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Putin: U.S. Interventions In Internal Conflicts 'Alarming'

It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts has become commonplace for the US, President Vladimir Putin said in an editorial for The New York Times. Putin however has welcomed Barack Obama’s decision to develop a compromise on Syria.

“It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States,” he said. 

In a lengthy piece titled A Plea for Caution from Russia, the President reminded that the United Nations was created as a universal instrument of preventing devastating wars.

“No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage,” Putin wrote. “This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.”

Putin said that while no one doubts that poison gas was indeed used in Syria, there is “every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons.”

“Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored,” he add

The world increasingly sees America not as “a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us,” the President stated.

On the other hand, a successful political compromise on Syria would “open the door to cooperation on other critical issues” between Russia and the US.

However, having studied Obama’s address to the American nation on Tuesday, Putin disagreed with a“case he made on American exceptionalism.”

“It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too.”
“We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal,” Putin said in conclusion of his New York Times editorial. 

Vladimir Putin Addresses America In NYT Op-Ed: Calls For Caution In Syria

U.S. Begins Sending Arms To Syrian Rebels

Syrian opposition forces began receiving weapons from the CIA about two weeks ago, some three months after the Obama administration decided to provide them with lethal assistance, US officials said Thursday.

The shipments of light weapons began arriving days after an alleged chemical attack on August 21 that the US says killed over 1,400 people. That attack prompted Washington to mull military intervention, although plans for a strike on Syria have been shelved for the time being in favor of Russian-brokered diplomatic efforts.

Recent arms shipment to the rebels mark the first time since June, when the decision to arm the rebels was made, that the US has actually sent weapons to opposition forces.

In addition to the weapons, the US has provided Syrian rebels with vehicles, advanced communications equipment, combat medical kits, and training. A first unit of CIA-trained rebels entered Syria earlier this month, according to reports.

'Major Escalation Of The U.S. role In Syria's Civil War' As CIA Begins Delivering Weapons To Rebels

Rebel forces in Syria are now officially receiving CIA-delivered weapons from the United States government, the Washington Post reports, citing U.S. officials and Syrian figures.

Following months of delay, the lethal aid promised to the Syrian rebels by President Barack Obama began trickling into the war-torn country over the past two weeks. The opposition forces have also reportedly received vehicles and other gear from the State Department, marking a “major escalation of the U.S. role in Syria’s civil war,” the Washington Post observes.

According to the Post’s sources, arms shipments of light weapons and other munitions are being delivered to the rebels as well as nonlethal gear like sophisticated communications equipment, advanced combat medical kits and vehicles — all funded by the U.S. taxpayer.

“U.S. officials hope that, taken together, the weapons and gear will boost the profile and prowess of rebel fighters in a conflict that started about 2 1/2 years ago,” the report adds.

The intense debate over whether the U.S. should use military force against Syria was still raging when President Obama addressed the nation on Tuesday. He asked Congress to wait to vote on a use-of-force resolution so diplomatic solutions could be explored.

Many members of Congress — and the majority of the American people — have stood against aiding the Syrian rebels due to the involvement of radical Islamist groups in the movement. A recent Washington Post/ABC poll found 70 percent of Americans were against arming the rebels

Two Mortar Shells From Syria Land In Israeli Golan Heights

Two mortar shells fired from Syria landed in the southern Golan Heights adjacent to the Israeli-Syrian border on Thursday.

Initial evidence suggests that the shells were a result of errant fire from Syria's civil war that accidentally entered Israeli territory, the IDF stated.

Shocking Number Of Americans Believe We're Now Living In The 'End Times' As Described In The Bible

A startling proportion of Americans believe that we’re currently living in the End Times, according to a stunning new poll that was conducted by the Barna Group, a polling firm that focuses on faith. In fact, more than four in 10 individuals (41 percent) over the age of 18 believe that “the world is currently living in the ‘end times’ as described by prophecies in the Bible.”

While this number is certainly noteworthy, among various cohorts, the results were even more stunning. While 54 percent of Protestants agreed that we are currently living in the End Times, the vast majority of evangelicals — 77 percent, to be exact — embrace this same sentiment.

Meanwhile, more generally, Catholics took on very different views on the matter. Seventy-three percent felt that the End Times are not upon us; 45 percent of practicing Catholics (a more narrow group) answering affirmatively, though, potentially showing a closer tie between the practice of faith and the belief in End Times theology.

The original question, “Do you, personally, believe that the world is currently living in the ‘end times’ as described by prophecies in the Bible, or not?,” was asked of 1,000 U.S. adults ages 18 and older in a Barna Group survey that was conducted online from July 29 through Aug. 1, 2013. The sample was representative of all U.S. adults, with a margin or error of +/- 3.2 percentage points.

The study comes on the cusp of a plethora of interest in the Bible’s End Times theology. While some might argue that 1,000 is a small sample size, it is considered scientifically sound. Past studies have also found that nearly four in 10 Americans see some of the signs and events of late to be evidence of the End Times as well, corroborating some of the elements in this most recent inquiry.

Regardless of where you stand, interest in the subject is nowhere near subsiding.

Napolitano: Syria, Treason And Impeachment

“The lynchpin for American involvement in a foreign war is not revulsion at what’s happening,” Napolitano replied firmly.  “The lynchpin for American involvement in a foreign war is, will our freedom and security be affected if we don’t get involved?  Answer: no.  How could we possibly be affected by a war 6,700 miles from here?”

Napolitano proceeded to lay out four circumstances under which the American military can legally get involved in a foreign war, based on “the treaties we’ve signed and the body of international law to which we agree.”

1) “When we’ve been attacked.  Hasn’t happened, we haven’t been attacked by Syria.”

2) “When we are about to be attacked.  When the enemy’s at the gates, we don’t have to wait for them to fire the first bullet.  When an attack is imminent… Not the case with Syria.”

3) “When we’ve been invited into the country of an ally that’s been attacked…Doesn’t apply for Syria.”

4) “When a country has violated an international norm to which it has agreed, and the U.N. has authorized us to do it.”

Some might say the use of chemical weapons has violated an “international norm,” but Napolitano pointed out that Syria didn’t sign the treaty against the use of chemical weapons.

He then went a step further: “Who’s used chemical weapons on their own people? How far are we from Waco, Texas, where federal agents used chemical weapons to murder 76 Americans in 1993, in the Clinton administration? Can you imagine if China or Russia wanted to bomb us to punish us for what we did at the time?”

Minor Earthquake Rattles Jerusalem And Dead Sea

An earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale was felt in Jerusalem and on the northern edge of the Dead Sea early Thursday, according to the Geophysical Institute of Israel.

A moderate earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale shook Eilat in June. The epicenter of that quake was some 200 kilometers south of Eilat, in the Red Sea’s Suez gulf. There were no injuries or damage.

Tritium Levels Spike At Stricken Fukushima Nuclear Plant