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Obama seeking congress nod for Syria action
Obama seeking congress nod for Syria action (Agencies) / 1 September 2013 Delaying what had loomed as an imminent strike, President Barack Obama abruptly announced on Saturday that he will seek congressional approval before launching any military action meant to punish Syria for its alleged use of chemical weapons in an attack that killed hundreds. With Navy ships on standby in the Mediterranean Sea ready to launch their cruise missiles, Obama said he had decided the United States should take military action and that he believes he has “the authority to carry out this military action without specific congressional authorisation.” At the same time, he said, “I know that the country will be stronger if we take this course and our actions will be even more effective.” Congress is scheduled to return from a summer vacation on September 9. The president didn’t say so, but his strategy carries enormous risks to his and the nation’s credibility, which the administration has argued forcefully is on the line in Syria. Obama long ago said the use of chemical weapons was a “red line” that Syrian President Bashar Assad would not be allowed to cross with impunity. British Prime Minister David Cameron, who suffered a humiliating defeat when the House of Commons refused to support his call for military action against Syria, said on Saturday that he understood President Barack Obama’s decision to ask the US Congress to authorise military action against Syria. “I understand and support Barack Obama’s position on Syria,” the British prime minister said in a tweet. The developments marked a stunning turn in an episode in which Obama has struggled to gain international support for a strike, while dozens of lawmakers at home urged him to seek their backing. Halfway around the world, Syrians awoke on Saturday to state television broadcasts of tanks, planes and other weapons of war, and troops training, all to a soundtrack of martial music. Assad’s government blames rebels in the August 21 attack, and has threatened retaliation if it is attacked. Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he was appealing to a Nobel Peace laureate rather than to a president, urged Obama to reconsider. A group that monitors casualties in the long Syrian civil war challenged the United States to substantiate its claim that 1,429 died in a chemical weapons attack, including more than 400 children. The new timetable gives time for UN inspectors to receive preliminary lab results from the samples they took during four days in Damascus. Fully assessing the evidence collected by weapons inspectors could take up to three weeks, the organisation in charge of the investigation said on Saturday. United Nations inspectors arrive at the headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), in The Hague, on August 31. -AFP The team, which included nine experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and three from the World Health Organisation, arrived at the OPCW’s Hague headquarters on Saturday evening after leaving Syria early in the morning. “The evidence collected by the team will now undergo laboratory analysis and technical evaluation according to the established and recognised procedures and standards,” the OPCW said in a statement. The group’s leader was expected to brief Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday. Republicans expressed satisfaction at Obama’s decision, and challenged him to make his case to the public and lawmakers alike that American power should be used to punish Assad. “We are glad the president is seeking authorisation for any military action in Syria in response to serious, substantive questions being raised,” House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and other House Republican leaders said in a joint statement. “In consultation with the president, we expect the House to consider a measure the week of September 9th. This provides the president time to make his case to Congress and the American people.” It appeared that effort at persuasion was already well underway. The administration arranged a series of weekend briefings for lawmakers, both classified and unclassified, and Obama challenged lawmakers to consider “what message will we send to a dictator” if he is allowed to kill hundreds of children with chemical weapons without suffering any retaliation. While lawmakers are scheduled to return to work September 9, officials said it was possible the Senate might come back to session before then. Obama said on Friday that he was considering “limited and narrow” steps to punish Assad, adding that US national security interests were at stake. He pledged no US combat troops on the ground in Syria, where a civil war has claimed more than 100,000 civilian lives. With Obama struggling to gain international backing for a strike, Putin urged him to reconsider his plans. “We have to remember what has happened in the last decades, how many times the United States has been the initiator of armed conflict in different regions of the world, said Putin, a strong Assad ally. “Did this resolve even one problem?” Even the administration’s casualty estimate was grist for controversy. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an organization that monitors casualties in the country, said it has confirmed 502 deaths, nearly 1,000 fewer than the American intelligence assessment claimed. Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the organisation, said he was not contacted by US officials about his efforts to collect information about the death toll. “America works only with one part of the opposition that is deep in propaganda,” he said, and urged the Obama administration to release the information its estimate is based on. In the hours before Obama’s Rose garden announcement, he was joined at the White House by top advisers. Vice-President Joseph Biden, who had planned a holiday weekend at home in Delaware, was among them. So, too, were Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, Secretary of State John Kerry and other top administration officials. Continue reading
UK Remains No.1 Consumer As North American Wood Pellet Exports Hit Record Levels
Wednesday 31 July 2013 09:15 The UK remains the number one destination for North American wood pellets as demand to fuel the nation’s growing number of biomass energy plants is boosting the supply chain. The latest export figures from the two primary pellet-producing regions on the North American continent – the US South and British Columbia – showed increases through early 2013, with the rate of growth now likely to increase further in the second half of the year. In the US South, pellet export volumes to Europe boasted double-digit growth after a brief pause in the fourth quarter of 2012. Export volumes were in excess of 1.7 million tons in 2012, as reported in the North American Wood Fiber Review Canadian exports also rose in 2012 to 1.5 million tons, but this increase was less than that seen in the US During the first quarter of 2013, total pellet exports from North America reached a new record of over 1 million tons for the quarter. This can be compared to the annual shipments of 750,000 tons just four years ago. The United Kingdom continues to strengthen its claim as the primary destination for North American pellets with over two-thirds of the export volume from the US and Canada going to the UK in the first quarter of 2013. Drax’s plans for its large power plant conversion from coal to biomass in Selby has created a stir across North America. Drax Biomass, a new sister company to Drax Power, that will manage North American operations, announced the construction of two pellet plants earlier this spring in the US South which will be sending pellets to fuel the UK facility. Also, in Eastern Canada, pellet producer Rentech announced an off-take agreement with Drax Biomass, which will result in new investment in ports to increase pellet-loading capacity, and in rail transportation, along with the construction and operation of two pellet facilities themselves. The increase in pellet production in Western Canada has pushed sawdust prices upward the past few years, with 2013 prices being about 15 percent higher than they were in 2010, as reported in the NAWFR. In the US South, where smaller logs from thinnings and treetops are commonly used for pellet manufacturing, there has not yet been any region-wide upward price pressure as a result of the new wood-consuming sector in the region. Continue reading
Obama says world cannot stand by on Syria
Obama says world cannot stand by on Syria (AFP) / 31 August 2013 President Barack Obama insisted that war weariness cannot excuse world powers from their duty to punish Syria after the gassing to death of hundreds of women and children. US President Barack Obama speaks during a meeting with Baltic leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on August 30, 2013. While he said he had made no “final decision” on taking military action against Bashar Al Assad’s regime, Obama gave his clearest indication yet that a “narrow, limited” attack is imminent. His remarks came after the United States released an intelligence report that concluded the regime had launched a chemical onslaught in the suburbs of Damascus last week, killing 1,429 people, including at least 426 children. “This kind of attack is a challenge to the world,” Obama told reporters at the White House. “We cannot accept a world where women and children and innocent civilians are gassed on a terrible scale,” he said, calling the attack a threat to US “national security interests.” “The world has an obligation to make sure we maintain the norm against the use of chemical weapons,” he said, slamming the failure of the UN Security Council to agree on action. Obama said he was looking at a “wide range of options” but had ruled out “boots on the ground” or a “long-term campaign.” “We are looking at the possibility of a limited, narrow act,” he said. France gave its backing to the US plans, saying a “strong message” should be sent to the Assad regime, but British lawmakers had already voted against any involvement in military action and other close US allies said they would not sign up. Russia, Syria’s most powerful ally, has questioned US intelligence about the August 21 gas attacks and has warned against any military strikes without UN backing. In Damascus, UN experts completed their investigation into the attacks east of the capital and said they would “expedite” a report on whether chemical weapons had been used there. The team is due to leave the war-battered country on Saturday and report back immediately to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who has appealed to the West to allow time for their findings to be assessed. US Secretary of State John Kerry cited “multiple streams of intelligence” indicating that the Syrian government had carried out the chemical attack and that Assad himself is the “ultimate decision maker.” But the United States, faced with an impasse at the Security Council and the British parliament’s shock vote on Thursday, has been forced to look elsewhere for international partners. While Germany and Canada ruled out joining any military strikes, French President Francois Hollande said the British decision would not affect his government’s stance. Hollande said he and Obama “agreed that the international community cannot tolerate the use of chemical weapons, that it should hold the Syrian regime accountable for it and send a strong message.” Turkey, Syria’s neighbour, went further still, demanding not just surgical strikes to send a message about chemical weapons but a sustained campaign to topple the regime. “A limited operation cannot be satisfactory for us,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying by the NTV news channel. Gruesome pictures of some of the reported victims of the attacks, including children, have shocked the world and piled on the pressure for a response that could draw a reluctant West into the vicious Syrian civil war. But Russia and even some US allies, have warned against any intervention, saying it risks sparking a wider conflict. Divisions over Syria have further chilled the frosty relations between Washington and Moscow ahead of the G20 summit next week in Saint Petersburg, where pointedly there will be no face-to-face talks between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Syria has denied using chemical weapons, and the foreign ministry said on Friday that the US intelligence report was “nothing but tired legends that the terrorists have been circulating for more than a week, with their share of lies and entirely fabricated stories.” The military build up was meanwhile continuing, with US warships armed with scores of cruise missiles converging on the eastern Mediterranean. In Damascus the mood was heavy with fear and security forces were making preparations for possible air bombardments, pulling soldiers back from potential targets. More than 100,000 people have died since the conflict erupted in March 2011 and two million have become refugees, half of them children, according to the United Nations. Continue reading
