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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 23-Aug-2013
23-Aug-13 World View -- Farce continues over Wednesday's chem weapons attack in Syria

Web Log - August, 2013

23-Aug-13 World View -- Farce continues over Wednesday's chem weapons attack in Syria

Rockets fired from Lebanon land in northern Israel

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Farce continues over Wednesday's chem weapons attack in Syria
Rockets fired from Lebanon land in northern Israel

Farce continues over Wednesday's chem weapons attack in Syria

Syrian man in front of United Nations building in Beirut holds up placard saying, 'Dear Free World, Enjoy watching us burn.' (AP)

Syrian man in front of United Nations building in Beirut holds up placard saying, 'Dear Free World, Enjoy watching us burn.' (AP)

You just can't make this stuff up. A day after the huge chemical weapons atrocity killed hundreds or perhaps thousands of people in a suburb of Damascus, Syria, the U.N. chemical weapons inspectors who are sitting there in Damascus are being forbidden by the regime to go and inspect the attack. The Bashar al-Assad regime has been making very one indignant statement after another that they aren't responsible, but they're still using one excuse after another to prevent the U.N. from finding out the truth.

In New York, Russia has already made it clear that it will not allow the U.N. Security Council to do anything.

To add to the farce, Samantha Power, America's new ambassador to the United Nations, who for years has never missed an opportunity to express childlike, girlish outrage at atrocities in Darfur and elsewhere, and has demanded that the U.S. intervene to alleviate such atrocities, seems to have disappeared. She didn't show up at Thursday's emergency Security Council meeting, and no one would say where she is. Speculation is that she's on vacation, and no one wants to admit it.

The farce was continued in the State Department briefing by spokesman Jen Psaki, when she spouted the usual Administration nonsense:

"Well, the redline has been clear. I know there’s been some confusion about this. The redline is the use of CW, the use of chemical weapons. That was crossed a couple of months ago. The President took action, which we talked about at the time. While, as I mentioned, we’re still focused on nailing down the facts – the intel community is focused on that, the Administration is focused on that – if these reports are true, it would be an outrageous and flagrant escalation of use of chemical weapons by the regime. So our focus is on nailing down the facts. The President, of course, has a range of options that we’ve talked about before that he can certainly consider and, of course, discuss with his national security team."

It's hard to stop laughing when you read this bilge. "The President took action" a couple of months ago. And what was the action? "[to focus] on nailing down the facts." That's exactly the same "action" that the president took several times in the past year.

It's just as well the President Obama and Ambassador Power are both out to lunch right now. The U.S. could have done something to stop this conflict a couple of years ago, but today there's nothing left to do but let the Syria conflict continue to spread into a major regional conflict. And anyway, the U.S. administration no longer has any credibility anywhere in the world, so let's just let them enjoy their golf games and outdoor barbeques.

I've received a number of criticisms from web site readers complaining about yesterday's article that I shouldn't automatically assume that the Bashar al-Assad regime is responsible for Wednesday's chemical weapons attack, since the opposition rebels might have been the perpetrators.

It's true that I assume that the regime of the psychopathic president Bashar al-Assad is responsible, because (a) the regime has been responsible for hundreds of atrocities in the last 2 1/2 years, and (b) al-Assad has lied so many times that he has no credibility. Is there anyone out there, including those who support al-Assad and criticize me, who believes anything that comes out of al-Assad's mouth?

However, I'm willing to be open-minded. Let's see what the U.N. inspectors have to say. If they find that the al-Assad regime is innocent, then I'll admit I was wrong.

Here's one comment from another web site reader, defending al-Assad and criticizing me:

"Mr. Xenakis, you are quick to blame [Bashar al-Assad] but you give the very reasons for which it would not make sense for him to have done this. With inspectors 20 miles away, he would HAVE to allow them access to the alleged attack site. If not, the world would automatically suspect that he has something to hide."

Well, this is good for another laugh. Maybe the regime "would HAVE to allow ... access," but it's not happening, is it? The inspectors are still in Damascus. So apparently the regime doesn't HAVE to allow access, after all.

But still, why would al-Assad order this chemical weapons attack while the U.N. inspectors are in town? The answer to that question is easy: Al-Assad probably didn't personally order the attack. The attack was probably ordered by one of al-Assad's lieutenants who is just as psychopathic as al-Assad, and who didn't even know that the U.N. inspectors are around.

It's unreasonable to expect a man as busy as al-Assad to take the time to approve every atrocity, massacre, mass torture and mutilation and chemical weapons attack by his army. He can leave those decisions to his lieutenants. If he had to approve every one personally, then he wouldn't have the time to pursue his hobbies, which, I assume, are something like going into his basement and sticking needles under the fingernails of Sunni Muslim children, and then pulling out their teeth with pliers.

As for who's responsible for Wednesday's chemical weapons attack, let's see if the U.N. inspectors to do their inspection, or whether the psychopaths Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin will block them.

My bet is that the regime launched the chemical weapons attacks, and that they won't permit the U.N. inspectors in. Let's see if I'm right or my critics are right. BBC and Fox News

Rockets fired from Lebanon land in northern Israel

Two hot chicks walk past damage caused by a rocket fired from Lebanon into Israel (Reuters)

Two hot chicks walk past damage caused by a rocket fired from Lebanon into Israel (Reuters)

An al-Qaeda linked terrorist group, Brigades of Abdullah Azzam, is claiming credit for launching a barrage of four rockets from southern Lebanon into Israel, suggesting that Islamist militants are opening up a new front with Israel. Two struck Israeli communities and one was shot down by Israel's "Iron Dome" anti-missile system. None of them caused any casualties.

Israeli officials are concerned about the increasing rocket attacks on Israel by jihadist militants in both Lebanon and Sinai. The Syrian conflict has provided a fertile training ground that has drawn jihadists from Pakistan to Nigeria to Dagestan to come for training in Syria and to learn terrorism skills they can take back home. Thanks to the Syrian war the entire region is becoming inflamed, and I place the blame squarely on Russia's president Vladimir Putin whose weapons and training have made it possible for al-Assad's atrocities against Sunnis, many of whom are innocent women and children, to continue. Reuters

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 23-Aug-13 World View -- Farce continues over Wednesday's chem weapons attack in Syria thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (23-Aug-2013) Permanent Link
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Rockets fired from Lebanon land in northern Israel

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 23-Aug-2013
23-Aug-13 World View -- Farce continues over Wednesday's chem weapons attack in Syria