The West has been united in its condemnation of the chemical weapons attack in Ghouta, laying the blame squarely on Assad’s forces, but Russia has downplayed the importance of the attack and the need for international military intervention in the ongoing civil war.
It was a danger as soon as Edward Snowden stepped foot on Russian soil: becoming trapped in the clutches of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is now enjoying a rare position of moral high ground over both the whistleblower and the US forces seeking to capture him. Now, looking woefully in over his head in his airport prison, Snowden’s attempts at both upholding moral integrity and avoiding US jail time seem to have become two mutually exclusive paths.
Bradley Manning, the US Army private and source of the leaks of hundreds of thousands of classified cables to Wikileaks, has been convicted of espionage and other charges, but not of aiding the enemy.
In June US President Barack Obama said the US would arm the Syrian rebels, but he is having a difficult time convincing lawmakers from both sides of the isle agree.
Prime Minister David Cameron has announced plans for a bilateral trade deal worth hundreds of billions of pounds between the US and the EU aimed at boosting exports and improving growth.