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BRITISH PRIME MINISTER Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron faced anger from lawmakers for conducting air strikes with the United States in Syria in both leaders’ first major military actions since coming to power.
May said lawmakers were right to hold her to account for her actions, after the premier proceeded with the strikes without prior parliamentary approval.
“But it is my responsibility as prime minister to make these decisions. And I will make them,” May said of the intervention.
Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for new legislation to stop governments launching military action without lawmakers’ backing in most circumstances.
“The prime minister is accountable to this parliament, not to the whims of the US president,” he told a packed chamber.
Following Washington’s military lead remains a sensitive subject in Britain, where memories of participation in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 are still raw.
May, in office since July 2016, rejected the notion that she took orders from US President Donald Trump, saying her decision was based on Britain’s national interest.
“We have not done this because President Trump asked us to do so. We have done it because we believed it was the right thing to do,” she said.
Lack of public support
But a poll showed scant public support for the move.
The poll by Survation for the Mail on Sunday showed 36% in favour of Britain’s participation in the air strikes, 40% against and the remainder undecided.
Of the survey’s 2,060 respondents, 54% also agreed with the statement that May “should have held a parliamentary debate and vote before intervening militarily in Syria”.
May’s speech was followed by a heated debate during which some MPs called on Britain to welcome more Syrian refugees – rejected by May – and continue the diplomatic push to end the seven-year conflict.
Outside the Houses of Parliament, the Stop the War coalition once chaired by Corbyn was due to hold a demonstration.
The group said the strikes “will have done nothing to end the war” and “risked dramatically widening” the conflict.
‘International legitimacy’
In France, Macron has faced similar criticism for attacking Syria without consulting the legislature.
He defended the move as well as his constitutional powers in a TV interview yesterday.
“This mandate is given democratically to the president by the people in the presidential election,” said Macron, who became France’s youngest president in May 2017.
Macron, 40, has been criticised from both right and left.
National Front leader Marine Le Pen has accused Macron of failing to show any evidence on the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime to justify the strikes.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, head of the hard-left France Unbowed party, has also condemned the strikes, while the leader of the centre-right Republicans party, Laurent Wauquiez, said he “did not believe in punitive strikes”.
But at a press conference in Paris today, Macron said France had acted with “international legitimacy”.
He argued that the operation was legitimate despite not being sanctioned by the UN since under a 2013 UN resolution Syria was supposed to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal.
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She takes her orders from trump .. lol
@Sully: Tony Blair did the same with Bush. The UK is basically a vassal State of the US which is a turn around for the history books.
@Sully: she is a very weak woman and has no place being PM of one of the biggest economies in the world. Everything that has come before her so far has been handled exactly how you shouldn’t handle things.
@Peter Cavey: To be fair Cameron and Blair were the exact same before her!!
@Eddiemac: when USA wanted strikes against Iran , Cameron brought it to parliament & it was defeated
@Sully: Once warmongers and imperialists always that way inclined,the dogs of war never change their spots.
@Sully: she is post mistress of a village post office in KENT..
She may take her orders from Trump but he takes them now from the neocon warmongers. As someone pointed out corporate America had Hillary on a short leash, but Trump was on a long leash, that leash has now being reeled in.
@Jointheclubtoo: Trump is corporate America. Everything he has done was about corporate America.
@Andy K: Maybe, but he was a volatile and unreliable one, prone to solo runs and impulsive actions. Clinton was in the bag, with no worries that every decision would be cleared with them
@Jointheclubtoo: AMERICANS love a war fro freedom and democracy , nothing to do with their leaders. they have 400million guns under their beds and missiles if they were allowed,,, the evangelists are doing well in america seeing SATANs all over the world ready to attack america.
Great article by Robert Fisk reporting from Douma
@Isabel Oliveira: Mad how a Western journalist is reporting from Douma, yet the OPCW are being prevented from visiting the site of the attack by the Syrians/Russians until Wednesday.
Strange eh?
@ihcalaM: The OPCW arrived yesterday but have been told it will be Wednesday at the earliest before they are allowed into Duma. But a Journalist that is known to support the Assad regime is allowed to go there.
@ihcalaM: Maybe it’s the fact that Fisk got in there a few days ago to report on the war.
Mad eh?
@Mick Jordan: Robert Fisk!! Possibly the most unbiased reporter alive today. The man has lived and breathed every conflict big and small in the region and given a two sided account every time. But yeah, paint him as an Assad loving journo, why don’t you. You obviously know more than him. Ridiculous.
@No One: Then what is the delay in allowing the OPCW in to carry out their work?
@Joe Mc mahon: He has lived in Beruit for nearly 30 years. And who is Assads ally? Would it be Hezbollah? And who practically controls Beruit? would it be Hezbollah?
@Mick Jordan: .Maybe that’s because all the establishment hacks and ‘experts’ reporting on Syria do so at a safe distance from places like London or Paris for instance, or ‘on the ground’ in Cyprus
@Mick Jordan: Jesus your brutal. Stay watching the real news so. Sky news will be greatful for your loyalty.
@No One: What?
How does that address the fact that he has been let in and the OPCW haven’t?
He arrived earlier – so what? Why are the OPCW being prevented by the military from seeing the site until Wednesday?
@Mick Jordan: Maybe if you bothered to read the article and educate yourself you would have seen this paragraph
“At the same time, inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are currently blocked from coming here to the site of the alleged gas attack themselves, ostensibly because they lacked the correct UN permits.”
@ihcalaM: Read my reply to Mick Jordan. Fisk has been on the ground for years and knows his way around and like any good journalist knows what permits he needs.
@ihcalaM: if you go to the OPCW twitter account abd website , there is no such statement that they’re being denied access . There are issues with safety and also with their UN visas apparently . The statement that has been publicised today is from the British delegation to the OPCW . Regardless , for total certainty on that issue we will have to wait for an official statement from the OPCW . They’ve been updating regularly enough .
Fisk , entered the site independently and not “embedded ” which makes things much easier as he is st his own risk and there is less bureaucracy and delays .
there’s another piece by a US Chanel also in loco .
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lSXwG-901yU
@Isabel Oliveira: Sorry there Isabel, I did not see your post before posting my own :(
@No One: Because of a lack of UN permits?
The UN have given them the permits.
“Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the inspectors could not go to the site because they needed approval from the U.N. Department for Safety and Security.”
“U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations has “provided the necessary clearances for the OPCW team to go about its work in Douma. We have not denied the team any request for it to go to Douma.”
… so the narrative falls apart. Russia claim they need UN permission – they already have UN permission, according to the UN. Still denied access.
@Isabel Oliveira: Wrong I’m afraid. The Director-General of the OPCW has confirmed that the team has been denied access, as has the Russian foreign minister.
“OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu said Syrian and Russian officials cited “pending security issues” in keeping its inspectors from reaching Douma.
“The team has not yet deployed to Douma,” Uzumcu told an executive council meeting of the OPCW in The Hague.”
@Joe Mc mahon: precisely . That some people attach credibility to the Kay Burleys of this life and question Fisk’s work is worrying at the very least . Ribert Fisk is an award winning , serious investigative journalist . Although , with the state of today’s media i can forgive people for not realy knowing / remembering what an ethical investigative reporter is .
@ihcalaM: read the quote you provided and say what did I get wrong . They have not been banned . They quoted security issues which is precisely what I wrote . Nowhere in that quote is the word banned . Their site and twitter had no statement up to this evening ( I haven’t checked later than that ) But then again , you can attach credibility to what you see fit . I’m just being factual .
@Daniel J. Somers: no worries
@Isabel Oliveira: journalists operating in regime/Russian controlled areas need special permission and ‘accreditation’ from the Assad regime, I’m sure what they have written in the past has a bearing on whether you get permission or not
Last week Assad and Russians were giving the impression that they desperately wanted the OPCW to come onsite to prove themselves innocent.. this apparent holdup looks very suspicious.
@Isabel Oliveira: thank you for sharing the link. Just goes to show female politicians are just as dense as their male counterparts.
You would think they would pull out all the stops and jump through hoops to get the inspectors onsite as soon as possible?
@ihcalaM: not strange, it’s propaganda by western governments, it happens every single day and will continue to happen, it’s up to you what you believe. Still no proof, still no confirmation yet retailiaton bombings happened already, this was the only conceivable outcome of chemical attack so why would Assad and Putin derail their last push for victory and a hugely embarrassing defeat for the US and Europe,
@Isabel Oliveira: “if you go to the OPCW twitter account abd website , there is no such statement that they’re being denied access .”
That’s what you wrote.
The Russian foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov has told AP that the team *are not allowed* to enter the site because they don’t have the proper UN permits (the UN have confirmed this isn’t true).
So yes, they have been denied access, according to the Russians themselves (who have now changed their story after the UN called them out on the lie).
@Cathal Flood: “not strange, it’s propaganda by western governments”
Mad how Russia/Assad refusing to allow site access to OPCW teams is actually *Western government* propaganda. Not sure how you twisted your brain into that one, but A for effort.
“Still no proof, still no confirmation”
Bit tough to do that when the teams are barred from the site, isn’t it? It’s also hard to get confirmation when Russia have made sure the OPCW results can’t be used to identify the perpetrator of the attack.
But hey. Keep beating that drum about Western propaganda.
@ihcalaM: a rerun of what happened during the Malaysian Air investigation, Russians deliberately delay the investigators from arriving onsite, then they come up with as many theories as possible to obfuscate and then when the Independent investigation eventually doesn’t go your way (Dutch led Joint investigation team JIT) make sure you veto a tribunal in the UN to prosecute the perpetrators. Predictable form so far from the Russians
@Isabel Oliveira: in the Independent article, Robert Fisk states “Syria…is indeed a ruthless dictatorship”. Can’t fault him for saying that.
@Diaspora’d:..but weren’t you attempting to discredit him above? Now all of a sudden you ‘can’t fault him’!?
@No One:
The key word which went completely over your head was “ostensibly”.
@Isabel Oliveira:
Whatever about the credibility or otherwise of Sky News, you don’t actually think Kay Burley writes what she reads out do you?
@ihcalaM: so you admitting no proof, thanks
@Isabel Oliveira: Robert Fisk would want to get himself over to Yemen and let the world know what’s really going on or maybe you should have a look into it yourself
There is no doubt at all she was doing trumps bidding.
@Gerry Fallon: It’s a land grab on both sides. one big greedfest. fueled by the tory media lies. people are being bombed by capitalists on both sides.
Don’t often agree with Corbyn but he’s spot on here.
It seems like Conservative regimes across the world are intent on bringing us all to the brink of chaos, pandering to the toxic nationalism of the far-right. Putin, Trump, Orban, May, Kurz, Duda, all sailing us right towards the iceberg.
@CaighdeanBAC: Macron?
Merkel also supported the strikes.
@CaighdeanBAC: nothing to do with nationalism, all to do with money and control…
@Chris Leitrim: Nationalists are useful idiots, especially when it comes to election time. MAGA.
@CaighdeanBAC: Actually in the US the only media with a leading presenter against Middel East wars is Fox news….CNN and CNBC very much calling for attacking Syria….Democrats supporting war…. Same in Britian left leaning Guardian and BBC very much giving us the rebel narrative in Syria….In the 60′s and 70′s it was right wing media saying Russia must be stopped and confronted now it is the left wing media pointing out the dangers of Russia and calling for more sanctions….
@pc_comments: Russia is a capitalist country. so why would the left back them?
The Brits couldn’t take a dump in a ditch without the yanks having to clear up after them. They couldn’t even secure Basra city or Sangin in Afghanistan. For feck sake, they never managed to secure Ardoyne in Belfast, an enclave of a few thousand people.
@Paul Devlin: I know, you would have thought they would have gone in with guns a a blazing, but no, thinking of the civilian population ffs.
From a British journalist on the ground in Douma: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-chemical-attack-gas-douma-robert-fisk-ghouta-damascus-a8307726.html
@Daniel J. Somers: Amazing how western media never call the rebels what they actually were in Douma…..Jaish al-Islam……A Sunni Jahadi group….Or even the BBC correspondent in Damascus would interview some of the 400000 civilians that were under the control of Jaidh al-Islam for last 4 years……Dont think they would praise them as moderate rebels….
@pc_comments: Amazing that the most western journalism is done from the west rather than actually where this is happening.
@Daniel J. Somers: Well BBC have a correspondent based and living in Damascus
@pc_comments: who is the BBC correspondent based and living in Damascus?
Blair and Bush. Trump and May?
Corbyn pretty much nailed it on the head. Its sad to think the British PM is a lapdog for any stupid idea the President has. And with Trump there will be plenty.
@Buck Russell:
She’s around long enough to remember Tony Blair making a complete bollix of it with Bush. I assume you are too.
It’s madness in this day and age that any leader can still take the decision upon themselves to bomb another country. I can’t think of a more undemocratic practice. She’s a despot with manners.
@Buck Russell: really? I think he choose a similar position as ourselves, as having a triple lock(UN, NATO & Parliament). Definition as being smart not weak.
@Buck Russell: Getting involved in other peoples wars is a bigger invitation to trouble. The war will end in Syria when there is nothing left of the country to fight for and nobody left to rebuild it.
@Buck Russell: Complete agreement, this accusation of chemical attack has no logic, no proof, no witnesses, just a big payday for arms companies as retailiaton has started even before governments Orin could discuss
What’s not logical? Assad knew that if he used chemical weapons he would have Russia to back him him up. Seems so far he was right.
@Buck Russell: Assad got caught for using CW before the Russians came in, he was supposed to have surrendered and destroyed the stockpiles under a US-Russian brokered deal. He saw Trump saying that the US was pulling out, he needed to end the conflict in Douma without going house to house fighting so he took the easy terror option and also wants to send the holdouts in Idlib a lesson that the same fate awaits them. He had no problem using them before he had the Russians in Syria backing him up. This time he thought it was easier because he knows he has Russia to back him up
@Diaspora’d: why would.he need to end the fight without going house to house? He hasaid gone house to house everywhere else. Why all of a sudden would this be a problem?
She relishes to be perceived as another “Iron Maiden” in Thatcher the milk snatchers image, alas she is just a rusted pile of ferrous filings being shaped and manipulated by Trumps North South magnetic field!
Sad excuse for a politician and yet again exposing the risk of too much power residing within an inept or corrupt politicians grip!
@Jarlath Murphy: She doesn’t have a clue, even trying to send immigrants back to the Caribean who have worked in Britain for fifty years, but Russian oligarchs can come and buy up the best houses in London, no scruples whatsoever.
Its quite simple the air strikes on Syria where for there friend Saudi Arabia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSXwG-901yU&app=desktop
…..OAN Investigation
f@@k you Brits its all ways the same your like the USA you think you rule the world..The war on Iraq was with out any justification so called canonical war fair it was all about the USE dollar f@#@ all of you
@noel: The irony of using a Man United avatar representing a British club owned by Americans is probably lost on you.
@Diaspora’d: bout as ironic as a person who chooses Ireland isn’t good enough for him to live in but still gets his news from an Irish media outlet.
@Cormac Ó Braonáin: Maith an fear!
Nice display of raw nativism there.
I will just continue to get my news from where I want, including Irish news sites
Corbyn is pathetic. Maybe she should have asked for comrade Putin’s approval first too.
@Toomasu Sumitsu: no, just evidence
have your say