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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Aug-2013
25-Aug-13 World View -- Obama may use NATO to justify missile attack on Syria

Web Log - August, 2013

25-Aug-13 World View -- Obama may use NATO to justify missile attack on Syria

Muslim Brotherhood appears to be weakening in Egypt

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Obama may use NATO to justify missile attack on Syria
Further retaliation feared in Lebanon after Friday's bombings
Muslim Brotherhood appears to be weakening in Egypt

Obama may use NATO to justify missile attack on Syria

Victims of chemical weapons attack in Syria

Victims of chemical weapons attack in Syria

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF - Doctors without Borders) says that on Wednesday, hospitals it supports in Syria treated about 3,600 patients with "neurotoxic symptoms", of whom 355 have died. MSF says that staff at the hospitals described a large number of patients arriving in the space of less than three hours with symptoms including convulsions, extreme salivation, contracted pupils and sight and respiratory problems. With the MSF report, and with continuing releases to the internet of hundreds of pictures and videos of Wednesday's chemical weapons attacks, international pressure is building rapidly to take some military action against president Bashar al-Assad's regime. Britain and France are said to have already concluded that military action is necessary.

There is no chance that the United Nations Security Council will approve any action, and so President Obama is said to be considering using NATO's 1998 air war in Kosovo as a legal precedent for an attack on Syria.

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich, has claimed that the chemical weapons attack was planned and carried out by opponents of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad. As evidence, he points to videos of the attack that were posted several hours earlier than the actual attack. However, it's now believed that Lukashevich became confused because he relied on the time stamps on the YouTube videos, and the time stamps are always based on California time. The attack occurred early on Wednesday morning in Syria, while it was still Tuesday in California. BBC and The Atlantic Wire

Further retaliation feared in Lebanon after Friday's bombings

After Friday's bombings targeting two Sunni mosques in the north Lebanon city of Tripoli, the Lebanese people are fearful that rounds of tit for tat sectarian bombings are going to accelerate and worsen. Friday's bombings cost more than 47 lives and hundreds of injuries, and were the deadliest since the 1980s civil war, and were retaliation for last week's enormous car bomb targeting the Shia Muslim terrorist group Hezbollah. ( "16-Aug-13 World View -- Car bomb in Hezbollah's Lebanon stronghold kills 20")

Sunni clerics are accusing Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime for Friday's blasts. A statement issued by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said:

"We know with certainty that behind this deplorable act committed against are the hands of the vile, rafidah Hezbollah, which stands side by side with Bashar in Syria.
That vile party ... should know that it will meet retribution soon."

It was just a few years ago that Muslim terrorist groups throughout the Mideast got along well with another, and cooperated in their jihad against Israel. But the Syrian conflict has turned Sunnis and Shias against each, on the trend line to a massive sectarian war throughout the region. Daily Star (Beirut) and Reuters

Muslim Brotherhood appears to be weakening in Egypt

It was just a week ago that many pundits were predicting a civil war in Egypt between Muslim Brotherhood (MB) supporters versus opponents, but now there are signs that the entire conflict has fizzled. MB leaders had called for a massive turnout in protests on Friday. Instead, the turnout was considerably smaller than predicted, and the protest marches ended relatively quickly. On Friday, the government locked out a large part of Cairo with tanks. The government has jailed hundreds of MB leaders and has killed almost 1,000 MB supporters in the last week alone, in actions that many people in the international community are calling "brutal." Al-Ahram (Cairo)

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 25-Aug-13 World View -- Obama may use NATO to justify missile attack on Syria thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (25-Aug-2013) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Aug-2013 25-Aug-13 World View -- Obama may use NATO to justify missile attack on Syria

Obama may use NATO to justify missile attack on Syria

Further retaliation feared in Lebanon after Friday's bombings

Muslim Brotherhood appears to be weakening in Egypt

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Aug-2013
25-Aug-13 World View -- Obama may use NATO to justify missile attack on Syria