Sunday, August 25, 2013

Russia Urges Calm; Syrian Government Greenlights UN Chemical Weapons Probe





Three quick updates on this rapidly evolving situation in Syria: 






The US believes the Syrian regime’s allowing of a UN chemical weapons inspection team to probe the site of an alleged attack is too little too late, even as Moscow has urged Washington and its allies to await the team’s findings before launching military action.

Moscow on Sunday night welcomed Syria’s decision to allow international experts to examine the area in a Damascus suburb where at least 100 people died in the suspected attack last week. Syrian and UN officials are working to finalize the timing of the visit.

However, a senior US official said the White House believes the Syrian government had denied the UN investigative team immediate access to the site in order to give the evidence of the attack time to degrade.


The Obama administration official said a belated decision to grant access to the UN team would be considered “too late to be credible.”
“At this juncture, any belated decision by the regime to grant access to the UN team would be considered too late to be credible, including because the evidence available has been significantly corrupted as a result of the regime’s persistent shelling and other intentional actions over the last five days,” the official told the Reuters news agency.


Washington and a number of Western European countries appear to be moving toward a decision to launch military action against the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.


Republican Sen. Bob Corker called Sunday for the US to respond in a “surgical and proportional way, something that gets their attention.” The Tennessee lawmaker said conversations with administration officials led him to believe US president Barack Obama would approach Congress for authorization to launch a strike after the summer recess next month.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said however that all countries should wait for the results of the investigation and he encouraged other countries to “show prudence and avoid tragic mistakes” by rushing to a conclusion about the incident.
“Our American and European partners must understand what catastrophic consequences this kind of politics would have for the region, for the Arab and Islamic world as a whole,” Lukashevich said, advising the US and its allies against taking a “gamble” and using unilateral force in Syria.







Syria has given the “green light” for UN experts to visit the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb, state TV reports, citing the Foreign Ministry.
"An agreement was concluded today (Sunday) in Damascus between the Syrian government and the United Nations during the visit of the UN high representative for disarmament, Angela Kane, to allow the UN team led by professor Aake Sellstroem to investigate allegations of chemical weapons use in Damascus province," a ministry statement said.
The agreement "is effective immediately".  
The UN said its chemical weapons experts will start probing the site in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta as early as Monday. 
Syrian authorities pledge to impose a ceasefire during the UN team inspection.  
Russia has welcomed the move but has called on all the sides, “trying to influence the results of the investigation in advance”, not to “make tragic mistakes”. 
Washington is not satisfied with the agreement, saying that Syria’s offer to allow UN inspectors access to the attack site was “too late to be credible”. 
"If the Syrian government had nothing to hide and wanted to prove to the world that it had not used chemical weapons in this incident, it would have ceased its attacks on the area and granted immediate access to the UN— five days ago," a senior administration official said.

France also said on Sunday there can be “no doubt” that it’s the Assad regime, which is behind the alleged chemical weapons use near Damascus.  




And this from Zerohedge, which is interesting because the extensive coverage of this situation represents a departure from the usual financial updates given on that site:






Moments ago, Syria relented to the main gating condition that would prevent an all out escalation, and as Russia urged it to, has permitted an inspection of last Wednesday's alleged chemical weapons attack by UN inspectors. The WSJ reports that "Syria would allow United Nations inspectors currently present in Damascus immediate access to areas around the capital where the opposition accused the regime of using chemical weapons against fighters and civilians five days ago. A presenter on Syrian state television reading a statement attributed to an unnamed official at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the agreement was reached after a meeting between Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and Angela Kane, the U.N. disarmament chief, who arrived in Damascus on Saturday."



The statement said the date and timing of the visit would be coordinated between the U.N. team led by Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom and the Syrian government.

"The foreign minister affirmed Syria's desire to cooperate with the team of inspectors to unmask the falsehood of the allegations by terrorist groups that Syrian forces used chemical weapons in the eastern Ghouta," it added, referring to the eastern suburbs of Damascus and using the government's term for the rebels battling the regime.


Of course, since demand for said inspection was just a strawman, as the last time the UN inspected a "certain" chemical weapons attack by Assad it found "rebels may have used sarin" instead, and the US was absolutely certain Syria would not relent to an inspection thus allowing a full scale military attack, the US is now downplaying compliance with this key demand, by saying "it is too little too late."


And so, once again, the question boils down to what does Russia do when it reports, correctly, to the international community that Syria has complied with the key condition that would otherwise precede the US' launch of cruise missiles in direction Damascus when it starts operation "Boost US Budget Deficit."





14 comments:

Stephen said...

Just go to yahoo news......and type in SYRIA in the search box...

wow !!!!

this thing is HOT

the media is all over it...

hundreds of articles....

Scott, I got a question for you.
IF and i mean IF the Tomahawks
start the strike on Syria, what
is your BEST estimate for when HE
comes back ( Jesus)....??

assuming that 17 Isaiah hits soon
after the first Tomahawk hits.

how much time do you think we
have left ??

please tell me

Stephen >>>>>>>>>>>



Scott said...

There is no way to know. He could come tonight - before any of this.

The most significant questions are these (IMO)


- Will Russia/Iran retaliate?
- If so, will they begin by launching a proxy war resulting in Isaiah 17?

- If Isaiah 17 occurs, (destruction of Damascus) - will that retaliation be Ezekiel 38-39?

To me, those are the "big 3" questions at that point.

I have always believed that the aftermath of Ezekiel 38-39 will bring about the confirmation of the covenant of Daniel 9:27 and the rebuilding of the temple.


All we can really know for certain, scripturally, is the rapture before the tribulation. I personally believe that we will be taken up before Ezekiel 38-39, but that requires some degree of speculation, admittedly.

We could see Isaiah 17 unfold, and it appears to be right on the horizon.

If Ezekiel 38-39 comes immediately after Isaiah 17 (as I believe it will) - then a LOT will be happening in the next few weeks, quite possibly.

Dylan said...

What dates are Rosh Hashannah this year?

Robin said...

Rosh Hashana Sep 5-6, 2013 The Jewish New Year
Yom Kippur Sep 14, 2013 Day of Atonement
Sukkot Sep 19-20, 2013
Sep 21-25, 2013 Feast of Tabernacles

http://www.hebcal.com/holidays/2013-2014

The Feast Days, I think, are the days to watch.

Whether or not its fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophetic war or not, it certainly appears we're on the brink of WWIII. Maranatha . . .

Stephen said...

Current news indicates that Obama
is NOT backing off, yet no
missiles fired yet.

still quiet

stocks bulls are gutsy tonite, dow
starting to move up.....up 30
right now.

but that is IMMATERIAL and BULLS should know that....since a number 2 up is just that: a number 2 up.

followed by a crash....huge 3 down.

Stephen >>>>>>>>>>>>

Stephen said...

Any one with enough SENSE should know this....just one missile from
a US ship gets fired, even one lousy
Tomahawk and the fire burns....

cos I doubt it will be just one...

this kind of problem developing
now SHOULD really concern bulls,
although they DO NOT seem to care
atleast not yet !!!!

BUT LET US NEVER FORGET where
the dow is, above 15 000 as I type
this, very very high......and dangerous

if this market were ALOT LOWER
I would probably conclude that
nothing of consequence in the
M E would occur, but that is
NOT the case, as anyone can see.

Stephen >>>>>>>>>>



David said...

I agree Scott. Russia and Iran will be the ones to watch following a U.S. cruise missile attack.

1. Obama has to respond with some type military action after publicly announcing the red line issue last year.

2. Israel will possibly be a partner in it with the U.S.

3. That will likely trigger the attack from Russia and Iran.

I do think prophetically we are right on target......still People are walking around without a clue. Even some of the church.....not a clue.

David P

David said...

Reports are in that the in inspectors in Syria that are looking for evidence of chemical weapon use have come under sniper fire....imagine that

David P.

David said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Scott said...

David P - I completely agree with that analysis

Waterer said...

Scott,
When I read about the Gog /Magog war it doesn't read as retaliatory. More like a snare set from God Himself, pulling them to go after treasure.
I'm a little confused as to why folks think one will quickly follow the other.
Since Israel is described as without glory and greatly affected by the Is 17 war ,will it not take some time to rebuild and repopulate?
I see that horses are used and that too seems like nuclear things have been abandoned . I'm wondering if N. Africa uses boats and then comes south into Israel.
Why do folks think this will be very soon after Is 17?
I know there are no signs for the Rapture so "anytime" is still relevant. It will be a surprise though when we do not expect HIm. Sometimes I feel like the more we know the less we know because we cannot lean on or understanding of the signs but on His PROMISEs. It seems like the hotter things get the closer we think He is but in HIs words, He will come as thief, when we do not expect Him.

Scott said...

Couple of quick thoughts:

- I'm not sure I would expect all prophecy to indicate certain details such as whether or not the attack is retaliatory or not. God did pul Gog in - and he will do so to plunder and loot, but what lurks deeper in Gog's mind is anybody's guess.

- I believe Gog-MaGog follows quickly because the destruction to Damascus will be such an enormous, epic event and will most definitely kill many Iranians and Russians in the region. It will also challenge Putin's alignments (security) of both Syria and Iran. To let this pass would be unthinkable, given what we know about Putin.

- During the process of Isa 17 coming to conclusion, Israel will be weakened - the timing would present an immediate opportunity - even if the world sees the appearance of Israel resting in this aftermath

Also - birth pains are reaching the terminal state. Its hard to imagine anything of significance as happening between Isa 17 and Gog-MaGog (there aren't any prophetic wars that we would expect to see).

So given the above, how long CAN Russia/Iran axis wait to perform the invasion? Especially given that the Trib is approaching as well.

I just don't think there is enough time on the scale to permit a long interval between Isa 17 and Gog_MaGog

Waterer said...

Thank you Scott.So much is going on this seems like the only place to hang out...

Scott said...

It is - there is so much going on, I don't have much time for the comments, unfortunately. As soon as I post a news update, I'm covering different sources and getting updates. There is THAT much going on right now.