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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 30-Apr-2014
30-Apr-14 World View -- Proof that Syria's Bashar al-Assad used chlorine on civilians

Web Log - April, 2014

30-Apr-14 World View -- Proof that Syria's Bashar al-Assad used chlorine on civilians

China's 'Maritime Silk Road' plans threaten India in Indian Ocean

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Proof that Syria's Bashar al-Assad used chlorine on civilians
Kerry says that Russia's Sergei Lavrov is 'Kafka-esque'
Deadline expires for Kerry's Mideast peace talks
Russia closes the Sea of Okhotsk to Japan and China
China's 'Maritime Silk Road' plans threaten India in Indian Ocean

Proof that Syria's Bashar al-Assad used chlorine on civilians

Deaths from 18-April chlorine gas attack in Syria

Deaths from 18-April chlorine gas attack in Syria

Chemical warfare experts have examined soil samples taken from the scene of three recent helicopter attacks by the army of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad and showed sizeable and unambiguous traces of chlorine and ammonia present at the site of all three attacks. In some cases, the chemical weapons were delivered in canisters marked with their contents. Only the al-Assad regime has access to air power, making it certain that the chemical weapons attack was carried out by the al-Assad regime. Several people, including children, died and hundreds were seriously wounded by the attacks. The three attacks took place on April 11, 18 and 21, and there's additional evidence of numerous other chemical weapons attacks by the al-Assad regime. Last year, al-Assad used sarin gas to kill civilians. The attacks, once again, make Bashar al-Assad a war criminal, but since President Obama flip-flopped last year on his "red line," and did not carry out his threat to use missiles to destroy al-Assad's air force, al-Assad is free to continue to commit genocide with impunity, fully supported and supplied by Vladimir Putin of Russia. Telegraph (London)

Kerry says that Russia's Sergei Lavrov is 'Kafka-esque'

Yesterday, we reported on off the record comments that were secretly recorded, where US Secretary of State said that Israel could become "an apartheid state."

More comments from the same speech have now been published. In them, Kerry specifically accuses the Russians of lying about the Ukraine situation, and specifically refers to Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov not only as lying, but also as "Kafkaesque":

"Intel is producing taped conversations of intelligence operatives taking their orders from Moscow and everybody can tell the difference in the accents, in the idioms, in the language. We know exactly who’s giving those orders, we know where they are coming from. ...
It’s not an accident that you have some of the same people identified who were in Crimea and in Georgia and who are now in east Ukraine. This is insulting to everybody’s intelligence, let alone to our notions about how we ought to be behaving in the 21st century. It’s thuggism, it’s rogue state-ism. It’s the worst order of behavior. ...
Right now there is not a negotiation; there is a confrontation. I’m sad to report I’ve never seen such a complete, miserable, unaccountable, disgraceful walk away from a set of promises and understandings than what has taken place. I’ve had six conversations with Lavrov in the last weeks. The last one was Kafka-esque, it was other planet, it was just bizarre. Nobody is better at telling you that red is blue and black is white. ... That’s what we are dealing with."

Lavrov has been openly lying for years, as I've documented many times. But Kerry has also continually sucked up to Lavrov by either believing or pretending to believe Lavrov's garbage. Kerry is now changing his policy, though I'm not sure why. Can't he just suck up to Lavrov a little longer? What's the problem?

Franz Kafka was a brilliant early 1900s German novelist. His most famous novel was The Trial, in which a man is arrested, jailed, put on trial, convicted and executed, and he's never told what the charges against him are. This is the sort of thing that happens in Russia, and incidentally is also happening in Egypt these days.

In another of Kafka's novels, the Metamorphosis, one day a man wakes up, opens his eyes, and discovers that he's turned into a large insect. Daily Beast and SparkNotes and SparkNotes

Deadline expires for Kerry's Mideast peace talks

The Mideast peace talks that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry set up last July officially collapsed on Tuesday, as the self-imposed April 29 deadline was reached. The "peace talks" were considered to be a joke around the Mideast, as the Israelis and the Palestinians rarely even spoke to each other. By the end of March, the whole thing was reduced to angry finger-pointing. John Kerry blamed Israel, suggesting that Israel is becoming an "apartheid state." Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas blamed the Israelis, saying:

"If we want to extend the negotiations there has to be a release of prisoners ... a settlement freeze, and a discussion of maps and borders for three months, during which there must be a complete halt to settlement activity."

And a senior Israeli official blamed the Palestinians, saying:

"The moment that Mahmoud Abbas gives up the alliance with Hamas, a murderous organization which calls for the destruction of the state of Israel, we will be ready to return immediately to the negotiating table and discuss all subjects."

The Palestinians have indicated that they will now take unilateral steps, including an attempted unity government between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and applying to dozens more United Nations organizations as the State of Palestine. AFP

Russia closes the Sea of Okhotsk to Japan and China

The Sea of Okhotsk is in the northern Pacific ocean, bordering Russia on two sides and Japan in the south. It's estimated to hold over one billion tons of gas and oil, as well as vast fishing grounds. The UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf confirmed Russia's petition that the sea is sovereign Russian territory, and Russia's president Vladimir Putin has announced that by the end of the year, the sea will be closed to all outside shipping and fishing. This will close a major fishing area to Japan and China, and forcing them to compete even more intensively elsewhere in the Western Pacific, raising tensions about their currently high levels. It may also embolden the Chinese to move even more aggressively to annex the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, administered by Japan in the East China Sea, and to annex more portions of the islands in the South China Sea. However, China will not have a strong case in those venues, since it's refused to submit the case to the United Nations for arbitration, and indeed has has been taking revenge against the Philippines for appealing to the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal. Voice of Russia and Jamestown and World Atlas

China's 'Maritime Silk Road' plans threaten India in Indian Ocean

Since 2001, China has been pursuing a "String of Pearls" strategy, with ports in Gwadar (Pakistan), Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and on the east cost of Burma in the Bay of Bengal. Since then, China has announced an expansion to a "Maritime Silk Road" (MSR), which involves the construction of ports, logistical stations, storage facilities and free-trade zones across the Indian Ocean all the way to Africa. China is well on its way to developing the MSR, as shown by the ongoing search for the Malaysian Airlines 370 plane: China has been the most active and engaged participant in the search effort, with over eleven naval and Coast Guard ships scouring vast tracts of the Southern Indian Ocean. India has had no choice but to accept China's encroachment, but will have to seek a way to hedge against China's maritime thrust. Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA - New Delhi)

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 30-Apr-14 World View -- Proof that Syria's Bashar al-Assad used chlorine on civilians thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (30-Apr-2014) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 30-Apr-2014 30-Apr-14 World View -- Proof that Syria's Bashar al-Assad used chlorine on civilians

Proof that Syria's Bashar al-Assad used chlorine on civilians

Kerry says that Russia's Sergei Lavrov is 'Kafka-esque'

Deadline expires for Kerry's Mideast peace talks

Russia closes the Sea of Okhotsk to Japan and China

China's 'Maritime Silk Road' plans threaten India in Indian Ocean

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 30-Apr-2014
30-Apr-14 World View -- Proof that Syria's Bashar al-Assad used chlorine on civilians