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8 October 2013 Last updated at 14:30 GMT
BBC
Syria: Chemical weapons watchdog to send second team
OPCW chemical weapons experts have been in Syria since 1 October
The world's chemical weapons watchdog has said it will send a second team of inspectors to boost its programme to destroy Syria's stockpile.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it had made "a constructive beginning" to "a long and difficult process".
However, it did not say how many extra inspectors would be deployed, or when.
Under a UN resolution, Syria's chemical weapons mixing and filling equipment must be destroyed by 1 November.
In a statement, OPCW chief Ahmet Uzumcu also said that the Syrian government had submitted additional information updating its initial disclosure, which would help the OPCW plan its future activities.
Mr Uzumcu was delivering his first report to the 41-nation OPCW executive council.
The BBC's Anna Holligan in the Hague says this report is significant because the content is based on evidence gathered by the OPCW experts on the ground in Damascus.
They were part of an advance party, sent out to hold talks with the Syrian authorities and smooth the way for the destruction process to begin, our correspondent says.
On Sunday, members of the joint OPCW and UN mission observed Syrian staff using cutting torches and angle grinders to destroy missile warheads, aerial bombs, and mixing equipment.
This dismantling work is continuing at undisclosed locations this week, as the conflict in Syria continues.
UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon has described it as "an operation the likes of which has never been tried before".
US Secretary of State John Kerry has welcomed "a good beginning", and says the next step is to secure a date for the so-called Geneva-2 peace talks.
No end in sight
However, human rights groups point out that chemical weapons are only responsible for about 2% of the estimated 100,000 deaths during the two-year conflict, in which armed opposition groups are seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
The groups warn that disposing of the chemical capabilities will not stop the war.
Earlier on Tuesday, the UN estimated that more than eight million Syrians could have been forced from their homes by the country's civil war by the end of 2014.
The number of refugees outside Syria is expected to hit 3.2m by the end of this year and 5.2m by the end of 2014.
A further 2.25m are projected to be internally displaced next year, which would bring the number of those affected to more than a third of Syria's pre-war population.
The estimates of the scale of the future human impact of the conflict were made at a meeting of UN agencies and NGOs late last month.
However, a UN spokesman emphasised that the figures reflected the estimates made at the time, and that the final projections used to plan UN agencies' response in 2014 - due to be released this December - are likely to be even higher.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24448994
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conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
09102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Syria
Berlin rejects Assad's call to mediate Syria conflict
Date 08.10.2013
Author Günther Birkenstock / cmk, re
Editor Spencer Kimball
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said he would welcome German efforts to mediate in the Syrian conflict. But Berlin has categorically rejected the idea, a decision that some policy experts believe was the right one.
Just as Syria had begun the process of destroying its chemical weapons stockpile under the supervision of international experts, President Bashar al-Assad surprised many by calling on Germany to play a bigger diplomatic role.
In a lengthy interview with the most recent edition of German news magazine "Der Spiegel," Assad rejected any responsibility for the violence in Syria and sent a signal that he would be open to have Germany act as mediator in the ongoing conflict.
"Of course, I would like to see envoys from Germany come to Syria to see and discuss the reality," the Syrian president told the magazine. "Coming here doesn't mean you support the government. But if you come here, you can do, you can talk, you can discuss, you can convince. If you think you have to isolate us, you only end up isolating yourselves."
For help, look to the UN
But on Monday (07.10.2013), German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle categorically rejected the offer.
"We have Lakhdar Brahimi acting as UN special envoy, and we fully support his efforts to mediate a political solution," Westerwelle said during a visit to Afghanistan. The foreign minister also criticized Assad's denial at carrying out the August poison gas attacks outside of Damascus.
"Denying and disputing are certainly not suitable to finding a peaceful solution for Syria," Westerwelle said.
According to Middle East expert Guido Steinberg, of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), rejecting the role of mediator is the right move for Germany.
"All those working toward a political solution in Syria should support Lakhdar Brahimi," Steinberg said. Individual states should not unilaterally take on a mediating role, he added.
Germany is also politically indisposed at the moment, as Chancellor Angela Merkel is still in the process of building a coalition after winning the federal elections last month.
"At the moment, no one knows who the next foreign minister will be," Steinberg said.
Avoiding political arrogance
Thomas Jäger, professor of international relations and public policy at the University of Cologne, also supports the government's decision.
"The US and Russia, in particular, are on opposite sides of the Syrian conflict," Jäger told DW. "If the German government were to mediate in a dispute between the US and Russia, that would be seen as political arrogance."
According to Jäger, assuming the role of a mediator would also send a disastrous signal to Germany's allies. Such a move would signal that the German government sees itself as capable of solving one of the world's most difficult political conflicts. And Jäger believes that not only Germany, but Europe as a whole should show restraint.
"The European countries have overextended themselves by trying to find a solution, or even a relevant contribution to the solution," said Jäger. "This is not a foreign policy conflict that they can handle."
Refugee policy the right approach
Yet Germany could and should be active in the Syrian conflict, argued Steinberg.
"I think that the Germans must react in some way, to show the Syrians that their conflict is not unimportant to us, as it sometimes may appear," he said. Steinberg thinks the best starting point for constructive action is in the area of refugee policy.
As a first step, Turkey should reopen its borders and accept more refugees. Here, Steinberg said, Germany could provide logistical and financial support. At the same time, however, Lebanon and Jordan would also need help. These countries are threatening to become politically destabilized because they are harboring a disproportionate number of fleeing Syrians, said Steinberg.
"In a second step, the European Union must also take on more refugees. Here again, the Germans could also find a way to contribute," he said.
Jäger also believes humanitarian help is the right path for Germany. The government could help alleviate the consequences of the civil war in the region. In addition, Germany also could help "move the discussion on to some kind of solution." Developing ideas toward this end, Jäger said, lay "in the government's possible courses of action."
DW.DE
Read more: http://www.dw.de/berlin-rejects-assads-call-to-mediate-syria-conflict/a-17143697?maca=en-rss-en-world-4025-rdf
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
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conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
08102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
The Dumbest Game of Chicken, Ever
Obama’s trying to tank the markets to win the budget fight. Problem is, that might not work -- and Republicans just don’t care.
BY DANIEL W. DREZNER | OCTOBER 7, 2013
FOREIGN POLICY
Since the Republican Party took over the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010, its battles with Barack Obama's administration have taken on Wagnerian levels of grandiosity. Increasingly, the current political showdown over the federal budget and the debt ceiling looks less like a domestic policy disagreement and more like a militarized dispute between two enduring rivals in world politics. Both sides say they want a deal that raises the debt ceiling and funds the federal government -- but their behavior suggests that they're willing to risk a protracted conflict to get what they want. Indeed, at this point, both Republicans and Democrats seem to care more about politically crippling the other party than they do about, you know, promoting the general welfare of the United States. Ordinarily, relative gains concerns this extreme appear only in the fevered dreams of realist international relations scholars.
Over the past few weeks, both sides have articulated their tactics and strategies. Looking at their strategies to date, however, this international relations theorist reaches a disturbing conclusion: Obama seems far too clever for his own good, while the Republicans might just be stupid enough to claim victory.
Let's start with the president. As a general rule, sitting American presidents don't talk down the economy -- but last week, Obama made an unusual exception. In an interview with CNBC, he said, "This time I think Wall Street should be concerned," concluding that "when you have a situation in which a faction is willing to default on U.S. obligations, then we are in trouble." It is certainly true that both public sector and numerous private sector analysts have warned about the calamitous consequences of a debt default (though not everyone is convinced). Although Obama was breaking with tradition, the president's logic for trying to scare financial markets seems pretty clear. If markets start to panic, then both Wall Street and Main Street will start to pressure the GOP caucus in the House to acquiesce to what Obama wants: a clean debt-ceiling increase. In essence, the president wants the stock market to impose economic sanction on the Republican Party.
There are past examples of financial-market gyrations forcing politicians to do something they otherwise would not have. As the 2008 financial crisis started to snowball, Congress tried to pass the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), only for it to founder in the House of Representatives. Expecting passage, markets were surprised: The Dow Jones industrial average experienced its largest single-day loss in history. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both lost approximately 9 percent of their value. A week later, the House passed a revised TARP bill. A similar dynamic played out during the episode that most closely mirrors the current deadlock -- the 2011 showdown over the debt ceiling.
It would seem that this is the sort of dynamic Obama wants to see play out. But there are two things getting in the way of the president's "panic Wall Street" strategy: theory and practice.
Despite the president's warnings, financial markets have not panicked so far. Part of the problem comes with the fact that traders don't make money by acting as Obama's messenger. In theory, Congress yields after markets tank -- when Congress acquiesces, market rebound. But in a world that assumes traders possess rational expectations, there is not much individual incentive for them to heed Obama's advice. No matter how a trader hedges the bet, Obama is in essence asking investors to bet on markets going down when, if the strategy works, they will not stay down. That's not a great bet for traders to make. As Neil Irwin, economics editor of the Washington Post's Wonkblog, has pointed out, "you don't become a hotshot hedge fund trader by making bets based on what 'ought' to happen or what seems to make sense on some academic level. You only make money if you guess the direction of markets correctly. And if this standoff ends not with a bang but a whimper … then the current prices in asset markets will look about right."
The practical problem is that it's far from clear whether members of the House GOP will feel any particular pressure to budge. Over the past decade or so, the Republican Party's voting coalition has shifted from business interests to more ideologically pure groups. Republican-friendly business interests have already been screaming bloody murder about GOP hard-line tactics -- but to little avail. Indeed, House Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) told the Associated Press that "it wouldn't make any difference" if business interests started pressuring him. In recent years, the GOP caucus has successfully insulated itself from all outside pressures but their party's ideological base -- rendering Obama's strategy impotent.
There's an even bigger problem with the Republican Party, however: It might have no endgame for the current crisis. The architect of the current strategy, Sen. Ted Cruz, did not offer a way out when angry Senate Republicans confronted him behind closed doors last week. A surprising number of Republican representatives seem convinced that Obama will surrender his biggest domestic policy initiative, the Affordable Care Act, just to reopen the government. The interest groups that foisted the current strategy on House leaders thought the shutdown strategy would be politically popular, but polls suggest the opposite. Some members of the GOP caucus, like Ted Yoho of Florida, actually profess to believe that if the debt ceiling weren't raised, "it would bring stability to the world markets." Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman believes these sorts of political miscues reveal the outright stupidity of the Republican leadership.
The thing is, in this kind of showdown, true ignorance can yield a bargaining advantage. If Republicans truly believe that their cause is just, their strategy is popular, and nothing bad will happen, then it is impossible to pressure them to come to the bargaining table. In The Strategy of Conflict, economist Thomas Schelling observed that in a game of chicken, one driver could gain an advantage from throwing the steering wheel out the window. It appears that Republicans have come up with an even more extreme version of that gambit -- insisting loudly that they are immune to car crashes.
Daniel W. Drezner is professor of international politics at Tufts University's Fletcher School and a contributing editor to Foreign Policy. He blogs at drezner.foreignpolicy.com.
Read more: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/10/07/debt_chicken_government_shutdown?page=0,0
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
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conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
08102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Ban warns Syria arms inspectors in danger
SBS
8 Oct 2013 - 12:53pm
UN chief Ban Ki-moon says about 100 experts will have to face unprecedented danger during a year-long mission to destroy Syria's chemical arms stockpile.
Source AAP
About 100 international experts will have to spend up to a year in Syria destroying its chemical weapons in a mission of unprecedented danger, UN leader Ban Ki-moon says.
The experts "will seek to conduct an operation the likes of which, quite simply, have never been tried before", Ban says in a report to the UN Security Council on Monday.
A joint United Nations and Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) mission would supervise the destruction of President Bashar al-Assad's chemical arms in line with a Security Council resolution passed on September 27..
Russia and the US acted to disarm Syria after a chemical weapons attack near Damascus in August in which hundreds died.
After months of diplomatic sparring, Russia and the US agreed to work together to disarm Syria after a chemical weapons attack near Damascus on August 21 in which hundreds died.
Their disarmament plan - aiming for the chemical arsenal to be destroyed by mid-2014 - has been approved by the OPCW executive and the Security Council.
A small OPCW team is already in Syria to start the destruction of weapons production facilities. Ban recommended it be increased to about 100 scientists, logistics and security experts who will stay for up to a year.
If his recommendations are approved, the mission will have its headquarters in Damascus with a support base in Cyprus.
Ban highlighted the threat to the experts and civilians from the estimated 1000 tonnes of sarin, mustard gas and other chemical horrors in the Syrian arsenal which will have to be moved amid the "carnage" of Assad's daily battle with oppositions rebels.
"The joint mission will be expected to support, monitor and verify the destruction of a complex chemical weapons program involving multiple sites spread over a country engulfed in violent conflict," Ban said.
"The timelines associated with this destruction phase would be ambitious under the most peaceful and benign of circumstances."
The experts will have to work in "dangerous and volatile" conditions, particularly in urban areas such as Damascus, Homs and Aleppo, the UN leader said.
"Heavy artillery, air strikes, mortar barrages and the indiscriminate shelling of civilians areas are commonplace and battle lines shift quickly," he added.
Two mortars landed near the Damascus hotel the team is using just before they arrived last week. Ban added that roadside bombs "have detonated in close proximity" to the inspectors.
"My two highest priorities are the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons program, and the safety and security of joint mission personnel who have volunteered to perform this vital but dangerous task," he said.
The OPCW will provide the disarmament experts and the UN will supply logistics, communications and security staff for the mission, Ban said.
The report gave no estimate for the cost of what experts say will be the biggest and most dangerous disarmament operation ever staged. But Ban said the OPCW and UN would start their own special trust funds from international contributors. Assad has already estimated a cost of at least a billion dollars.
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
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conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
08102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Turkey's Erdogan says Syria's Assad is a terrorist, not a politician
By JPOST.COM STAFF
10/07/2013 21:43
PM tells Hurriet he will not support a man who killed 110,000.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Photo: Reuters
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip says that he no longer considers Syrian President Bashar Assad a political leader, but has labeled him as a "terrorist," Turkish daily Hurriet reported on Monday.
“I don’t regard Bashar Assad as a politician any more. He is a terrorist carrying out state terrorism," Erdogan said. "A person who killed 110,000 of his people is a terrorist."
After Assad warned in an interview with Der Spiegel on Saturday that Turkey would “pay dearly” for supporting opposition fighting to “overthrow his regime.”
“In the near future, these terrorists will have an impact on Turkey. Turkey will pay very dearly for its contribution,” Assad said in the interview.
During the interview, Assad expressed harsh criticism against Erdogan, saying he was a "liar" who “supports terrorists.”
Refering to a comment by US Secretary of State John Kerry about the success of the chemical weapons cleanup in Syria, Erdogan was skeptical about his congratulatory discourse.
“You are a human being and me, too. How can we appreciate the behavior of a person who killed 110,000 people, I ask you. The result of either chemical or other types of weapons is death. Then how can we appreciate this? I cannot imagine a person who appreciates this. I don’t think Mr. Kerry made such statement. If he made it, he would be contradicting himself,” Erdogan was reported as saying, when asked to comment on Kerry’s remarks.
___________
Quote:
“You are a human being and me, too. How can we appreciate the behavior of a person who killed 110,000 people, I ask you. The result of either chemical or other types of weapons is death. Then how can we appreciate this? I cannot imagine a person who appreciates this. I don’t think Mr. Kerry made such statement. If he made it, he would be contradicting himself,” Erdogan was reported as saying, when asked to comment on Kerry’s remarks.
End quote .
It's not just "he would be contracdicting himself," but also he would be farcing himself !
What do you think?
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
08102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Forget Chemical Weapons. Assad Regime Uses Starvation as Tactic Against Rebels
By Aryn Baker / Beirut @arynebaker
TIME
Oct. 07, 2013
3 Comments
A Free Syrian Army fighter holds his son outside their home in Habit village, in the Syrian central province of Hama, on Sept. 25, 2013
With the threat of using chemical weapons now off the table, the Syrian regime has apparently turned to even more punitive actions to force rebellious citizens into submission: blockade-induced starvation. For months now the government of President Bashar Assad has encircled the rebel-aligned suburbs south and east of the capital Damascus, cutting off road access, telephone connections, water and electricity. But in the wake of the Aug. 21 chemical-weapon attack on the area, which rebels and the West blame on the regime, the government tightened the blockade even further, increasing fears that mass starvation might lead to even more deaths than the estimated 400 to 1,400 victims of the chemical attacks. Already six have died from malnutrition, according to activists, and as winter approaches, conditions are likely to worsen. One rebel brigade has dedicated its forces to breaking the siege in Moadhamiya, a town about 10 km from Damascus that has been under siege for more than six months.
“The situation is bad in Moadhamiya; it’s a real disaster,” Oraba Idriss, commander of the 1,200-strong Maghaweer Brigade tells TIME via Skype. “People lack for everything. They didn’t even have bread to eat until we were able to bring them some wheat and flour.” According to the Moadhamiya Media Center, an activist group that works with Idriss, six people have died of starvation in the past month, including four children. Another dozen children are in medical clinics, suffering from acute malnutrition. One video, released by the media center and posted on YouTube and Twitter, shows the emaciated body of an 18-month-old girl they claim succumbed to starvation on Sept. 23. Whatever power there is comes from generators running off limited supplies of fuel that are smuggled in. Transporting something as simple as flour or fuel across enemy lines requires days of strategic planning and a large degree of luck. “Every mission to Moadhamiya is like a suicide mission for us,” says Idriss. “We have to go around tens of checkpoints, and if they discover us, death is inevitable.” In the past month he has lost four men. Still, he says, the sacrifice is worthwhile. “Hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians are starving in Damascus, and if we don’t risk our lives for them, they will simply die.”
(MORE: Inspectors Start Destroying Syria’s Chemical Weapons)
The use of siege warfare is not new in Syria: water lines to the city of Hama have been cut on and off for more than a year now, and in the north rebel forces have used the tactic in attempts to capture government military bases. Even where the government has allowed humanitarian access to provide food, it has refused to allow the transport of medical supplies, lest they be used to heal wounded fighters, say aid agencies. But nowhere has the blockade been as complete as it is in Moadhamiya, one of the first towns around Damascus to rise up peacefully against the regime. Government forces have completely surrounded the area, say local activists. “What the regime is doing is mass punishment for all the people who chanted once for the downfall of the regime,” says Idriss.
International aid organization Save the Children said in an appeal on Sept. 23 that more than 4 million Syrians, more than half of them children, do not have enough to eat. “The children of Syria have been shot, shelled and traumatized by the horror of war,” said Roger Hearn, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East. “The conflict has already left thousands of children dead, and is now threatening their means of staying alive.” The Syrian National Coalition, a group of opposition parties based in Turkey, joined the call, accusing government forces of tightening the siege on the Damascus suburbs in a statement released on Sept. 30. “Assad’s forces are starving people to death in those areas … The specter of famine looms on the horizon.” On Wednesday the U.N. Security Council urged the Syrian government to provide humanitarian access to civilians trapped in the country’s conflict, but the government maintains that Moadhamiya is occupied not by civilians but by “terrorists,” its term for antiregime fighters. Moadhamiya’s prewar population of 70,000 has been reduced to 12,000. Most residents have already fled, joining the 8 million Syrians, more than a third of the population, that the U.N. now estimates to have left their homes in a war that has claimed 110,000 lives. Those who remain in Moadhamiya either don’t have the money to leave, or have nowhere to go, says Idriss. In some ways the mass migration is a blessing, he adds. With winter coming, few families would be able to survive on the meager portions of food and heating oil that his brigade would be able to smuggle in.
Getting essential items across the sniper-monitored no-man’s land and past government checkpoints requires a combination of guile, cash and bravery, says Idriss. His men will watch the government checkpoints for hours, waiting for new guards to replace those getting off shift — a two- to three-minute window that offers barely enough time to dart past lugging crates of goods. “Some of the soldiers sympathize with the revolution and some others are bribed to allow us to cross. But you cannot bribe all the checkpoints and soldiers,” says Idriss. Locals from inside working with the Idriss’s brigade court the most corrupt regime generals, spending days or even weeks to get them to accept bribes — sometimes up to 25% of the value of the goods. “But the problem is when this general is deployed into another area, then we have to start it all over again and this means no food for the besieged people,” sighs Idriss.
Sometimes his men cross under the cover of darkness, and sometimes under the cover of nearby government shelling — a risky method. There is nothing worse than the heartbreak of seeing a shipment of food, medical aid and weapons destroyed by an errant shell, especially since the goods are already so hard to come by, even in areas not under siege, says Idriss. Shipments can take days or even weeks to put together. Supporters from Western and Gulf nations donate most of the items. Even then, he says, “Whatever we deliver is not enough and it doesn’t make more than 20% of the actual needs of people.” Once across the blockade lines, Idriss’s men hand the goods over to a local committee in charge of delivering aid to the community. In exchange they are given a slip of paper. Not a receipt, but a new list of necessary items. And the whole process starts again.
— With reporting by Rami Aysha / Beirut
MORE: Facing Calls for Diplomacy, Many Syrian Rebels Reject Talks With Assad Regime
Aryn Baker @arynebaker
Aryn Baker is the Middle East Bureau Chief for TIME, covering politics, society, culture, religion, the arts and the military in the greater Middle East, including Pakistan and Afghanistan. She currently resides in Beirut, Lebanon.
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Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/10/07/forget-chemical-weapons-assad-regime-uses-starvation-as-tactic-against-rebels/?iid=gs-main-lead
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
07102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Syria's 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons
A relative weeps over the body of one of his family members killed during the alleged toxic gas attack in the Ghouta district of Damascus in August (AFP Photo/Ammar al-Arbini)
AFP
11 hours ago
Beirut (AFP) - International disarmament experts began the mammoth task of destroying Syria's chemical arsenal on Sunday under a hard-won deal that averted threatened US military action following an August 21 gas attack.
The team from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) arrived in Syria on October 1 to launch its mission to destroy the decades-old arsenal under the terms of a landmark UN Security Council resolution passed unanimously on September 28.
The task is huge, as Syria's arsenal is believed to include more than 1,000 tonnes of sarin, mustard gas and other banned chemicals stored at an estimated 45 sites across the war-torn country.
The mission is the first in OPCW history to take place in a country wracked by civil war.
President Bashar al-Assad's regime is accused of using chemical weapons in attacks on two rebel-held areas near Damascus that US intelligence and the Syrian opposition charge killed hundreds of people.
On September 1, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington had clear intelligence proving sarin gas was used in the August 21 assault by regime forces.
A French intelligence report released on September 2 said there was "massive use of chemical agents" on the day of the attacks in Syria and that only the regime could have been responsible.
The report said Syria "had one of the biggest operational stocks of chemical weapons," including an arsenal of more than 1,000 tonnes comprising sarin and mustard gas and more powerful neurotoxic agents.
It also said Syrian scientists were working on more lethal nerve agents.
The Syrian regime acknowledged for the first time on July 23, 2012, that it had chemical weapons and threatened to use them in case of a Western military intervention, but never against the Syrian population.
One of the few countries not to have signed the Chemical Weapons Convention until last month, Syria began its chemical weapons programme in the 1970s with the help of Egypt and the then Soviet Union.
In March this year, the government and the rebel forces battling to topple it accused each other of using chemical weapons in the more than two-year conflict.
Britain, France and the United States have accused Syrian forces of using chemical weapons against insurgents on several occasions.
Russia, a key ally of Syria along with Iran, has said it has proof sarin gas was used by the rebels.
In the 1990s, Moscow provided Syria with support for the programme, followed by Tehran since 2005, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), an independent organisation tracking data on weapons of mass destruction.
An analyst at the non-proliferation and disarmament programme of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) says Syria has the biggest chemical weapons programme in the Middle East, launched with the goal of counterbalancing Israel's nuclear programme.
On September 26, the Washington Post reported that a confidential Russian-US assessment of Syria's chemical arsenal revealed that much of it was unweaponised, making it easier to destroy.
On January 30, Israeli warplanes bombed a ground-to-air missile battery and adjacent military complex near Damascus suspected of holding chemical weapons, with Israel saying it feared their transfer to Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah, according to a US official.
According to The New York Times, the raid could have damaged Syria's main research centre into biological and chemical weapons.
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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/syrias-1-000-tonnes-chemical-weapons-142351952.html
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
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Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
07102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Thêm một tên tội đồ của dân tộc Việt vừa đi chầu Diêm Vương, giặc già võ nguyên giáp .
Đọc vài bản tin từ RFA, nghe những cái gọi là "ý kiến", "nhận định" của những kẻ mang danh "nhân sĩ", "trí thức" trong nước về tên giặc già SỐNG HÈN SỐNG NHỤC để tròn kiếp tôi đòi và BÁM lấy cái gọi là "chiến công", "vinh quang" trong mưu đồ CƯỚP NƯỚC, BÁN NƯỚC , đưa dân tộc xuống tận cùng Ô NHỤC của bè lũ buôn nòi bán giống; rước kẻ thù truyền kiếp hán cộng của dân tộc về thờ, mang chủ nghĩa ngoại lai nga tàu về hủy diệt đất nước của bè lũ cẩu trệ BÁN NƯỚC cầu vinh cộng sản VN mà lợm giọng .
Kết cuộc của một tên giặc già mang danh "đại tướng" đến cuối cuộc đời vẫn không qua khỏi kiếp thú muốn trở lại làm người vì vốn đã mang trong máu bản chất BÁM cứng hư danh và bản chất hèn nhược của những thằng suốt đời chỉ biết làm đầy tớ .
Còn những kẻ "giáo sư", "tiến sĩ" cũng như những kẻ suốt đời cầm bút chỉ biết viết những lời nịnh bợ một cách trơ trẽn đến độ trở thành những thằng hề múa may kệch cởm có thể di hại cho những người trẻ tuổi sau này khi họ muốn tìm hiểu đâu là SỰ THẬT về những nhân vật hèn nhược tồi tàn mang nhản hiệu "anh hùng dân tộc" từ bè lũ cẩu trệ BÁN NƯỚC cầu vinh việt gian cộng sản Việt Nam là tội đồ truyền kiếp của dân tộc Việt Nam .
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
06102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
6 October 2013 Last updated at 04:50 GMT
Syria conflict: Assad hints at Germany mediation role
BBC
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has raised the possibility of Germany acting as a mediator to try to end his country's 30-month-long civil war.
Speaking to Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, Mr Assad said he "would be delighted if envoys came from Germany".
But he stressed that Damascus would not negotiate with rebels unless they laid down their weapons.
Mr Assad again denied claims that his troops had used chemical weapons, blaming the rebels instead.
In the interview to be published on Monday, Mr Assad said that US President Barack Obama had "not even a whisper of proof" that Damascus had used chemical weapons.
"He has nothing to offer other than lies."
He contrasted Washington's stance with that of Moscow, describing the Russians as "true friends".
'More questions'
The interview comes just days after a team given the job of eliminating Syria's chemical weapons said it had made "encouraging initial progress" after talks with government officials.
UN-backed experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Syrian documents handed over last Wednesday "looked promising".
The team said analysis of technical diagrams would be necessary and "more questions remain to be answered".
Onsite inspections and arms disabling are scheduled to start next week.
Concerted international action to disarm Syria of its chemical weapons was agreed by the UN Security Council last month.
Its resolution was based on an earlier deal reached by the United States and Russia in Geneva.
The US had threatened military action to punish the Syrian government over a nerve agent attack in Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus on 21 August.
The Americans said more than 1,400 people were killed. Russia and Syria believe rebel groups were responsible for the attack.
Syria's chemical weapons arsenal is believed to include more than 1,000 tonnes of the nerve gas sarin, the blister agent sulphur mustard and other banned chemicals stored at dozens of sites.
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
06102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
SỰ THẬT MẤT LÒNG
Góp Nhặt từ " INTERNET"
Trích nguyên văn:
Một nhân viên chánh phủ liên bang cấp cao người Mỹ da trắng, y nói rằng:
--Một mặt các người Mỹ gốc Việt hợp tác khăng khít (closely co-operate) về kinh tế và tài chánh với chế độ “kẻ thù” của các anh qua việc các anh đổ 18 tỷ đô la về Vietnam hàng năm qua ngả du lịch, chuyển ngân, du hí, và đầu tư (Note: Wells Fargo Bank có đủ tài liệu cấp cho GAO).
--Mặt khác, một số tổ chức cộng đồng (a certain number of your community organizations) các anh nộp thỉnh cầu (petition) chánh phủ Mỹ xin dùng áp lực kinh tế với Vietnam để đòi cho các anh vài điều mà các anh có thể tự làm lấy, nhưng chính hành động của các anh (hợp tác kinh tế với chế độ thù nghich) rồi các anh phản lại thỉnh cầu của các anh. Các anh là lũ hề (you, bunch of comedians)
Ông hỏi: "Trả lời tôi, các anh là loại người gì”? (Please answer me, what kind of people are you?)
Qua 2 tuần tôi mong đợi hồi âm của các bậc cao minh, uyên bác, nhưng không thấy. Tuyệt vọng. Tôi không còn tin người Viêt nào đủ thông minh uyên bác có thể đối đáp lại người chửi xéo dân Viet tỵ nạn ta.
Như thế có nghĩa là toàn thể cộng đồng người Mỹ gốc Việt không có một ai cao minh uyên bác cả. Đau buồn thay hơn 4 ngàn năm văn hiến.Tôi chỉ đọc thấy một vài bài chửi thề vô học thức, hạ cấp (low life, uneducated) và tất cả đều LẠC ĐỀ, không ai trả lời đúng câu hỏi. Bài nào lạc đề, tôi xóa bỏ ngay không thèm đọc cho là rác rưởi không đáng mất thì giờ.
Tiện đây tôi kể lại toàn bộ cuộc mạn đàm tại bửa cơm chung hôm nọ
Cũng trong dịp Monthly-Neighborhood-Get-Together-Buffet Dinner này, một bà bác sĩ Sue (OB GYN) da màu chĩa vô “Chính BS Martin Luther King là người đã đấu tranh cho chúng tôi có nhân quyền, tự do, bình đẳng. Chúng tôi phải tự dành lấy bằng mạng sống. Chúng tôi không nôp thỉnh cầu tới chánh phủ như bản chất ỷ lại của các anh vừa làm. Các anh biết việc làm nào bẩn thỉu, các anh muốn người khác làm cho mình (Your dirty job you want somebody else doing it for you)”. Nếu không có BS King, người Mỹ gốc Việt các anh ngày nay chẳng khác gì người Tàu qua đây lao động đường xe lửa hoặc giặt ủi. Ai muốn có gì, phải tự tranh đấu dành lấy. Ở Mỹ có câu nói không ai cho ai ăn cơm thí (There is no free lunch). Những người dân ở Việt Nam ươn hèn (coward rats) không dám tự mình dành lấy bình đẳng, tự do, nhân quyền. Nước Mỹ không thể cứu giúp một dân tộc ươn hèn (a nation full of coward rats) nếu họ không tự cứu họ trước (we only help those who help themselves)
Một ông khác là sĩ quan hải quân về hưu, nói:
“Tôi muốn nói cho các người bạn Mỹ gốc Việt các anh biết rằng chánh phủ Mỹ không đóng vai trò cảnh sát quốc tế (policeman of the world). Nước Vietnam bắt bớ giam cầm những người đối kháng là việc nội bộ của riêng họ. Các anh không thể thỉnh cầu chánh phủ Mỹ làm cảnh sát hoặc quan tòa buộc một nước có chủ quyền (a sovereign nation in power) thả những người đối kháng mà, ai có thể biết được, chính phủ nước đó cho họ là tội phạm. Các anh quá lạm dụng (abusive) quyền công dân Mỹ. Nhân đây tôi cho các anh biết, các người Cuba nói riêng hoặc Latinos nói chung, lực luợng cử tri, chánh trị và kinh tế của họ to lớn hơn các anh nhiều lần. Các chánh trị gia đều tiến sát gần (approach) họ. Họ chưa hề thỉnh cầu (petition) chánh phủ điều gì. Vì họ thông minh và thực tế hơn người Mỹ gốc Việt các anh (they are smarter and more realistic than you folks)--tức là chúng ta ngu hơn bọn xì--quả vậy.
Ngồi cùng bàn, ông Tom chủ văn phòng bất động sản Century 21, phát biểu: "Cũng như mọi cộng đồng thiểu số khác. Họ (người Việt) có 3 loại người:
Loại 1 là số người cực kỳ thông minh đóng góp rất nhiều cho xứ sở này (their adopted land). Tôi biết có tới hàng ngàn người Việt là quân đội Mỹ cấp tá, BS, Kỹ Sư, Giáo Sư, Bác Học. Điển hình (a case in point) cách nay 6-7 năm tôi đã đọc Newsweek Magazine, ký giả lão thành (renowned journalist) George Wills viết 1 bài dài về 1 bà bác học Vietnam--ý ông nói Mme. Dương Nguyệt Ánh . Nói rằng món nợ của bà đã trả cho nước Mỹ hoàn toàn đày đủ, kể cả tiền lời (Your debt to America has been paid in full, with interest).
Loại 2 là bọn ích kỷ, cơ hội chủ nghĩa (selfish opportunists) những người dễ ghét--đáng khinh bỉ-- (despicable folks). Loại người này sẵn sàng bán linh hồn cho qủy dữ (they are ready to sell their souls to devils) trục lợi cá nhân. 18 tỷ dollars Dr. George vừa nói là từ loại người này đổ vào Vietnam. Họ là những con cừu đen.
Loại 3 là loại ngu xuẩn nói nhiều làm ít (All-talk idiots). Họ ngu xuẩn tới nỗi không có lý trí. Họ nhu nhược ươn hèn, ỷ lại, lạm dụng quyền công dân. Họ ngu xuẩn đến nỗi không biết được rằng chánh phủ và nhân dân Mỹ chỉ hành động việc gì có lợi chung cho đất nước và nhân dân Mỹ (common interest of America and the American people). Các thỉnh cầu của loại người này, nếu là tôi (Ông Tom) tôi ném ngay vào thùng rác.
Ta là người chịu ơn chánh phủ và nhân dân Mỹ quá nhân đạo cưu mang chúng ta qua đây, gíúp đỡ ta bước đầu, tìm nơi ăn chốn ở, làm ăn gây dựng sự nghiệp. Khi có đủ lông cánh ta đem tiền bạc về bơm cho những kẻ mà do chính chúng đã gây ra cho chúng ta phải bỏ nước ra đi. Giờ đây ta còn để cho những người (Mỹ bình thường) nhìn ta như những con vật ghẻ lở, loài sâu bọ.
Hết trích.___________
SỰ THẬT thì rất MẤT LÒNG, nhưng LỜI THẬT lại càng MẤT LÒNG hơn !
SỰ THẬT rành rành không thể chối cãi là bè lũ phản quốc cướp nước diệt chủng Việt gian đảng phỉ cộng sản VN đã BÁN NƯỚC có văn tự .
Những kẻ đã từng tìm đủ mọi cách để thoát khỏi chế độ tàn ác dã man biến con người trở thành thú vật của bè lũ cẩu trệ bán nước cầu vinh việt cộng, khi no cơm ấm cật lại trở đầu lòn trôn bọn chó má việt cộng để tìm danh thừa lợi cặn quả thật thua xa loài chó .
Những con chó khi chờ những mẫu xương thừa, những tô canh cặn của con người, có lẽ chúng cũng ước ao "được làm người", nhưng thật quá khó vì thực tế chúng vẫn là những con chó, đáng thương thay.
Còn những con người thì sao ? (*)
Có những kẻ đã từng lên án bọn chó má việt cộng với chế độ đưa con người xuống hàng chó ngựa, những kẻ đã biết bọn chó má việt cộng bán nước diệt nòi mà vì danh nhơ lợi nhớp, cam tâm làm tay sai đầy tớ cho bọn việt cộng, mồm oang oang "chống cộng" nhưng vẫn cứ bơm hơi tiếp máu nuôi bè lũ bán nước việt cộng là tội đồ truyền kiếp của dân tộc .
Đã không biết liêm sĩ, cứ mở miệng là "tự hào" nhưng thực chất hèn mọn khiếp nhược, việc của đất nước mình, dân tộc mình thì lại cứ van cầu người khác làm giùm trong khi mình cứ tiếp tục bơm hơi tiếp máu nuôi béo bầy thú việt cộng để chúng củng cố ngai vàng của chúng và tiếp tục giết dân BÁN NƯỚC .
Những con người tự nguyện TUỘT xuống làm chó này thật đáng khinh bỉ, đáng phỉ nhổ mà cũng đáng tội nghiệp .
"Làm người thì khó, làm chó thì dễ" !
LỜI THẬT thì vô cùng MẤT LÒNG vậy .
(*) dĩ nhiên không có chuyện "quơ đủa cả nắm" ! .
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
06102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
