Doomed Damascus

My Way News - Diplomats move on 2 fronts on Syria weapons
My Way News reports: "Key international players were moving on two diplomatic fronts Wednesday to try to put Syria's chemical weapons under international control, and a fresh effort appeared to be underway to get the government and opposition to peace talks."

My Way News - Lack of Assad alternatives hangs over Syria war
My Way News reports: "The crisis over chemical weapons in Syria has underlined a central dilemma for the West as it tries to deal with the country's civil war - the lack of attractive alternatives to President Bashar Assad. The political opposition, largely operating from exile with little credibility on the ground, has been hobbled by infighting. Inside Syria, rebels are also divided. Fighters linked to the al-Qaida terror network have become increasingly dominant, even as the U.S. and its allies try to strengthen rebels seen as moderates with better training and military equipment. [...] But it's not clear who would replace Assad if he were driven from power, either as a result of U.S. punitive strikes for the suspected poison gas attacks or in eventual political transition talks with the Western-backed opposition."

My Way News - AP sources: CIA delivering light weapons to Syria
My Way News reports: The CIA has been delivering light machine guns and other small arms to Syrian rebels for several weeks, following President Barack Obama's decision to arm the rebels. The agency has also arranged for the Syrian opposition to receive anti-tank weaponry like rocket-propelled grenades through a third party, presumably one of the Gulf countries that has been arming the rebels, a senior U.S. intelligence official and two former intelligence officials said Thursday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the classified program publicly."

My Way News - Putin: US military interventions are 'alarming'
My Way News reports: "Russian President Vladimir Putin is using an opinion piece in The New York Times to assert that it's alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Putin says he doubts that such interventions are in the long-term interest of the U.S. He also says millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model for democracy, but as relying solely on brute force."

My Way News - White House pushes back on Putin's op-ed on Syria
My Way News reports: "The White House pushed back Thursday against Russian President Vladimir Putin for his opinion piece in The New York Times that blamed opposition forces for the latest deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria and argued President Barack Obama's remarks about America were self-serving. "