MannyGoldstein
MannyGoldstein's JournalSyria 'welcomes' Russia proposal to put chemical weapons under international control
Source: CNN
Syria "welcomes" Russia's proposal for President Bashar al-Assad's regime to put its chemical weapons under international control, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem told reporters in Moscow on Monday.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/09/politics/syria-kerry/index.html
Earlier story:
(CNN) -- Russia urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday to put his nation's chemical weapons stockpile under international control as part of an effort to head off a possible military strike from the United States.
Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said his country would urge Syria to take the action if it would avert a military response from the United States. There was no immediate reaction from the Syrian government.
Lavrov's comments came the same day Secretary of State John Kerry seemed to endorse a similar course of action.
Assad "could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week," Kerry said during a news conference with British Foreign Secretary William Hague. "But he isn't about to do it and it can't be done obviously."
Kerry: Syria attack to be 'unbelievably small' (No, not the Onion, Borowitz, etc.)
I. Can't. Stand. These. People. Anymore.
Kerry's right: it's un believable.
From The Guardian, emphases mine:
The US secretary of state has said that President Bashar al-Assad has one week to hand over his entire stock of chemical weapons to avoid a military attack. But John Kerry added that he had no expectation that the Syrian leader would comply.
...
Kerry said the Americans were planning an "unbelievably small" attack on Syria. "We will be able to hold Bashar al-Assad accountable without engaging in troops on the ground or any other prolonged kind of effort in a very limited, very targeted, short-term effort that degrades his capacity to deliver chemical weapons without assuming responsibility for Syria's civil war. That is exactly what we are talking about doing – unbelievably small, limited kind of effort."
So let me be clear," he continued. "The United States of America, President Obama, myself, others are in full agreement that the end of the conflict in Syria requires a political solution."
...
Kerry said he did not know if Obama would release further intelligence proving the culpability of Assad in the chemical weapons attack, saying the administration had already released an unprecedented amount of information.
Of course, Kerry and Obama are telling McCain et al that this will be a sweeping, expansive effort.
I just can't stand this anymore. Saying anything to anyone without shame has now become acceptable.
Warren Op-Ed: Sequester drags American economy down
Viewpoint: Sequester drags American economy downBy U.S. Sen. ELIZABETH WARREN
For these families, the effect of these cuts is like being asked to swim with rocks tied around their ankles. People are working as hard as they can, but they just keep getting dragged down.
...
This is a system that increasingly seems rigged to work for the big guys, but just isn’t working for ordinary Americans. These are policies that slash investments in our families and our future. These are policies that protect tax loopholes for the wealthiest individuals and the biggest corporations at the cost of our middle class and no real effort at creating jobs.
..
Investing in the future. That’s what creates jobs; that’s what grows the economy; that’s what gives all our kids a chance.
Amid presidential murmurs, Warren to address AFL-CIO
Amid presidential murmurs, Warren to address AFL-CIOHelping to open the quadrennial AFL-CIO convention, Warren is expected to be celebrated by rank-and-file union members as labor’s liberal bulwark in the Senate. The Massachusetts senator can strengthen her bonds with the key Democratic constituency that will play a big part in the party’s 2016 presidential primary.
“The bottom line is, I think the world of her and I think the whole labor movement does. She is a woman of her word and she knows you never lose when you stand up for what’s right,” said Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Steve Tolman.
...
“I am not thinking about the presidency right now, but I do know we have the greatest U.S. senator representing us. I want her in the Senate doing the great work that she’s doing,” Tolman said. “Give me a couple more years and let me find out she’s interested, and I will drive the train.”
The White House's handling of Syria is *historically* crazy
I can't recall anything so weird. The President and his staff:
- threw the UN out of Syria early so we could bomb
- then suddenly turned to Congress for a non-binding vote (which will certainly fail thanks to House Republicans)
- have put forth all sorts of easily-refutable information, ranging from the number of gas deaths to the number of Islamic crazies in the Syrian opposition - you know, the opposition who are on video executing and eating the internal organs of their enemies?
- are waging the most powerful and comprehensive campaign since his election to win a fight he can't possibly win, and to make damned sure that the 80% of Americans who disagree with him on this issue know that he thinks they suck.
Obama's going to tape 6 interviews with the major news anchors? Really? How about doing those interviews on the obliterated middle class, homelessness, world hunger, or something else more actionable then the Syria disaster?
This will go down in history as a very bizarre and self-ruinous episode, sort of the Pickett's Charge of American politics.
I sense that we've reached a tipping point
For 30 years Republicans have grown crazier and crazier. For 22 years, the Democratic mainstream has been little but triangulators and Wall Street's paid staff, the tip of the spear that's shafting the 99%.
Now there's some heartening change afoot: Democrats are starting to realize that our old guard was not put on Earth to help us.
The skepticism and scorn heaped upon the cabal that's trying to triangulate us into bombing Syria is gratifying - The People are no longer asleep, and we're mooning them back.
In New York City, Bloomberg's authoritarian stand-in is getting ditched for an unabashed Liberal.
Larry "Toonces" Summers' unprecedented run as the Predator Class's unelected watchdog in the White House may have finally come to an end.
And Elizabeth Warren.
This is not to say things will get easier for the 99% now. Things will get harder now. When Predators find they can't get what they want the easy way, they start grabbing what they want the hard way. So it will suck for a while.
But if the 99% pulls together, fights, and sticks it out, we'll win. We have the power - we just need to recognize it, and to use it wisely.
"Make No Mistake... This time, the Republicans will finally know that we can be partners..."*
Seriously, what was the President thinking when he pulled this congressional advisory vote stunt? That the House Republicans would hand him a public victory?
It's truly is either 11 dimensional chess, or incomprehensible foolishness. I'm really not sure which. Your theories appreciated.
*For the parody impaired: that's not an actual quote by any actual person that I know of.
350 children die from malnutrition every hour. Let's bomb Syria!
According to the UN, 3.1 million children under 5 die each year from causes rooted in malnutrition. That's one Syria gas bombing every few hours.
The Syrian incident warrants great international discussions, Congressional hearings and likley the spending of billions of dollars for stuff that goes BOOM.
The starving kids? Not so much.
Why?
So we can now obliterate anything if it's a "national security interest"?
Fabulous.
Seems to me that we need to rethink this whole use of force outside of our borders thing. In my opinion, we should only use it to deal with a clear and present danger, to defend an allie that has been attacked, or something that the broader international community (e.g., the UN) has declared to be a war crime or crime against humanity.
The recent fashion of a single American deciding whether to kill people is a really, really bad idea. Within our country we have a judicial system for that, and we have a Congress to determine when we kill internationally. Our Founders did not intend for a single person to grab such power.
Profile Information
Name: Manny GoldsteinGender: Male
Hometown: Greater Boston
Home country: USA
Current location: Remulak, as far as I can tell
Member since: Tue Aug 30, 2005, 09:44 AM
Number of posts: 34,589