Strategic Command and State Dept. confirm: Russia is building UP its nuke arsenal

For many years, this writer has been warning against any reductions in the US nuclear arsenal, based on the fact that Russia was building up its own, China’s nuclear arsenal’s size was unknown and likely to be in the thousands of warheads, and North Korea’s nuclear capabilities were steadily increasing.

Accordingly, this writer has always consistently opposed any cuts in the US nuclear arsenal, including those mandated by the New START treaty, and has argued vocally against proposals by Obama admin officials and non-governmental arms control advocates like the “Arms Control Association” to cut the nuclear deterrent even further.

As time passed, more and more evidence emerged proving this writer’s claims – and proving nuclear disarmament advocates wrong.

But last Wednesday, the most powerful piece of evidence arrived: State Department cables from Moscow and Congressional testimony by Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of the Strategic Command, in charge of America’s entire nuclear commander.

According to US State Department diplomats in Moscow, who monitor Russia daily, Moscow is “vastly increasing” its nuclear arsenal and aims to reach “nuclear superiority over, not nuclear parity with, the US”, as Bill Gertz reports in his newest column in the Washington Free Beacon.

This is consistent with previous media and think-tank reports that Russia was building up its nuclear arsenal, was building additional strategic Tu-160 bombers, and had ordered 400 new ICBMs. The State Department and Bill Gertz have now simply confirmed this.

Thus, we have irrefutable evidence that a) Russia is dramatically increasing its nuclear arsenal, and b) its buildup is aimed at achieving nuclear superiority over, not parity with, the US. Which also proves that  New START is a treasonous treaty highly dangerous to US and allied security, because it requires nuclear arsenal cuts only of the US, while allowing Russia to dramatically increase its own arsenal.

Russia currently has:

• About 414-434 ICBMs capable of delivering at least 1,684 (and probably more) nuclear warheads to the CONUS, with its fleet of 68-75 SS-18 Satan ICBMs alone being able to deliver 10 warheads each (750 in total);


• 13 ballistic missile submarines, each armed with 16 ballistic missiles (20 in the case of the sole Typhoon class boat), each missile being itself capable of delivering 4-8 warheads (12 in the future, when Bulava and Liner missiles replace the currently-used Skiff) to the CONUS even if launched from Russian ports (Moscow has had such long-ranged missiles since the late 1980s), meaning over 1,400 warheads in total deliverable by Russia’s strategic submarine fleet;


• 251 strategic bombers (Tu-95, Tu-160, Tu-22M), each capable of delivering between 7 (Tu-95) and 12 (Tu-22M) nuclear warheads to the CONUS. Russian bombers have, in recent years, repeatedly flown close to, and sometimes into, US airspace.


• 2,800 strategic nuclear warheads in total, of which 1,500 are now deployed – and more will be deployed in the future – on the forementioned ICBMs, submarines, and bombers.


• Over 20 attack and cruise missile submarines, each carrying nuclear-armed cruise missiles (one such submarine of the Akula class popped up last year near the US submarine base at King’s Bay, GA).


• The world’s largest tactical nuclear arsenal, with around 4,000 warheads deliverable by a very wide range of systems, from short-range ballistic missiles to artillery pieces to tactical aircraft (Su-24, Su-25, the Flanker family, Su-34), to surface ships using nuclear depth charges.


• Illegal (banned by the INF Treaty) intermediate-range nuclear-armed missiles (Yars-M, R-500, Iskander-M) that can target any place in Europe and China. (Nonetheless, despite these facts, the Obama administration and NATO are too afraid to recognize and name Russia as an INF Treaty violator.)

Russia is now dramatically increasing that arsenal, as the State Department and the Strategic Command’s leader have now confirmed. In addition to deploying more warheads and building more bombers from stockpiled components, it is:

• Deploying new submarine-launched ballistic missiles (the Bulava and the Liner) that can carry 10-12 warheads each. Russia plans to procure around 140-150 missiles of each type; when these are fully deployed on Russia’s 13 ballistic missile subs, that fleet will be able to carry 2,000-2,200 nuclear warheads all by itself.


• Deploying additional Yars-M, R-500, and Iskander-M IRBMs – in violation of the INF Treaty.

Russia is also steadily modernizing its existing nuclear arsenal and fleet of delivery systems. It is:

• Developing and deploying a new class of ballistic missile submarines capable of carrying missiles such as the Bulava and the Liner. Two of them have already been commissioned and at least eight in total will be built.


• Developing a next-generation intercontinental bomber, slated to first fly in 2020 – before the USAF’s planned Long Range Strike Bomber will.


• Developing a new submarine-launched cruise missile, the Kaliber;


• Procuring and deploying a new air-launched cruise missile, the Kh-101/102;


• Developing and deploying three new ICBM types – the light Yars (RS-24, SS-29) to replace the single-warhead Topol and Topol-M missiles, the midweight Avangard/Rubezh (slated to replace SS-19 Stiletto missiles), and the Sarmat (AKA Son of Satan), intended to replace the SS-18 Satan heavy ICBMs.


• Developing a rail-based ICBM type on top of the forementioned ICBM classes.


• Developing a hypersonic missile that could carry nuclear warheads to any point on Earth in an hour and easily penetrate US missile defenses.

Note that the RS-24 (SS-29) Yars ICBMs will be able to carry 10 warheads each, whereas the missiles they’re replacing – the Topol (SS-25 Sickle) and Topol-M (SS-27 Sickle-B) – can carry only one warhead. Therefore, as these missiles enter service, the warhead carriage capacity of the Russian ICBM fleet will greatly increase beyond the (already huge) number of 1,684 warheads immediately deliverable to the CONUS.

By 2018, 80%, and by 2021, 100% of Russia’s ICBMs will be missiles of the new generation – the he Avangard/Rubezh, and the Sarmat heavy ICBM, as well as the forementioned rail-based ICBM.

By contrast, the US, under the Obama administration, has unilaterally retired and scrapped its nuclear-armed Tomahawk submarine-launched cruise missiles and their warheads, plans to kill the procurement of conventional Tomahawks, has no program to replace its ICBMs or air-launched cruise missiles, has delayed the induction of its next-generation bomber until the mid-2020s (and plans to procure only 80-100 of these crucial aircraft), has no plans to develop or deploy mobile ICBMs or medium- or short-range ballistic missiles, and has delayed its ballistic missile submarine replacement program. And even when these boats enter service, there will be only 12 of them, each carrying 16 missiles as opposed to the current Ohio class carrying 24 missiles each.

This is as simple as “Russia and China have nuclear-armed submarine- and ground-launched cruise missiles and IRBMs, the US does not.”

Which means that, even without further cuts, the US will be at a nuclear disadvantage vis-a-vis Russia (and China).

Russia would’ve been a huge nuclear threat necessitating the maintenance of the US nuclear arsenal at no less than its current size even WITHOUT this nuclear buildup. With it, it is becoming an even greater nuclear threat, thus necessitating that the US nuclear arsenal be increased, too.

This isn’t just Zbigniew Mazurak speaking; this is the State Department (through its diplomats in Moscow) and the Strategic Command’s leader, Adm. Haney (who is in charge of all US nuclear weapons), speaking. As Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon reports:

“The blunt comments [by Adm. Haney - ZM] came in response to reports that Russian strategic nuclear forces recently held a large-scale nuclear exercise coinciding with saber-rattling conventional military deployments close to Russia’s eastern border with Ukraine.

Haney said the Russians conduct periodic nuclear war games and in 2013 produced a YouTube video that highlighted “every aspect of their capability.” (…)

State Department cables sent to Washington earlier this year included dire warnings that Russia is vastly increasing its nuclear arsenal under policies similar to those Moscow followed during the Soviet era. The cables, according to officials familiar with them, also stated that the Russian strategic nuclear forces buildup appears aimed at achieving nuclear superiority over the United States and not nuclear parity.

The nuclear modernization has been “continuous” and includes adding fixed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and mobile ICBMs, along with a new class of strategic missile submarines, Haney said in testimony.

“Russia has articulated their value in having strategic capability, and as such, each area they have invested in both in terms of nuclear strategic capability as well as space capability and cyberspace capability in terms of things,” Haney said.

“And as a result, we have seen them demonstrate their capability through a variety of exercises and operations. They maintain their readiness of that capability on a continuous fashion. And it’s a capability I don’t see them backing away from.”

By contrast, Haney testified to the committee that U.S. nuclear forces are in urgent need of modernization to update aging nuclear weapons, delivery systems, and support and production infrastructure, most of which were made decades ago. Under budget sequestration, which could be re-imposed in 2016, U.S. nuclear force modernization will be undermined.”

These facts utterly refute any claims – including those of Barack Obama, Congressional Democrats, and other nuclear disarmament advocates like the Arms Control Association and the Ploughshares Fund – that the US has too many warheads and can afford to cut its nuclear arsenal safely, or that this arsenal is a “Cold War relic” cutting which is “overdue and in the national interest.”

These despicable traitors wanted – and still want – America to cut its nuclear arsenal further and unilaterally, without Russian reciprocation. And for that, they should be severely punished with the maximum penalty foreseen by law for treason.

They have been blatantly lying. All of their claims, without any exception, are blatant lies. No, the US nuclear is not “too large”, “ripe for cuts”, nor a “Cold War relic.” No, its mission is not obsolete by any means – on the contrary, its mission (nuclear deterrence) is more important now than ever. No, cutting the US nuclear arsenal is not “overdue” nor “in the national interest” – it would be completely AGAINST the US national interest and utterly suicidal. It would invoke a Russian nuclear first strike on the US.

No, America cannot afford to cut its nuclear arsenal ANY FURTHER. It should increase, not cut, her nuclear arsenal.

Specifically, the US must:

• Not enter into any more arms reduction agreements ever again, especially not with countries which routinely violate such treaties, like Russia.


• Not reduce its nuclear arsenal by even one warhead and not retire any warheads except those whose service lives cannot be extended.


• Begin quickly increasing its arsenal and the production of cheap, simple plutonium-based warheads. Ample plutonium for their production can be easily obtained from spent fuel from American nuclear reactors.


• Resume nuclear testing.


• Accelerate the development of the Long-Range Strike Bomber and procure 200, not 80-100, of these aircraft; and require that they be certified as nuclear-capable from the moment they enter service.


• Quickly begin developing and procuring new, longer-ranged, stealthy replacements for the USAF’s cruise missiles as well as the Navy’s Tomahawk. The new cruise missiles should be of the same type, launchable from a wide range of platforms, and capable of delivering nuclear and conventional warheads. Their range should be at least 2,000 kms.


• Accelerate the development of hypersonic weapons. The B-52, the B-1, and the B-2 should all be made capable of launching hypersonic missiles. The HTV and Blackswift programs should also be resumed.


• Accelerate the Ohio class replacement program.


• Develop and deploy a new ICBM for the USAF, which should come in rail- and silo-based variants.


• Build more tactical nuclear warheads to reassure US allies around the world.

Once again, it must be repeated: THE US MUST NOT CUT ITS NUCLEAR ARSENAL ANY FURTHER, WHETHER UNI-, BI-, OR MULTILATERALLY. PERIOD.

Conservative Daily News

Strategic Command and State Dept. confirm: Russia is building UP its nuke arsenal

The Koch Brothers Confirm Their "Corrupting" Influence on Wisconsin Anti-Union Politics

The Koch Brothers Confirm Their "Corrupting" Influence on Wisconsin Anti-Union Politics

BREAKING: Sources Confirm 9 U.S. Military Commanders Fired by Barack Hussein Obama

Why has he not been arrested yet ? It’s quite obvious what he is doing and look who is sitting at his right side. I can just imagine how much can be laid at her doorstep. I can’t even say much now. This is very upsetting and his drive to destroy our Country cannot be allowed to continue. Congress better forget about what Party they’re with and start being Americans for once. They can stop him if only they would put our Nation first.

sharia unveiled

BREAKING: Sources Confirm 9 U.S. Military Commanders Fired by Barack Hussein Obama

Courts Quietly Confirm MMR Vaccine Causes Autism (133 replies)

Courts Quietly Confirm MMR Vaccine Causes Autism (133 replies)
http://thedailynewsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/b06ab__p-89EKCgBk8MZdE.gif

Did a quick search and I found a few threads on this subject… but they were all a few years old…

After decades of passionate debate, parents probably missed the repeated admissions by drug companies and governments alike that vaccines do in fact cause autism. For concerned parents seeking the truth, it’s worth remembering that the exact same people who own the world’s drug companies also own America’s news outlets. Finding propaganda-free information has been difficult, until now.

www.whydontyoutrythis.com…

We’ve all heard the rumours… well in the past few months courts from several different countries have confirmed it… it is a fact that vaccines can cause horrible debilitating effects

In fact… In the past thirty years ( according to this article) Children and the parents of have been awarded millions of dollars in damages from lawsuits because these vaccines have caused so much harm… up to and including brain damage… :O

Dr. Wakefield himself reiterates the final conclusion of the courts in various countries, but censored by the world’s media outlets saying:

“Now this question has been answered not by me, but by the courts, by the vaccine courts in Italy and in the United States of America where it appears that many children over the last thirty years have been awarded millions of dollars for the fact that they have been brain-damaged by MMR vaccine and other vaccines and that brain damage has led to autism. That is a fact

Now everyone knows… OR at least anyone who bothers to read this article… Vaccines cause more harm then good…

Don’t get them… ITs just too much of a risk…

Big Pharma is not your friend.. They don’t test their products as much as they should, and they throw them out there fully knowing they cause harm because the money they will make from the product FAR out weighs the lawsuits.

And I was astonished by this and I said to Dr Elizabeth Miller of the Health Protection Agency, ‘why would you do this, if your principal concern is to protect children from serious infectious disease? Why would you remove an option from parents who are legitimately concerned about the safety of MMR?’ And her answer was extraordinary. She said to me, ‘if we allow parents the option of single vaccines, it would destroy our MMR program.’ In other words, her principal concern seemed to be full protection of the MMR program and not protection of children.”

Hear that??!?!

they’re interested in protecting the program… NOT children

Uggh.. what a frickin world we live in…

I seem to say that way too much lately

AboveTopSecret.com Hot Topics

Read more about Courts Quietly Confirm MMR Vaccine Causes Autism (133 replies) and other interesting subjects concerning Hot Topics at TheDailyNewsReport.com

Scientists confirm: Pesticides kill America’s honey bees

RT

Honey bees are quickly disappearing from the US – a phenomenon that has left scientists baffled. But new research shows that bees exposed to common agricultural chemicals while pollinating US crops are less likely to resist a parasitic infection.

As a result of chemical exposure, honey bees are more likely to succumb to the lethal Nosema ceranae parasite and die from the resulting complications.  

Scientists from the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture on Wednesday published a study that linked chemicals, including fungicides, to the mass die-offs. Scientists have long struggled to find the cause behind the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), in which an estimated 10 million beehives at an average value of $ 200 each have been lost since 2006.

Last winter, the honey bee population declined by 31.1 percent, with some beekeepers reporting losses of 90 to 100 percent of their bee populations. Scientists are concerned that “Beemageddon” could cause the collapse of the $ 200 billion agriculture industry, since more than 100 US crops rely on honey bees to pollinate them.

The new findings are key in determining one of the causes of the CCD, but they fail to explain why entire beehives sometimes die at once.

UMD and DOA researchers found that pollen samples in fields ranging from Delaware to Maine contained nine different agricultural chemicals, including fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and miticides. One particular sample even contained 21 different agricultural chemicals. To test their theory, they fed pesticide-ridden pollen samples to healthy bees and then infected them with the parasite. They found that the pesticides hindered the bees’ abilities to resist the infection, thus contributing to their deaths. The fungicide chlorothalonil was particularly damaging, tripling the risks of parasitic infection.

“We don’t think of fungicides as having a negative effect on bees, because they’re not designed to kill insects,” Dennis vanEngelsdorp, the study’s senior author, said in a news release.

He explained that federal regulations restrict the use of insecticides while pollinators are foraging, but noted that “there are no such restrictions on fungicides, so you’ll often see fungicide applications going on while bees are foraging on the crop. The finding suggests that we have to reconsider that policy.”

Bees are declining at such a fast rate that one bad winter could trigger an agricultural disaster. California’s almond crop would be hit particularly hard, since the state supplies 80 percent of the world’s almonds. Pollinating California’s 760,000 acres of almond fields requires 1.5 million out-of-state bee colonies, which makes up 60 percent of the country’s beehives. The CCD is a major threat to this $ 4 billion industry.

Entomologists suspect that a number of other factors also contribute to the CCD, including climate change, habitat destructing and handling practices that expose bees to foreign pathogens. But the effect of agricultural chemicals is particularly alarming, especially since the US does not have laws banning the use of the pesticides that are affecting bee health.

“The pesticide issue in itself is much more complex than we have led to believe,” vanEngelsdorp said. “It’s a lot more complicated than just one product, which means of course the solution does not lie in just banning one class of product.”

http://rt.com/usa/bee-pesticide-scientist-research-600/

Scientists confirm: Pesticides kill America’s honey bees

Scientists confirm: Pesticides kill America’s honey bees

Reuters / Stephane Mahe

Honey bees are quickly disappearing from the US – a phenomenon that has left scientists baffled. But new research shows that bees exposed to common agricultural chemicals while pollinating US crops are less likely to resist a parasitic infection.

As a result of chemical exposure, honey bees are more likely to succumb to the lethal Nosema ceranae parasite and die from the resulting complications.

Scientists from the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture on Wednesday published a study that linked chemicals, including fungicides, to the mass die-offs. Scientists have long struggled to find the cause behind the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), in which an estimated 10 million beehives at an average value of $ 200 each have been lost since 2006.

Last winter, the honey bee population declined by 31.1 percent, with some beekeepers reporting losses of 90 to 100 percent of their bee populations. Scientists are concerned that “Beemageddon” could cause the collapse of the $ 200 billion agriculture industry, since more than 100 US crops rely on honey bees to pollinate them.

The new findings are key in determining one of the causes of the CCD, but they fail to explain why entire beehives sometimes die at once.

UMD and DOA researchers found that pollen samples in fields ranging from Delaware to Maine contained nine different agricultural chemicals, including fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and miticides. One particular sample even contained 21 different agricultural chemicals. To test their theory, they fed pesticide-ridden pollen samples to healthy bees and then infected them with the parasite. They found that the pesticides hindered the bees’ abilities to resist the infection, thus contributing to their deaths. The fungicide chlorothalonil was particularly damaging, tripling the risks of parasitic infection.

“We don’t think of fungicides as having a negative effect on bees, because they’re not designed to kill insects,” Dennis vanEngelsdorp, the study’s senior author, said in a news release.

He explained that federal regulations restrict the use of insecticides while pollinators are foraging, but noted that “there are no such restrictions on fungicides, so you’ll often see fungicide applications going on while bees are foraging on the crop. The finding suggests that we have to reconsider that policy.”

Bees are declining at such a fast rate that one bad winter could trigger an agricultural disaster. California’s almond crop would be hit particularly hard, since the state supplies 80 percent of the world’s almonds. Pollinating California’s 760,000 acres of almond fields requires 1.5 million out-of-state bee colonies, which makes up 60 percent of the country’s beehives. The CCD is a major threat to this $ 4 billion industry.

Entomologists suspect that a number of other factors also contribute to the CCD, including climate change, habitat destructing and handling practices that expose bees to foreign pathogens. But the effect of agricultural chemicals is particularly alarming, especially since the US does not have laws banning the use of the pesticides that are affecting bee health.

“The pesticide issue in itself is much more complex than we have led to believe,” vanEngelsdorp said. “It’s a lot more complicated than just one product, which means of course the solution does not lie in just banning one class of product.”

Source: RT

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Scientists confirm: Pesticides kill America’s honey bees

France says tests confirm sarin gas used in Syria

FILE – This Friday, May 3, 2013, citizen journalism image provided by Edlib News Network, ENN, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, show an anti-Syrian regime protester holding up an Arabic placard reading, “If America does not know who used the chemical weapons, so it could be flying saucers from another planet,” during a demonstration, in Sarmada town, in Idlib province, northern Syria. A U.N. report on Syria said Tuesday, June 4, 2013, that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that limited quantities of toxic chemicals have been used as weapons in at least four attacks in Syria’s civil war, but said more evidence is needed to determine the precise chemical agents used or who used them. (AP Photo/Edlib News Network ENN, File)

FILE – In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a Syrian victim who suffered an alleged chemical attack at Khan al-Assal village according to SANA, receives treatment by doctors at a hospital in Aleppo, Syria. A U.N. report on Syria said Tuesday, June 4, 2013, there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that limited quantities of toxic chemicals have been used as weapons in at least four attacks in Syria’s civil war, but said more evidence is needed to determine the precise chemical agents used or who used them. (AP Photo/SANA, File)

PARIS (AP) — Samples taken from Syria and tested in France have confirmed that sarin gas has been used there multiple times, France’s foreign minister said Tuesday.

Laurent Fabius said the tests carried out by a French laboratory “prove the presence of sarin in the samples in our possession.” He said France “now is certain that sarin gas was used in Syria multiple times and in a localized way.”

The brief statement concluded: “It would be unacceptable that those guilty of these crimes benefit from impunity.”

Earlier Tuesday, a U.N. report on Syria said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that limited quantities of toxic chemicals have been used as weapons in at least four attacks in Syria’s civil war, but that more evidence is needed to determine the precise chemical agents used or who used them.

The U.N. Commission of Inquiry said conclusive findings can be reached only after testing samples taken directly from victims or the site of the alleged attacks. It called on Damascus to allow a team of experts into the country, saying lack of access continues to hamper the commission’s ability to fulfill its mandate.

President Barack Obama had previously declared the use of chemical weapons his “red line” for forceful U.S. intervention in Syria. He has since come under pressure to take action amid mounting allegations that President Bashar Assad’s regime has crossed that line.

The U.N. report appeared to strengthen the Obama administration’s argument that that the existing evidence is insufficient.

The commission’s report to the Human Rights Council on violations in Syria’s conflict accused both sides of committing war crimes. In an apparent message to European countries considering arming Syrian rebels, the report warned that the transfer of arms would heighten the risk of violations, leading to more civilian deaths and injuries.

“War crimes and crimes against humanity have become a daily reality in Syria where the harrowing accounts of victims have seared themselves on our conscience,” the report said. “There is a human cost to the increased availability of weapons,” it added.

The commission said it relied for the report on first-hand accounts to corroborate incidents, and carried out 430 interviews in the region and from Geneva, including via Skype and over the telephone, with victims and witnesses inside the country.

It also collected photographs, video recordings, satellite imagery and medical records. Reports from governments and non-government sources, academic analyses, and U.N. reports, including from human rights bodies and humanitarian organizations, also formed part of the investigation.

U.N.-Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appointed a U.N. team to investigate alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria after the government in Damascus asked him to investigate a purported attack by rebels on March 19 on Khan al-Assal village near the northern city of Aleppo. But the Syrian government insists that a probe be limited to that incident.

Syrian soldiers were reportedly killed and injured in the incident, which the rebels blame on government forces. Opposition activists have claimed there have been more than six instances when regime forces used chemical weapons.

Ban is insisting on a broader investigation, which would also include a December incident in Homs. He appointed Swedish chemical weapons expert Ake Sellstrom to lead a U.N. investigation. Syria has refused to allow his team into the country.

Last week, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Iraq under Saddam Hussein inadvertently paved the way for the 2003 U.S.-led invasion by allowing U.N. inspectors into the country, and suggested Syria is not about to make the same mistake. “We will not allow teams of inspectors to come to Syria to do whatever they want,” he said in a TV interview.

Syria is widely believed to have one of the world’s largest arsenals of chemical weapons, including mustard and nerve gas. The Assad regime has denied using such weapons during the civil war.

The confirmed use of chemical weapons could escalate the international response to the more than two-year-long conflict, which has killed more than 70,000 people, according to the U.N. Obama has said their use would be a “red line,” but the administration says it still looking for solid evidence.

Explaining its position in an April letter to two U.S. senators, the administration referred to intelligence assessments concluding “with varying degrees of confidence” and based in part on physiological samples that the regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale, specifically the nerve agent sarin. The letter said such assessments are not sufficient grounds for action because it is not clear how the exposure occurred and under what circumstances.

Since then, the governments of Britain, France and Turkey have also said there are indications of chemical weapons use, but that more testing is required.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that chemical agents have been used as weapons,” the report said. “It has not been possible, on the evidence available, to determine the precise chemical agents used, their delivery systems or the perpetrator.”

The report said there are allegations of government forces using chemical weapons in four instances, but also did not rule out rebels using them.

“It is possible that anti-government armed groups may access and use chemical weapons …. though there is no compelling evidence that these groups possess such weapons or their requisite delivery systems,” the report said.

“Conclusive findings — particularly in the absence of a large-scale attack — may be reached only after testing samples taken directly from victims or the site of the alleged attack,” it said.

The report, covering the period from mid-January to mid-May, accused both sides of committing war crimes. On the government side, the report accused government forces and affiliated militia of committing torture, rape, forcible displacement and enforced disappearance. On the rebel side, the report accused armed groups of carrying out sentencing and execution without due process, as well as committing torture, taking hostages and pillaging.

It said violations and abuses by the rebels “did not, however, reach the intensity and scale of those committed by government forces and affiliated militia.”

“A dangerous state of fragmentation and disintegration of authority prevails in areas under anti-government armed groups control, despite attempts to fill the vacuum left by the withdrawal of the state through creating local councils,” it said.

—-

AP correspondent Zeina Karam reported from Beirut.

Associated Press

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France says tests confirm sarin gas used in Syria

VIDEO: Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn Confirm Relationship!

We had our doubts about this dating rumor but thanks to new pics we have all the proof we need! A professional photo shoot is one way to set the record straight but Tiger and Lindsey took it a step further, each posting statuses on Facebook confirming they are in fact dating! Both the golfer and Olympic skier made mention of the fact they started off as friends, but said over the last few months they have become very close.

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