Putin warns Cameron against arming Syrian rebels as UK weighs options

Putin warns Cameron against arming Syrian rebels as UK weighs options

    Sunday, June 16, 2013   No comments

Russia and UK still have very different approaches to the Syrian crisis,British PM Cameron said after meeting Putin adding that the decision to arm rebels is yet to be made.Russia’s President warned against such a move citing rebels' atrocities.

"The  blood is on the hands of both parties” of the conflict, not only Bashar Assad’s government but also the rebels, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin stressed at the press conference at 10 Downing Street.

"I think you will not deny that one does not really need to support the people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies, eat their intestines, in front of the public and cameras," Putin said referring to a video footage on the Internet of a rebel fighter eating the heart of a government soldier. Later however it was concluded the fighter was holding a lung.

"Is it them who you want to supply with weapons?" he said adding that it does not correspond with international humanitarian norms.

Putin also defended Russia's arms supplies to the official government of Syria saying they are "in accordance with  international laws.”

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Police lock down Taksim, PM shows off in Istanbul

Police lock down Taksim, PM shows off in Istanbul

    Sunday, June 16, 2013   No comments

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader addressed hundreds of thousands of people in a landmark meeting in Istanbul today only half a day after a large-scale police crackdown on protesters in Gezi, a central Istanbul park that is at the heart of the nearly 20-day-long street action across the country.

The AKP meeting in Istanbul’s Kazlıçeşme, not very far from Gezi Park, was a part of the party‘s official launch of the local elections campaign, which is set to be held in March next year.

Party leader and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself said at an Ankara meeting, the first leg of the campaign-start, that the “Respect for National Will” meetings were by no means a move against the Gezi protests.

“Those who wonder about what’s going on in Turkey should better look at Kazlıçeşme, at Istanbul,” Erdoğan told his supporters in Istanbul.

“These hundreds of thousands of people are not the ones who have burned and destroyed; these hundreds of thousands of people are not traitors like those who throw Molotov cocktails at my people. Whatever we do, we’ll remain within the frame of democracy and the rule of law. We have never pushed the limits of legality,” he said.

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Benghazi clashes kill 6 soldiers amid warnings of imminent ‘bloodbath’

Benghazi clashes kill 6 soldiers amid warnings of imminent ‘bloodbath’

    Saturday, June 15, 2013   No comments

Libyan Special Forces fought with armed protesters in Benghazi in clashes that killed six soldiers, officials report. The flashpoint city has been hit by a wave of bloody protests recently demanding the disbandment of militia groups.

Violence erupted during Friday night and continued into the morning with witness reports of explosions and heavy gunfire throughout the city.

"The clashes lasted from 2am (00:00 GMT) until 6am, but are over now," Colonel Mohammed Sharif, of the Special Forces in Benghazi, told Reuters. The six soldiers were killed in clashes with armed protesters outside a military base in the city.

Prior to the clashes a group of enraged protesters stormed a former militia base on Friday evening, ejecting a brigade of rebel fighters. Officials say the demonstrators also torched two military vehicles in the process.

Tensions have been escalating in Benghazi between the population and the various militia groups left behind after they aided in the ouster of Colonel Gaddafi in 2011. Last week, at least 31 people were killed in clashes after members of the militia group, the Libyan Shield Brigade opened fire on protesters demonstrating outside their base.

The army's Thunderbolt Special Forces brigade arrived to impose order, but was sucked into the violence.

"The Libya Shield don't follow orders, we don't even know whose orders they follow," said Thunderbolt Brigade lieutenant Said Alari to The Guardian.

Following the unrest, the Libyan interim government ordered the seizure of four Islamist militia bases around Benghazi. However, very few believe the militia will willingly disband.



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Gezi Park protesters refuse to leave, vow to 'continue resistance'

Gezi Park protesters refuse to leave, vow to 'continue resistance'

    Saturday, June 15, 2013   No comments

The protesters have announced today that they will continue to “stand guard” at Gezi Park and vowed to "pursue resistance," despite repeated calls for the end of the demonstrations after the government assured that it would comply with a court decision suspending the redevelopment plans for Gezi Park.

“On the 18th day of our resistance, we are continuing to stand guard for our park, city, trees, living spaces private lives, freedoms and future,” the Taksim Solidarity Platform, which has been at the center of the protests since the first day, said in a statement.

“We will follow whether our demands [are carried out]. This resistance will be the reflection of the Taksim Solidarity’s common will and the common flag of a whole struggle. From now on, we will continue the resistance against every injustice in our country with the dynamism and force of our struggle that extended to the whole nation, or even to the world,” it added, calling for concrete steps toward the investigation of the four casualties during the protests. “We will follow closely whether those responsible for this violence are brought to justice.”


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Early results suggest Rouhani may win an outright majority in presidential election, avoiding need for runoff

Early results suggest Rouhani may win an outright majority in presidential election, avoiding need for runoff

    Saturday, June 15, 2013   No comments

The moderate Iranian cleric Hassan Rouhani has taken a strong lead in the initial results of Iran's presidential election, threatening to win a simple majority and avoid a second-round runoff.

With more than 8 million votes counted from the 50 million electorate, Rouhani had 51.2% of votes cast, Reuters reported. Rouhani's nearest rival was the conservative Tehran mayor, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a long way behind with 16.7%. Hardline nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili was third with about 13%.

Seven hours after polling ended, Iran's interior minister, Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar, appeared on state-run television to begin announcing the results.

The authorities had initially announced they would begin to reveal counts just after 2am local time on Saturday (10.30pm Friday BST), but the first figures did not come through until at least four hours later. This was in marked contrast to the previous vote in 2009, which many believed was rigged, when final results were announced in matter of few hours.

"It has taken them seven hours to count 800,000 votes while four years ago they counted almost 30 million votes in few hours," one Iranian living in Tehran said via online chat on Facebook. "It might be a good sign that actually this time they're really counting."

Unlike in 2009, Iranian agencies refrained for many hours from speculating on the results or publishing unofficial counts.

On Friday millions of people across the country queued to elect a successor to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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Moderate leads presidential poll, Iran's early results show

Moderate leads presidential poll, Iran's early results show

    Saturday, June 15, 2013   No comments

Early results show moderate cleric Hassan Rohani leading Iran’s presidential election, officials said Saturday. With almost 20% of votes counted, Rohani had garnered 51.2% – more than the 50% needed to avoid a June 21 run-off.

Moderate Iranian cleric Hassan Rohani took a strong lead over conservative rivals in initial vote counting on Saturday, suggesting he could win the presidential election outright without a run-off.

The outcome is unlikely to radically alter relations between Iran and the world or lead to a shift in the Islamic Republic’s policy on its disputed nuclear programme - security issues that are decided by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
But the president does have an important voice in decision-making in the Shi’ite Muslim country of 75 million and could bring a change from the confrontational style of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term.

If he wins, Rohani, a moderate who is a former chief nuclear negotiator known for his conciliatory approach, has indicated he would promote foreign policy based on “constructive interaction with the world” and enact a “civil rights charter” at home.

In an apparent attempt to signal political continuity, Khamenei said on Saturday that whatever the result of Friday’s election, it would be a vote of confidence in the 34-year-old Islamic Republic.

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Barack Obama is leading from behind in Syria - and can't see where he is going

Barack Obama is leading from behind in Syria - and can't see where he is going

    Friday, June 14, 2013   No comments

The man whose electoral rallying cry was that he opposed the war in Iraq; whose aim was to end the war in Afghanistan; who vetoed all of his senior advisers, one by one, as they urged action over President Bashar al-Assad, has been forced to accept that when the Levant calls there is no escape.
He has left himself loopholes. The news that arms would be provided by the US to rebels fighting the Syrian regime was briefed anonymously; only military transport and communications equipment was mentioned on the record. A no-fly zone is possible – but only possible, and that too according to anonymous sources.
Even the crossing of the chemical weapons "red line" was confirmed by a deputy official on conference call. There was no boastful "We'll get him" moment.
However, America cannot get out of it now. It has staked its reputation, the future of its "Imperium", on the rebels' survival, and it must surely be prepared to do whatever that takes.
Can it do enough? It is true, as has been repeated ad nauseam since regime troops and Hizbollah swept aside the rebels in Qusayr that he is no longer losing. He has better motivated men, thanks to training provided by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

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Syrian rebels prepare for showdown in Aleppo

Syrian rebels prepare for showdown in Aleppo

    Friday, June 14, 2013   No comments

From where he sits behind a ruined stone wall in Aleppo's old city, Abu Firas, a rebel gunner has had a clear view of his enemy for most of the past 11 months.

In the middle distance, ahead of the fist-sized hole through which he pokes his rifle, there usually isn't much to see. The Syrian army troops on this part of Aleppo's jagged front line dug in long ago. Abu Firas says he can sometimes see his foes scampering between positions, but he has never seen them advance.

"This week things changed," he says. "There was more of them than before and they were up to something. They looked urgent."

Across Aleppo, rebel groups who have held roughly 60% of Syria's biggest city since last July sense that something is about to break. Positions on the other side that had long been only defensive are now much busier. Rebels who could go for weeks with out seeing a regime soldier now say they are sighting them regularly.

Even scenes of battles past that have long been barren rubble-strewn wastelands mow seem to have come to life, rebel fighters in the city's southwest say. In Salahedin – the first district the opposition fighters entered when they stormed the city last July – men stationed nearby say they can hear the distant rumble of tanks and the crunching of boots on masonry and glass.

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Moscow unconvinced by US evidence of Syrian chemical weapons use

Moscow unconvinced by US evidence of Syrian chemical weapons use

    Friday, June 14, 2013   No comments

Russia is not convinced by the evidence which the US provided alleging that the government of Syria’s President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons against rebel forces.

“The Americans tried to present us with information on the use of chemical weapons by the regime, but frankly we thought that it was not convincing,” said presidential aide Yury Ushakov on Friday.

“We wouldn’t like to invoke references to the famous lab tube that [former US] Secretary of State [Colin] Powell showed, but the facts don’t look convincing in our eyes,” he added.

Powell brought a model vial, which he said looked like Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s weaponized anthrax, in a bid to convince members of the UN Security Council that they should agree to invade Iraq. The alleged weapons of mass destruction program proved to be non-existent after the US conquered the country in 2003. 


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Obama's 'red line' crossed, will arm Syrian rebels

Obama's 'red line' crossed, will arm Syrian rebels

    Friday, June 14, 2013   No comments

In a significant shift in strategy, the Obama administration has announced that it will begin sending arms to Syrian insurgents after citing conclusive evidence that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons against the rebels.
US President Barack Obama is going to start arming Syrian rebels after two years of vigorous debate within his administration, in an effort to halt the momentum gathered by the government and its Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah allies.

The decision came as the White House announced it had evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government had used chemical weapons against opposition fighters in the civil war that has gripped the country since March 2011 – the “red line” set by the president as a prerequisite for action.

“Our intelligence community assesses that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year,” Benjamin Rhodes, a high-level national security advisor, told reporters.

The White House has cited intelligence officials who believe that 100 to 150 people had been killed in the attacks using chemical weapons.

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