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Why Human Rights Groups Don't Agree on What to Do About Syria
Some organizations are worried that U.S. plans to retaliate against the Assad regime don’t take into account the impending humanitarian crisis, but Syrian activists want to see more action from the West.
Sep 5 2013
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/why-human-rights-groups-dont-agree-on-what-to-do-about-syria/279360/ [with comments]


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UK's Cameron says has new evidence of Syrian chemical weapons use

U.N. chemical weapons experts visit a hospital where wounded people affected by an apparent gas attack are being treated, in the southwestern Damascus suburb of Mouadamiya, August 26, 2013.
Sep 5, 2013
Britain has new evidence that chemical weapons were used in an attack on the Syrian capital Damascus, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday.
Cameron said scientists at Britain's Porton Down military research facility had analyzed samples taken from an alleged gas attack on a rebel-held Damascus neighborhood on August 21 and concluded they had tested positive for the sarin nerve agent.
"We have just been looking at some samples taken from Damascus in the Porton Down laboratory in Britain which further shows the use of chemical weapons in that Damascus suburb," he told BBC TV.
[...]
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/05/us-syria-crisis-britain-evidence-idUSBRE9840XP20130905


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Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Warns U.S. Will 'Suffer Loss' Over Syria Intervention


In this picture released by an official website of the office of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Khamenei delivers his sermon of Eid al-Fitr prayer, marking the start in Iran of the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the holy month of Ramadan at the Tehran University campus in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Aug. 9, 2013.
(AP Photo/Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader)

Posted: 09/05/2013 7:34 am EDT | Updated: 09/05/2013 7:42 am EDT

DUBAI, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Iran's most powerful authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Thursday the United States was using a chemical attack in Syria's civil war as a pretext to interfere in the country and warned it would suffer loss from any intervention.

"In the case of Syria, the chemical attack is a pretext... The Americans try to play with words and pretend that they've become involved in this case for humanitarian aims," Khamenei told a meeting of the Assembly of Experts, a state body.

"I believe the Americans are making mistakes in Syria and they have felt the impact and will certainly suffer loss," he said in the speech, whose text was published on his official website.

Khamenei's words indicate no let-up in Iran's considerable support for Syrian President Bashar al Assad, its closest ally who stands accused by Western powers of launching poison gas into an embattled suburb of Damascus on Aug. 21. Around 1,400 people were killed, according to U.S. officials.

On Wednesday, the head of Iran's elite Quds force, Qassem Soleimani, told the Assembly of Experts that the Islamic Republic would "support Syria to the end", according to the Fars news agency.

But Iran's response to the chemical attack in recent days hints at disagreement within the corridors of power.

In contrast to military commanders, the government of President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, has condemned the use of chemical weapons and warned against military strikes in Syria, but not apportioned blame for the attack.

Assad's government has denied responsibility, blaming what it calls a provocation by Syrian rebel forces aimed at provoking foreign military intervention on their side in the two-and-a-half-year-old conflict.

(Reporting by Marcus George; editing by Mark Heinrich)

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/05/iran-syria_n_3872149.html [with comments]


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Iran Transfers Nuclear Talks to Foreign Ministry

TEHRAN, Iran September 5, 2013

Iran's president confirmed Thursday that the foreign ministry will lead nuclear talks with world powers in a shift away from security officials setting Tehran's strategies for the critical negotiations.

The report on the website of President Hasan Rouhani's office gave the official stamp on a policy change first indicated last month after Rouhani's inauguration.

Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, a Western-educated diplomat, said members of Iran's nuclear negotiating team have been selected, according to Tasnim, an Iranian news website. Zarif did not name the members of the team but said they are experts with extensive experience.

Zarif also said the next round of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers will be held after the September U.N. General Assembly. He did not give a date or place for the talks but said he will meet with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine on the sidelines of the assembly.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council was previously in charge of nuclear dialogue with the U.S. and other nations. The talks have been on hold for months after deadlocks over Western efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear program.

"We reiterate our hope that the Iranian government will engage substantively with the international community to reach a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear program and to cooperate fully with the IAEA in its investigation," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in an emailed statement after Rouhani's announcement.

The West suspects Iran seeks to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge, saying it only seeks reactors for energy generation and medical research.

© 2013 Associated Press

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iran-transfers-nuclear-talks-foreign-ministry-20164199 [no comments yet]


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Study Challenges Theory Modern Nations are Less Warlike

Members of Chad's army participate in Operation Serval to support Mali against Islamist rebels.
A new paper says that modern states are as likely as ever to wage war.
September 5, 2013
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/study-challenges-theory-modern-nations-are-less-warlike/ [with comments]


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(linked in):

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=91706459 and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=91707381 (clean link http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/iran-managing-us-military-action-syria ) (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=91733085 (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=91735394 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=91736808 (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=91738206 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=91738984 and following


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and since I posted "Brutality of Syrian Rebels Posing Dilemma in West", http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/05/world/middleeast/brutality-of-syrian-rebels-pose-dilemma-in-west.html?pagewanted=all , the second item in the post to which this is a reply, the following correction has been issued:

Correction: September 5, 2013
An earlier version of this article misstated the date of the video showing rebels executing seven captured Syrian soldiers. The video was made in the spring of 2012, not April of 2013.