USA aren't after democracy in Syria now.

[Groomer]

Let's stay realistic just. USA aren't after democracy in Syria now. Democracy has been smoking screen for them just. Actually they and their western allies have been long a watering mouth for Syria as rather huge potential recipient of western armaments.
So far Damask has been relying mostly on China, Russia and Iran in the armaments supplies as you might know. I've been involved in servicing of the armaments deals with Damask on part of China. That's been good money for me and my big family and promising perspectives as well. I'm scary I may well be left without any soon!
Americans and their western allies are on the side of the illegal militants opposing Asad now and they are set to pump them with the armaments to make them win. This victory would mean really huge dividends for western companies in future. It's a well-known fact that those militants are lead by leaders representing interests of the Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar, American devoted allies in the region, all of'em ....... and buyers of their armaments as well.
BTW When Clinton focused recently on some Syria destined deliveries of helicopters by Moscow (they haven't been confirmed so far as I know) she definitely had smth in mind. I guess American State Dep wants to introduce some sanctions to hit Russian firms trading in armaments. And they need some pretext just. I suspect that's been just a testing ball and they are going to hit China next.

 

[Artevelde]

Let's stay realistic just. USA aren't after democracy in Syria now. Democracy has been smoking screen for them just. Actually they and their western allies have been long a watering mouth for Syria as rather huge potential recipient of western armaments.
So far Damask has been relying mostly on China, Russia and Iran in the armaments supplies as you might know. I've been involved in servicing of the armaments deals with Damask on part of China. That's been good money for me and my big family and promising perspectives as well. I'm scary I may well be left without any soon!
Americans and their western allies are on the side of the illegal militants opposing Asad now and they are set to pump them with the armaments to make them win. This victory would mean really huge dividends for western companies in future. It's a well-known fact that those militants are lead by leaders representing interests of the Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar, American devoted allies in the region, all of'em ....... and buyers of their armaments as well.
BTW When Clinton focused recently on some Syria destined deliveries of helicopters by Moscow (they haven't been confirmed so far as I know) she definitely had smth in mind. I guess American State Dep wants to introduce some sanctions to hit Russian firms trading in armaments. And they need some pretext just. I suspect that's been just a testing ball and they are going to hit China next.

Try learning English.

 

[Intense]

Let's stay realistic just. USA aren't after democracy in Syria now. Democracy has been smoking screen for them just. Actually they and their western allies have been long a watering mouth for Syria as rather huge potential recipient of western armaments.
So far Damask has been relying mostly on China, Russia and Iran in the armaments supplies as you might know. I've been involved in servicing of the armaments deals with Damask on part of China. That's been good money for me and my big family and promising perspectives as well. I'm scary I may well be left without any soon!
Americans and their western allies are on the side of the illegal militants opposing Asad now and they are set to pump them with the armaments to make them win. This victory would mean really huge dividends for western companies in future. It's a well-known fact that those militants are lead by leaders representing interests of the Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar, American devoted allies in the region, all of'em ....... and buyers of their armaments as well.
BTW When Clinton focused recently on some Syria destined deliveries of helicopters by Moscow (they haven't been confirmed so far as I know) she definitely had smth in mind. I guess American State Dep wants to introduce some sanctions to hit Russian firms trading in armaments. And they need some pretext just. I suspect that's been just a testing ball and they are going to hit China next.

Translation: Support Your Local Dictator.

 

[Katzndogz]

There is some serious ignorance going on here.

Syria isn't going to buy arms from the west and it never was. Syria is an ally and client state of Russia. If it wants arms, Russia will provide them just as they are doing now. Russia maintains a major naval base in Syria.

The US support's Assad's opposition because the US supports Al Quaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood just as the US did in Libya and Egypt. Russia supports Assad because it doesn't want Syria to turn into another Chechnya.

 

[waltky]

CIA Steering Arms To Syrian Opposition...

CIA said to aid in steering arms to Syrian opposition
June 21, 2012 - CIA officers are helping allies decide which Syrian opposition fighters will receive automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and antitank weapons being funneled across the Turkish border, according to The New York Times.

The small number of officers has been operating secretly in southern Turkey for several weeks. Intermediaries, including the Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, are moving the weapons, paid for by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, across the Turkish border into Syria, the Times reported.

Part of the CIA officer’s mission is to keep the weapons away from al-Qaida allied and other terrorist groups.

The Obama administration also is considering helping the opposition setup their own intelligence service and providing satellite imagery and other intelligence of Syrian troops locations and movements, the Times reported.

Source

 

[Sunni Man]

Syria has become just another proxy war between the U.S./Europe vers Russia.

And "The Great Game" continues............

The Great Game - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[mememe]

Syria has become just another proxy war between the U.S./Europe vers Russia.

... and China.

 

[waltky]

Syria bringin' out its chemical weapons...

Syria takes WMD out of storage: US: Situation incredibly dangerous
July 13, 2012, As part of its ongoing war maneuver, Syria Thursday, July 12, this week drilled the firing of advanced Scud D ballistic missiles capable of carrying chemical weapons and nerve gas – a clear message from Bashar Assad that weapons of mass destruction are now in play to save his regime.

American officials, alarmed by the movement out of storage of parts of his vast arsenal of sarin nerve agent, mustard gas and cyanide, warned it could escalate the Syrian conflict and expand it to other parts of the region. "This could set the precedent of WMD [weapons of mass destruction] being used under our watch," one U.S. official said. "This is incredibly dangerous to our national security." The Obama administration has begun to hold classified briefings about the new intelligence.[/i]
debkafile’s military sources say that two developments drove the Syrian president Bashar Assad to this extreme threat:

1. The rebels were discovered to have procured roadside bombs capable of crippling the T-72 tank units he has just tried injecting into the battle for the first time this week. Tanks sent in long convoys into Aleppo and the suburbs of Damascus were blown up.
2. The balance of war has reached the point that the government controls only those parts of the country where heavy military or security forces contingents with massive fire power are deployed; elsewhere, the rebels have the upper hand.

In the course of its war exercise, the Syrians fired a selection of ground-to-ground missiles which they described as capable of “hitting targets deep within enemy territory.” Our military sources say all the Scuds, the M-600, Fateh-110 and Zelzal can reach any point in Israel. They also tested upgraded C-802 shore-to-ship rockets. American officials revealed Thursday in Washington that “Syria has begun moving parts of its vast arsenal of chemical weapons out of storage facilities.” They didn’t say to where they were moved.

debkafile’s military sources report that the missile warheads and shells containing poisonous weapons such as sarin, mustard gas and cyanide are being moved to specific Syrian units ahead of field operations. Some US officials are quoted by The Wall Street Journal as fearing “Damascus intends to use the weapons against the rebels or civilians, potentially as part of a targeted ethnic cleansing campaign.” Others hope it is a feint to inspire fear. Whatever the case, the alarmed US official said in Washington: This could set the precedent of WMD [weapons of mass destruction] being used under our watch" and is "incredibly dangerous to our national security."

Source

See also:

Syrian Regime Accused of Biggest Massacre Yet
Jul 13, 2012 — United Nations Special Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan said Friday that he was “shocked and appalled” by opposition reports from a small central village that Syrian forces killed more than 200 people on Thursday.

If true, it would be the single bloodiest attack since the uprising began last March. It was impossible to verify opposition activists’ claims that forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had shelled the village of Tremseh, near Hama, and then conducted a ground operation. The head of the U.N. monitoring mission in Syria – which doesn’t venture out because of the ongoing violence – said his monitors witnessed the use of artillery, tanks and helicopters from their base around four miles away. “If we have credible cessation of violence and a local ceasefire, we stand ready to go in with a larger team to verify the facts on the ground,” said Gen. Robert Mood. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told ABC News that shelling started at 5 a.m. Thursday. That was followed by a ground operation carried out by security forces and troops. They said they had confirmed the deaths of more than 150 people.

Other activist accounts placed the death toll north of 200 and accused pro-regime “shabiha,” or thugs, of going on a deadly rampage in the village following the military’s attack. The attackers, they said, went into the Sunni village from surrounding villages that are Alawite, the Shiite sect Assad belongs to. The account is similar to the attack on the village of Houla at the end of May that left 108 dead, around half of them children. The Assad regime agreed many were killed in Tremseh, but accused “tens of terrorists” who “ransacked, destroyed and burned scores of the village houses…” They accused the terrorists – their catch-all term for opposition fighters – and “bloody media outlets” of taking advantage of a Thursday U.N. Security Council meeting on Syria to “manipulate public opinion against Syria.”

On Friday, communications with Tremseh appeared to be cut, making it more difficult to confirm the accounts. Video of the aftermath was scarce; one clip showed just over a dozen men who had been killed while another purported to show a long row of bodies in white burial shrouds in a mosque. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Syria has begun to move some of its chemical weapons from their secure locations, fueling fear they could be used. Syria is known to have one of the biggest chemical and biological weapons stockpiles in the Middle East, including sarin nerve agent, VX gas, mustard gas and cyanide. “This could set the precedent of [weapons of mass destruction] being used under our watch,” a U.S. official told the Wall Street Journal. “This is incredibly dangerous to our national security.”

Aside from the fears of their use, there are also fears the weapons could fall into the wrong hands if the regime falls, whether it’s the al Qaeda-linked elements currently fighting against the regime or Syrian allies Hezbollah and Iran. “Our assessment remains what it’s been for some time that the Syrian regime has control of its chemical weapons stockpiles,” Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters on Friday. “We are watching very closely, not just the United States, but the international community, to make sure that they maintain control over those stockpiles and of course…to ensure that they don’t use them.” He also warned that the regime using the weapons “would cross a serious red line.”

Syrian Regime Accused of Biggest Massacre Yet - ABC News

 

[B. Kidd]

Syria has become just another proxy war between the U.S./Europe vers Russia.

And "The Great Game" continues............

The Great Game - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Unfortunately for Syrian rebels and innocents in the Syrian populace, the U.S. is not gonna do much cause it's a election year. If Assad wants to cling to power awhile longer, he has an open window between now and November to ramp up the slaughter, cause the Obama administration isn't going to commit to doing anything overtly to intervene before the election. That leaves the U.N., which is as useless as bull-tits.
You're correct, 'game-on'.

 

[waltky]

Looks like the Russkies an' Chinks wanna see Assad get killed...

Russia, China again veto Syria resolution
19 July`12 – Russia and China again vetoed a Western-backed U.N. resolution Thursday aimed at pressuring President Bashar Assad's government to end the escalating 16-month conflict in Syria.

The 11-2 vote, with two abstentions from South Africa and Pakistan, was the third double veto of a resolution addressing the Syria crisis by Damascus' most important allies. The defeat leaves in limbo the future of the 300-strong U.N. observer mission in Syria, which was forced to suspend operations because of the intensified fighting. Its mandate, to monitor a cease-fire and implementation of international envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan, expires Friday.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, who sponsored the Western-backed draft, said he was "appalled" at the third double veto of a resolution aimed at bringing an end to the bloodshed in Syria and creating conditions for political talks. The resolution had threatened sanctions if the Syrian regime didn't quickly stop using heavy weapons. "The consequence of their decision is obvious," he said. "Further bloodshed, and the likelihood of descent into all-out civil war." Activists say more than 17,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in March 2011, most of them civilians. "The consequence of today's action is the situation will continue to deteriorate," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the resolution should never have been put to a vote because the sponsors knew it had no chance of adoption. "We simply cannot accept a document under Chapter 7, one which would open the path for the pressure of sanctions and further to external military involvement in Syrian domestic affairs," he said. The latest veto was a blow to Annan, the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, who had called for "consequences" for non-compliance with his six-point peace plan, which has been flouted by the Assad government.

The vote on the resolution was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but Annan requested a delay and appealed to the council to unite behind a new resolution. Moscow wouldn't budge, and the West insisted on including the threat of non-military sanctions under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter. That could eventually open the door to the use of military force. Wednesday's delay was announced shortly after the deadly bombing of a high-level security meeting in Damascus that has made Assad's hold on power look increasingly tenuous. His whereabouts have been a mystery since the attack, though Syrian state TV said Assad attended the swearing-in of his new defense minister Thursday.

MORE

See also:

Bombing may indicate 'meltdown' in Syrian regime
18 July`12 – The explosion that killed three of Bashar Assad's inner circle Wednesday eliminated the Syrian president's top security team and, along with fighting in the capital, may indicate the regime is crumbling, Syria analysts say.

"I think it could prove a decisive event," said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center. "In the last couple of weeks, there have been dramatic events that have indicated a meltdown. Most significant has been the fighting in Damascus, which demonstrates a massive loss of control by the regime." Fighting in the capital has intensified over the past four days as rebels from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) clash with regime forces. Salem said the nature of the bomb attack suggests Assad's opponents may have informers close to the regime. "It implies cooperation or even infiltration," Salem said.

Sami Ibrahim, an activist with the Syrian Network for Human Rights in Damascus, said the attack has given a major boost to the rebellion, which has been hammered by Syrian forces in an uprising that has left 17,000 people dead in 17 months. "There is a feeling of great happiness," he said. "Those people who died (in the bombing) were killers of the Syrian population for more than 1½ years." Syrian SANA TV reported that the blast at the National Security building killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha; Assad's brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, who was a close confidant of the dictator; and Interior Minister Hassan Turkmani. Assad's location was unknown.

Shawkat oversaw the 30-year Syrian military occupation in Lebanon. Rajha, an artillery specialist, was the highest-ranking Christian in the mostly Alawite-Muslim regime. Turkmani headed the regime's response to the uprising and was accused by the Free Syrian Army of issuing orders to torture anti-Assad activists and fighters. "The death of these key regime figures is a severe blow to the Syrian regime since this particular crisis unit led the repressive operations against the rebellion," said Col. Aref Hamoud of the Free Syrian Army, speaking from Turkey.

Both the Free Syrian Army, a rebel force made up of deserters and regime opponents, and Liwa Al-Islam, an Islamist group, claimed responsibility for the explosion. The FSA claimed its compatriots planted the bomb in the security briefing room. Danielle Pletka, Middle East expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said developments show Assad "can't last." "We've not seen any fighting in Damascus all this time, and now we see fierce fighting in Damascus," she said. "If that's the best the Syrian military can do and they have to move troops on the Israeli border to protect Damascus, it's the beginning of the end."

MORE

 

[waltky]

Syrian civil war gettin' uncivil, scarin' the bejesus outta Israel...

Syria Live: 'Dramatic Turn For The Worse'
26 July`12 - Violence in Syria has escalated into what some are calling a civil war. Activists say at least 17,000 people have died since the uprising began in March last year. The government blames "terrorists" and "armed gangs" for the unrest, as rebels claim responsibility for a bomb attack that kills several members of President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle.

Syrian activists have posted a video online that they claim could potentially be evidence that the Syrian government is using chemical weapons in its crackdown on dissent in residential areas. The video shows a yellowish/orange smoke emanating during the shelling of the neighbourhood of Jourat al Haya in the city of Homs. It came amid reports that chemical weapons have been used against opposition strongholds in other parts of the country, including Deir ez-Zour. The government has denied suspicions that it would use "unconventional weapons" in the country.

Turkey says the brigadier general who defected from the Syrian regime is on a visit to Ankara. A Turkish foreign ministry statement did not specify if Manaf Tlass had yet landed in Turkey but said Turkish officials were hosting him Thursday night for a special dinner during Ramadan, the Muslim holy fasting month. Tlass was a commander in the powerful Republican Guard and a close friend of Syrian President Bashar Assad. He is the most prominent person to defect from the Syrian regime as it has cracked down over the past 16 months on an increasingly armed opposition movement, a conflict that has left thousands dead and spiraled into civil war. Tlass defected in early July and flew to Paris. He has also recently been in Saudi Arabia.

French police are investigating a software company accused by human rights groups of complicity in torture by supplying Syria with intelligence technology used to spy on and track its citizens, a judicial source told Reuters on Thursday. Paris prosecutors ordered the preliminary inquiry into Paris-based Qosmos after France's League of Human Rights and the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) filed a complaint alleging "complicity in acts of torture". If charged, executives could face prison time under French law, although there is no guarantee that the probe will lead to charges or a deeper investigation. The organisations cite internal Qosmos documents published last year on WikiLeaks which suggest that it furnished surveillance software to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

A lawyer, Benoit Chabert, for the privately owned company denied it had ever sold anything to Syria, but would not provide further information. "We are calmly waiting for the investigation," he said. A French foreign ministry spokesman said that Qosmos last exported its products to Syria in late 2011, but stopped in January 2012 after the European Union banned the export of telecoms monitoring equipment for use by the Syrian regime. He noted that exports before then would not have been subject to any French or EU-imposed restrictions. In their complaint, the human rights groups cite a Nov. 22, 2011 statement from Qosmos, following the publication of documents by WikiLeaks, saying the company had "withdrawn from the Syrian 'Asfador' project before the system was finalized." That project allowed the Syrian government to monitor and later arrest its political opponents, the groups say.

More Syria Live Blog - Al Jazeera Blogs

See also:

Israel ups security on Syria border
7.26.12, Defense establishment deploys troops, adds barbed wire to border with Syria in order to bar refugees, terrorists from entering Israel, officials say

Israel bolstered security along its border with Syria on Thursday as fighting between Syrian rebels and President Bashar Assad's regime intensified, Israeli security sources told AFP. "The IDF is reinforcing the fence between Israel and Syria by adding more barbed wire," one Israeli official said, indicating that it was motivated by "fears that refugees from the Syrian side could cross it."

With the clashes spreading across the Syrian side of the border, Israeli troops were put on "very high" alert, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The state of alert is very high. A lot of soldiers have been moved to the area, officially for training, but they will be there if anything big happens," he said. "There are also more planes and more snipers." A second security official confirmed the move to reinforce the ceasefire line but said it was motivated by fears that terrorists could use the chaos to try to infiltrate the Jewish state. He denied the move was linked to fears that the Golan could be flooded by thousands of Syrian refugees, insisting that Israel would help anyone whose life was in genuine danger.


Blocking refugee surge

Ynet's military analyst Ron Ben Yishai said that Israel has an interest in preventing a surge of Syrian, Druze and Palestinian refugees to the border fence in search of shelter. He reiterated the concern that Islamic Jihad terrorists could slip in among the asylum seekers and carry out attacks on Israel.

The defense establishment, therefore, seeks to use the media to make it clear that the IDF will block any attempt to cross the border without receiving authorization from Israel and United Nations forces stationed in the Golan Heights. Since the turmoil in Syria began 17 months ago, tens of thousands of refugees have fled for Turkey, Jordan and Iraq. Only last week, following a series of battles that ravaged Damascus, 30,000 refugees were reported to have escaped the country.

Israel ups security on Syria border - Israel News, Ynetnews