Author: Kalantarian Kevo

THE WORLD CUP DREAM LIVES ON IN YEREVAN

The Copenhagen Post, Denmark
Sept 10 2013

Christian Wenande
September 10, 2013 – 21:58

There’s still much to do, but a second-half penalty by Daniel Agger
has kept Denmark’s hopes to qualify for the 2014 World Cup alive

Danish hopes to reach the 2014 World Cup in Brazil remained intact
after a narrow 1-0 win over Armenia in Yerevan tonight.

Embattled coach Morten Olsen and his boys had been severely criticised
for their performances recently, but dominated throughout and were
rewarded with a game-winning penalty twenty minutes from time.

The penalty was won after young sub Viktor Fischer produced a moment
of brilliance out of nothing. After skinning one defender near the
touch-line, Fischer poked the ball away from another defender, who
clattered the youngster, giving away the spot-kick.

Captain Daniel Agger stepped up and coolly slotted the penalty home
to hand the Danes the three points needed to stave off World Cup
qualification elimination.

For the moment at least, the ugly memories of the Armenian defeat in
Copenhagen had vanished. So had Olsen’s ill-advised comparisons the
day before.

The win moves the Danes up to 12 points and temporarily into third
place in the group behind leaders Italy and second-placed Bulgaria,
who retained their one-point lead this evening by beating Malta 2-1.

The Czech Republic, meanwhile, will draw level with Denmark on points
should they win in Italy. Heading into the second half, they are
leading 1-0.

The result means that Denmark still have a chance of making the
play-offs for the World Cup in Brazil next year if they manage to
beat Italy and Malta in their final two games next month.

KIRKILAS: EASTERN PARTNERSHIP DILEMMA – THE EU OR RUSSIA – DEMOCRACY OR AUTOCRACY?

LithuaniaTribune
Sept 10 2013

The Lithuania Tribune presents an analysis of the current situation
in the EU Eastern Partnership countries by Gediminas Kirkilas,
the Vice-Speaker of the Lithuanian’s Seimas and the Chairman of the
European Affairs Committee.

The European Union’s (EU) Eastern Partnership countries face dilemma
of choosing between getting closer to the EU or joining the Russia’s
initiative of custom union and ultimately the Eurasian Union in
future. However, it is not only the choice between the two economic
integration projects, but also between democracy and authoritarian
path of political development.

Armenia, which very recently has demonstrated a decent democratic
promise, in the early September announced of its decision to join the
Russia’s Customs Union that is being created together with Belarus
and Kazakhstan. For Europe, this is not happy news.

Lithuania has been providing democratic assistance to the post-soviet
countries and making efforts of bringing them closer to the EU.

Naturally, the first post-soviet Baltic country holding the EU
Presidency has hoped that the EU and Armenia’s Association and
Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement would be initialled during the EU
Eastern Partnership Summit on 28-29 November in Vilnius.

Sitting on the two chairs, i.e., trying to integrate into the EU and
into the Eurasian Union is impossible, not for political, but primarily
economic reasons. If Armenia eventually joins the Russian project,
the country cannot sign the Free Trade Agreement with the EU, because
of different tariff requirements. This also means the closure of the
biggest market in the world and that Armenia’s further co-operation
with and integration into the EU might lose momentum.

Moreover, Armenia’s latter decision, if it stays so, might have
negative impact on the country’s democracy, which is the 114th in the
Economist’s democracy ranking for 2012, scoring 4.09 points out of 10.

With the leadership of Russia, ranking 122nd, Armenia inevitably
faces risks regarding its democratic future.

Finally, Armenia’s choice has the inevitable implications for Ukraine,
Georgia and Moldova, as well as for the EU immediate policy towards
these three countries.

For Lithuania, given the country’s European integration experience,
the Eastern Partnership has naturally become the No 1 priority of
its EU Presidency. Lithuania strongly holds on the position that
these countries should be helped to make the ‘right’ decision towards
Europe and given a credit of trust in advance, especially now, when
Armenia might be lost to Russia’s geopolitical project. Demand or
“waiting and seeing” strategy is no longer feasible, if Europe does
not want to lose the other three.

The major battle is now for Ukraine (democracy ranking 80th). Georgia
and Moldova will likely follow the pattern afterwards. Therefore,
Lithuania hopes that during the Vilnius Summit of Eastern Partnership
the EU Association Agreement will be signed with Ukraine and the Free
Trade Agreements will be initialled with Georgia and Moldova.

Zbigniew Brzezinski in his famous book on Eastern Europe ‘The Grand
Chessboard’ states, that “with Ukraine Russia is an Empire, without
Ukraine – it’s not. The politicians in Russia took it very literally
and doing everything in their power to keep Ukraine in their sphere
of influence”.

With Ukraine Russia is an Empire, without Ukraine – it’s not.

I strongly believe that signing the EU Association Agreement with
Ukraine will actually provide the EU with more effective instruments of
influence towards this country, especially regarding democratic reforms
and human rights. Within such a framework, Ukraine will be politically
assigned to the democratic path and united Europe, and, therefore,
become less susceptible to the non-democratic stimuli from outside.

Otherwise, like it was done in the case of NATO enlargement, postponing
Ukraine’s Association Agreement with the EU might be understood
by the Ukrainian people and its democratic forces as a rejection,
or as the country’s ban from Europe. The non-democratic powers, on
the other hand, might accept such gesture as an easy licence to move
towards the consolidation of a non-democratic regime.

This year is a turning point for Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, meaning,
that making a delay now might turn into the continuing delay.

This year is a turning point for Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, meaning,
that making a delay now might turn into the continuing delay.

If the Eurasian Union project expands, it can create the new and
long-term divisions in international politics as well as the renewed
rivalry between democracy and dictatorship in the world more than 20
years after the proclaimed victory of democracy in Eastern Europe.

The ball to throw is today being held not only by Ukraine, Georgia
and Moldova, but also by the EU.

Moldova (ranking 67th) has more recently made so far the biggest
progress towards its integration into the EU. Let’s just hope it will
stay on the right track.

Georgia (ranking 93rd),together with Ukraine, mostly thanks to foreign
policy of the Lithuanian President Mr Adamkus, 1998-2003 and 2004-2009,
has been the Lithuania’s favourite in the Eastern Partnership. Despite
some recent doubts regarding Georgia’s commitment to the rule of law,
I am confident that the entire democratic input delivered by the EU
and also the Lithuanian diplomatic forces cannot easily drain. I see
the current Georgian government as rational and thus understanding
the prestige and benefits of belonging to the democratic Europe.

Azerbaijan (ranking 139th) is more concerned with getting closer
to the EU economically rather than democratically or in the form
of membership. Europe needs to find a way to work closely with a
country’s such as Azerbaijan to keep them on Europe’s horizon.

However, Azerbaijan would need more than the successful Eurovision
performances to win Europe.

Azerbaijan would need more than the successful Eurovision performances
to win Europe.

Belarus (ranking 141st) remains the most complicated case due to the
President Lukashenka’s overt authoritarian regime. Nevertheless, the
time is on our side, and Europe hopes that ultimately the Belarusian
society will be democratised and Europeanised through the democratic
assistance, the NGO development, democratic intellectuals or such
projects as the European Humanitarian University, which found its
exile home in Vilnius and where the future Belarusian political elite
is studying.

GLENDALE ARMENIAN GROUP TO HOLD VIGIL AGAINST A POSSIBLE MILITARY STRIKE ON SYRIA

Los Angeles Daily News, CA
Sept 9 2013

By Brenda Gazzar

The Glendale chapter of the Armenian National Committee of America
and the Martin Luther King Coalition are holding a candlelight vigil
in Glendale tonight to urge Congress to vote against a potential
military strike in Syria.

The vigil, which will take place at 7 p.m. at the Krikor and Mariam
Karamanoukian Glendale Youth Center at 221 W. Chestnut Street,
is one of many events set for today around Southern California to
counter President Barack Obama’s efforts to secure congressional
authorization this week for a strike on Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad’s military capabilities.

“As Americans, we do not want to see the U.S. be dragged into another
long-term, costly – in terms of human lives and financial – war,” said
Berdj Karapetian, chairman of the ANC’s Glendale chapter. “Secondly,
there is a large Armenian community in Syria that has remained neutral
and it is being hurt as the fighting continues; as it escalates it
will be harmed even more than it has already been.”

The Obama administration says it has “high confidence” that Assad’s
regime carried out a chemical weapons attack on Aug. 21 that killed
hundreds of people. Assad, however, has denied that his regime was
behind the deadly attack and has suggested the rebels are responsible.

Talar Malakian, the chapter’s executive director whose father is from
Syria, said one of her father’s cousins was kidnapped in Syria and
then returned safely a few months ago and that the 2 1/2 year war
has been very hard on the Syrian people.

Many are waiting to die and wondering when they can resume going to
work and school again, she said, but a military strike on the Syrian
regime is not the answer.

“I don’t think that any more escalation and aggression is going to
help save lives or help bring peace,” Malakian said. “I think it’s
only going to make matters worse for a lot of the community who is
really suffering in Syria.”

VEGAN STRONGMAN PATRIK BABOUMIAN BREAKS WORLD RECORD

One Green Planet
Sept 10 2013

At Toronto’s Vegetarian Food Festival this past weekend,
Iranian-born, Armenian-German strongman competitor, psychologist and
former bodybuilder Patrik Baboumian not only made history with his
record-breaking carry of 550 kilograms (1212.54 pounds) over ten meters
(32.8 feet), but also defied stereotypes when he let out the words,
“Vegan power” with a roar.

The 34-year-old already holds world records for log lifts in the
105k-category (165 kg), as well as the German heavyweight loglift
record (185 kg) and the title of “Strongest Man of Germany.” He will
now add “heaviest yoke carry traveling 10 meters” to the list after
Guinness World Records verifies the feat. According to Toronto’s
festival organizers, Baboumian shouldered the heaviest load ever,
one that is equivalent to a large horse.

“It’s a bit stupid to do things like that, it really hurts,” Baboumian
said to the festival audience, as reported by the Toronto Star. “But,
the point is to inspire people and break stereotypes that tough guys
need to eat a lot of meat.”

“I just realized that if it’s really compassion that drives you,
maybe it’s not enough just to stop eating animals but you maybe should
boycott the whole animal industry, because … it’s not what you as
a compassionate being would want. So actually you should go one step
further and become vegan,” said Baboumian.

Baboumian became a vegetarian in 2006 and in 2011 turned to a vegan
diet after being named Germany’s strongest man (he immigrated to
Germany from Iran with his family at the age of seven).

Wondering what he eats? According to Baboumian, he makes sure his body
gets all three macro-nutrients in feasible amounts, but since protein
is a key factor for the development of the type of body that is needed
to be able to endure the grueling events he faces as a strongman,
he relies on soy-milk, soy-protein-powder, tofu, nuts and beans as
his main sources of protein. To get the energy he needs for his daily
training sessions, he uses carb-heavy foods like rice, potato, oats
and lots of fruits and greens and vegetables. In addition, to ensure
he consumes the right amount of calories to gain weight and maintain
the development of physical strength Baboumian relies on shakes and
smoothies to get a lot of his calories in liquid form.

After his record-breaking lift, he was joined on stage for a Q&A
session with other plant-powered athletes, including retired UFC
champion James Wilks, former NHL player Georges Laraque and marathon
superstar Rich Roll. A fitting celebration to a grand achievement.

Image source: David Cooper / Toronto Star

HOW IMPERIAL AMBITIONS STIRRED A POT THAT’S NOW BOILING OVER

The New York Times
September 9, 2013 Monday

By JANET MASLIN

LAWRENCE IN ARABIA War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making
of the Modern Middle East By Scott Anderson Illustrated. 577
pages. Doubleday. $28.95.

Scott Anderson’s fine, sophisticated, richly detailed “Lawrence in
Arabia” is filled with invaluably complex and fine-tuned information.

This demanding but eminently readable account of the Middle East during
World War I is certainly no hagiographic T. E. Lawrence biography,
as the tiny nuance (“in,” not “of”) coloring its title makes clear.

Mr. Anderson does not filter the tricky history of a crucially
important era through any individual’s perspective. Nor does he see
Lawrence as the only schemer trying to manipulate Arab destiny; this
book has an assortment of principal players, only one of whom managed
to become so famous. As to why such acclaim elevated one renegade
Briton and his feat of creating a guerrilla Bedouin army, Mr. Anderson
writes that the short answer may seem anticlimactic. His reason: This
was a time when the seed was planted for the Arab world “to define
itself less by what it aspires to become than what it is opposed to:
colonialism, Zionism, Western imperialism in its many forms.”

Clarity was hard to find, and so, after such wanton loss of life, were
victors. But heroes were needed, and here was a shoo-in. According to
the book, “Lawrence was able to become ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ because
no one was paying much attention.”

That does not make Mr. Anderson’s account a debunking. For those
already fascinated by Lawrence’s exploits and familiar with his
written accounts of them, Mr. Anderson’s thoughtful, big-picture
version only enriches the story it tells. “Lawrence in Arabia”
emphasizes the Gordian difficulties facing any strategist from any
of the numerous contingents involved either in fighting for Arab
freedom from the Ottoman Empire or looking to carve up Arab land once
the fighting was over. He illustrates how difficult it was to have
any foresight at all, let along to see clearly, and he reserves his
greatest interest for players whose imaginations were most fertile.

Lawrence was the best and most eloquent of these manipulators, but
he was by no means alone.

The book is careful to acknowledge aspects of Lawrence’s skill that
are not always done justice. Mr. Anderson is especially illuminating
about Lawrence’s purely political gifts: his way of anticipating the
fallout from strategic or military maneuvers, his “peculiar skill at
polite belligerence,” his no-nonsense powers of description.

Drawing from the vast body of Lawrence’s writing, Mr. Anderson finds
this bit of irreverence: “Jerusalem is a dirty town which all Semitic
religions have made holy. … In it the united forces of the past
are so strong that the city fails to have a present; its people,
with the rarest exceptions, are characterless as hotel servants,
living on the crowd of visitors passing through.”

Beyond having a keen ear for memorable wording, Mr. Anderson has
a gift for piecing together the conflicting interests of warring
parties. His account of the grisly British debacle at Gallipoli and
the bad decisions leading up to it display this book’s analytic powers
at their best. He explains why Alexandretta, now called of Iskenderun,
on the Mediterranean near the Turkish-Syrian border, looked to Lawrence
and others like the Ottoman Empire’s most vulnerable point.

It describes the 1914 incident in which a British warship, the Doris,
managed almost accidentally to expose how weakly defended the area was.

But “throughout history,” he adds, “there have been occasions when
a vastly superior military force has managed, against all odds, to
snatch defeat from all but certain victory.” Though Lawrence imagined
the Syrian and Armenian uprisings that might further undermine Ottoman
control of the Alexandretta region, the British looked eastward,
designating the Dardanelles as the place to send wave after wave of
troops. Fully exposed to the enemy as they made their naval landing,
they were massacred to no strategic effect at all. Lawrence believed
that Britain’s decision had been influenced by the desire of its ally
France to keep Syria stable — and lay claim to it after the war.

As “Lawrence in Arabia” lays out Lawrence’s career, and his delicate
negotiations to unite the sons of King Hussein to create an Arab
revolt against the Turks, it also follows other diplomatic efforts.

One of the book’s startling revelations about Curt Prufer, a German
diplomat in Cairo with espionage connections, is that he deployed
Minna Weizmann — a seldom-mentioned sister of Chaim Weizmann,
Israel’s first president — as a pro-German spy. Also involved in
espionage was Aaron Aaronsohn, a Zionist and agronomist, who worked
his way into the good graces of the Ottoman regime.

The book also follows the track of the American William Yale, roaming
the region to do the bidding of Standard Oil of New York, known as
Socony. He was instrumental in helping the company lay claims in
Palestine, “except there was a key detail in all this that Socony saw
no reason to trouble the Turks with,” Mr. Anderson writes. Drilling
for oil could have helped the Turkish war effort, but Yale’s employers
had no intention of doing so until the war was over.

“Lawrence in Arabia” is a fascinating book, the best work of military
history in recent memory and an illuminating analysis of issues that
still loom large today. It’s a big book in every sense, with a huge
amount of terrain to cover. So it is perhaps understandable that
Mr. Anderson makes only passing and none too flattering reference to
David Lean’s magnificent film about Lawrence.

But readers who know the movie are apt to summon it more than he does.

Yes, it was history a la Hollywood, with moments of clear
exaggeration. But its effort to depict Lawrence, his military raids,
the tribal leaders with whom he dealt, the inept British military
effort and the sly French diplomatic one are all shown by this book
to be unusually faithful to the facts. It’s high praise for both the
visually grand film and this grandly ambitious book to say that they
do have a lot in common.

URL:

COMMUNITY MEMBERS GATHER FOR PEACE IN SYRIA

Tuesday, September 10th, 2013

Community members gather to oppose Syria attacks

GLENDALE-On September 9, more than 200 community members gathered
at the Glendale Youth Center to join the Armenian National Committee
of America, Glendale chapter, MoveOn.org Civic Action, CREDO Action,
Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), The Martin Luther King
Coalition of Greater Los Angeles and Win Without War, in order to
voice their opposition to U.S. military strikes against Syria.

Thousands of people throughout the nation were hosting such vigils.

After a short welcome by ANCA Glendale’s Executive Director, Talar
Malakian, and a prayer, Seto Boyadjian, the Chairman of the ANCA
National Board, Caro Avanessian, the Chairman of the California
Armenian American Democrats, and Glendale Unified School District
President Nayiri Nahabedian spoke out against military intervention in
Syria by the United States. They stressed the importance of finding
diplomatic solutions while also sending more humanitarian aid to
suffering communities in need, including over 100,000 Syrians of
Armenian descent living in Syria.

Berdj Karapetyan, Chairman of the ANCA Glendale Board concluded with
final remarks and asked community members to gather around a board
filled with pictures from the Syrian crisis, in the back of the room.

After a moment of silence for the lives lost, the lit candles were
circulated and everyone was ushered out of the hall and to St. Mary’s
Apostolic Church. Many returned to write messages for peace that were
pinned to the board. Many also sent emails to their representatives
on iPads provided by ANCA Glendale.

“We are gathered to commemorate the lives lost but to also show that
we are opposed to more violence. The only way to achieve peace is
through diplomacy,” said ANCA Glendale Executive Director, Talar
Malakian. “We need to urge our representatives to remember that.”

Local affiliates of CBS, NBC, and ABC covered the event on evening
news. KNX Radio, and KPPC Radio aired reports earlier in the day.

Community members will be joining a delegation to Congressman Adam
Schiff’s Hollywood office from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, to urge him to
vote against the authorization to strike.

ANCA action alerts to representatives can still be sent online
through the National Armenian National Committee of America website:

The ANCA-Glendale advocates for the social, economic, cultural,
and political rights of the city’s Armenian American community and
promotes increased civic participation at the grassroots and public
policy levels.

GOVERNMENT TO SUPPORT COMMITTEE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 100TH ANNIVERSARY EVENTS

14:30, 10 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. The Government of the Republic
of Armenia will allocate AMD 24 million 578 thousand to the State
Science Commission of the Ministry of Education and Sciences of the
Republic of Armenia for the activity of the Committee coordinating
the events advancing the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

As reports “Armenpress” this issue has been included in the agenda of
the September 13 session of the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

The State Science Commission of the Ministry of Education and Sciences
of the Republic of Armenia will grant the aforesaid amount of money
to the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. Also, the Government of
the Republic of Armenia will allocate money for the creation of the
official website of the State Committee.

3 ARMENIANS KILLED IN ALEPPO IDENTIFIED

13:54, 10 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Three Armenians killed in missile
blast in the Suleimania district of Aleppo have been identified. The
Editor-in-Chief of “Azdak” daily Shahan Kandaharian stated this in a
conversation with “Armenpress”. In addition Kandaharian noted that
George Kuyumdjian, Hrayr Tarakhchian, and Mher Eortekian died in
missile blast in Aleppo.

For almost two weeks Aleppo has been under blockade, all roads
going out of the city have been closed. During the last ten days the
population of the city was deprived of the means of communication
because of which reactions of events taking place there come to
Armenia with delay.

The situation was aggravated in Syria on August 21 when media informed
about using chemical weapons in suburbs of Damascus. According to
preliminary information 600 people were killed in result of attack.

According to other sources numbers of dead people reached 1300. After
the incident the governmental forces and opposition announced about
their non-participation in using chemical weapons blaming each other
in it. USA increased its military presence around Syria activating
the discussion of military intervention scenario. On August 31 US
President Barack Obama announced about military attack on Syria in
case of getting approval of Congress.

ARMENIA WILL CONTINUE COOPERATION WITH EUROPEAN UNION: ARTAK ZAKARYAN

18:56, 10 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s decision to join
Customs Union was made for the benefit of our nation and country. Such
statement issued president of Standing Committee on foreign affairs of
Armenian National Assembly Artak Zakaryan. “Of course, there will be
some political scopes which will express their surprise but nothing
extraordinary happened,” said Zakaryan, reports “Armenpress”. He
reminded about the cooperation lasting for many years between Armenia
and Russia in many spheres.

Artak Zakaryan mentioned that by joining Customs Union Armenia does not
suspend relations with European Union. “Armenia will develop relations
with European Union in all directions as much as it will be “possible”
by European Union and will not be contrary to Armenia’s decision to
join Customs Union,” said Zakaryan highlighting that Armenia can not
forget those achievements which were made during cooperation with
European Union.

On September 3 in Moscow President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh
Sargsyan announced about Armenia’s decision to join Customs Union
and implementation of steps necessary for that aim and in future
participating in formation of Eurasian economic union. At the same
time Armenian President mentioned that the decision to join Customs
Union is not a refusal from dialogue with European organizations.

Chief of staff of President’s office Vigen Sargsyan on September
4 announced that pre-signing of Association agreement remains in
Armenia’s agenda.

GERMAN INTELLIGENCE SAYS ASSAD DIDN’T ORDER CHEMICAL ATTACK

September 9, 2013 – 15:07 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – President Bashar al-Assad did not personally order
last month’s chemical weapons attack near Damascus that has triggered
calls for U.S. military intervention, and blocked numerous requests
from his military commanders to use chemical weapons against regime
opponents in recent months, a German newspaper has reported, citing
unidentified, high-level national security sources.

The intelligence findings were based on phone calls intercepted by a
German surveillance ship operated by the BND, the German intelligence
service, and deployed off the Syrian coast, Bild am Sonntag said,
according to the Guardian.

The intercepted communications suggested Assad, who is accused of
war crimes by the west, including foreign secretary William Hague,
was not himself involved in last month’s attack or in other instances
when government forces have allegedly used chemical weapons.

Assad sought to exonerate himself from the August attack in which
hundreds died. “There has been no evidence that I used chemical
weapons against my own people,” he said in an interview with CBS.

But the intercepts tended to add weight to the claims of the Obama
administration and Britain and France that elements of the Assad
regime, and not renegade rebel groups, were responsible for the attack
in the suburb of Ghouta, Bild said.

President Barack Obama is urging the U.S. Congress to approve military
action to deter the Syrian regime from using chemical weapons and
degrade its ability to pursue the two-and-a-half-year civil war
against rebel forces.

But Obama is facing stiff resistance from Democrats and Republicans in
the House of Representatives, who fear involvement in another Middle
East war, and from Assad’s main ally, Russian president Vladimir Putin,
who has said any military strikes conducted without prior UN approval
would be illegal, the Guardian says.

Speaking in Paris on Sunday, Sept 8, during a European tour to rally
support for military action, John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State, said
Washington did not rule out a return to the UN security council to
seek backing for military strikes, once UN inspectors have completed
an on-the-ground investigation of the August 21 attack. Their report
is expected by the end of the week.

Obama’s main European ally, Francois Hollande of France, is under
increasing pressure to seek a UN mandate for any military action in
the face of opinion polls suggesting up to 64% of French people oppose
air strikes. In a bid to gain the support of fellow EU countries,
Hollande pledged at the weekend to take the UN investigatory report
into consideration before acting. Hollande also suggested he might
seek a UN resolution, despite previous Russian and Chinese vetoes.

“On President Hollande’s comments with respect to the UN, the president
(Obama), and all of us, are listening carefully to all of our friends,”
Kerry said after meeting Arab League ministers. “No decision has been
made by the president.”

“All of us agreed – not one dissenter – that Assad’s deplorable use of
chemical weapons, which we know killed hundreds of innocent people …

this crosses an international, global red line,” Kerry said.

Kerry’s meeting with Arab ministers, including from Saudi Arabia,
Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, followed talks in Lithuania
with European foreign ministers, who blamed the attack in Syria
on Assad but, aware of overwhelming public hostility to an attack,
refused to endorse military action.

Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, who faces a general election in
two weeks, led the charge to caution.

Only 12 of the G20 countries which held a summit in Russia last week
have backed the U.S. position.

The German intelligence findings concerning Assad’s personal role may
complicate U.S.-led efforts to persuade the international community
that punitive military action is justified. They could also strengthen
suspicions that Assad no longer fully controls the country’s security
apparatus.

Addressing a closed meeting of the German parliamentary committee last
week, the BND chief Gerhard Schindler said his agency shared the U.S.

view that the attack had been launched by the regime and not the
rebels. But he said the spy agency had not have conclusive evidence
either way, German media reported.

Schindler said that BND had intercepted a telephone call in which a
high-ranking member of Hezbollah in Lebanon told the Iranian embassy
in Damascus that Assad had made a big mistake when he gave the order
to use the chemicals, the magazine Der Spiegel said.

Schindler added that German intelligence believed Assad would likely
remain in power for some time – irrespective of any potential U.S.-led
military intervention – and that the civil war could drag on for years.