Article

2019-11-29 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Russia tries to block new Syria chemical weapons probe

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Russia urged member states of the global chemical weapons watchdog to vote on Thursday against funding a new team that will identify the culprits behind toxic attacks in Syria.

Moscow and its allies are trying to block next year’s budget for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons -- potentially leaving the entire agency unable to operate -- if it includes money for the new Identification and Investigations Team (IIT).

The United States hit back by accusing Russia of a "cover-up" of the use of chemical weapons by its ally Damascus, at a tense annual meeting of the OPCW’s 193 member countries in The Hague.

"If the financing for the IIT comes out of voluntary contributions (the annual budget paid for by member states) then this will mean one thing only," Russian ambassador Alexander Shulgin told the meeting.

"It will mean that the backers (of the IIT) are going to hire so-called Sherlocks looking at chemical crimes, they will be hired to draw up conclusions which suit the ends of the sponsors," Shulgin said.

"This is disquieting. Confirmation can be found in what’s happening surrounding Douma."

Russia and the West have already clashed repeatedly over allegations by two whistleblowers that the OPCW altered the conclusions of a probe that found chlorine was used in an attack in the Syrian town of Douma in April 2018.

Posted by Fred 2019-11-29 00:00|| || Front Page|| [14 views ] Top
File under: Govt of Syria

#1 Every decision Russia has made recently cements the belief that it is not now, nor ever has been, an integral part of Western Civilization. It is now, as it ever has been, an oriental despotism.

Posted by b 2019-11-29 06:43|| 2019-11-29 06:43|| Front Page Top

#2 It would seem impossible for Russia to be part of Western Civ as it still protects and champions traditional values and Christianity.

Posted by mossomo 2019-11-29 13:04|| 2019-11-29 13:04|| Front Page Top

#3 ^ 🙃

Posted by Dron66046 2019-11-29 13:07|| 2019-11-29 13:07|| Front Page Top

#4 Post-Communist Russia is indeed a troubled society with a shabby government. However, at its core Russia preserves a commitment the West's cultural heritage and to the achievements of our civilization.

There is no such thing as identity politics in Russia.

No BS about how white men are evil, or that all men are rapists-in-disguise.

No teaching children that they can call themselves girls if they're boys or v-v.

None of the self-hating idiocy that leads so many western elites to bow and scrape before the non-European nations and ask continually to be kicked for their unique and irredeemable awfulness.

Yes, Russia has a shitty government. But no Russian, of any political or other persuasion, engaged in the orgy of cultural self-hatred that you see everywhere in the West. Ironically, it's the east Europeans who are standing up for and preserving the best of the Western heritage.

Posted by Lex 2019-11-29 13:18|| 2019-11-29 13:18|| Front Page Top

#5 Yes. The Russians do not suffer the anti-christian woke motherfuckers and islamist sharia mongers.

The image of 'the shabby government of Russia' appears to me an overplay too, of mostly liberal media and globalists trying their hand to change and devolve everything to their chosen standards.

The preservation of conventions that keep us free within reason often requires what liberal humanist classes see as villainy. The truncheon, the polonium, alliances with selfish oligarchs. All required in that part of the world, that cultural set to really use power for good or bad, because only possessing mandate there means nothing. You have to be ruthless. Of course they are hostile, selfish and hard headed folks, even monumental idiots. But they too are doing what they must.

We have to understand that the only way to keep our freedoms is to destroy any possibility of the global order encroaching through it's corrosive doctrines. That requires really strong sovereign States. And to keep those you will have to descend to some level of bad.

Most people go on about world peace. I think a start could be if we acknowledge that there cannot be a single doctrine or standard for society and government for all places on earth, all peoples. And nation States would simply meet each other halfway without expecting every leader to obey some norm of propriety, which also hasn't been proved correct yet. I really wish we could all get along on the things that really matter.

Posted by Dron66046 2019-11-29 14:04|| 2019-11-29 14:04|| Front Page Top

#6 Westphalia.

Posted by Lex 2019-11-29 15:15|| 2019-11-29 15:15|| Front Page Top

#7 For all that, there is still a dearth of trust in the future. According to the CIA World Factbook, while birth rates appear to have crept up slightly in recent years (the under-15s are 17% of the population, vs. 9% for the 15-24 year olds), the median age is nearly forty, the population is still slightly shrinking, and the total fertility rate remains below replacement at 1.61 children/woman.

Posted by trailing wife 2019-11-29 15:41|| 2019-11-29 15:41|| Front Page Top

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