Reassurances are fine as political science theory, but the vows of retaliation are real threats because they are backed up by capability. More evacuations and many more precautions will be necessary.

2013/09/092013/09/09