In an article published Tuesday by the Daily Beast, entitled "CIA Honored Benghazi Chief in Secret Ceremony," author Eli Lake reveals that in February of this year, at CIA headquarters in Langley, VA, the chief of the CIA's annex in Benghazi was awarded one of the agency's highest intelligence medals.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, at a press conference at the offices of RIA Novosti press service in Moscow May 19, said that with regard to convening an international conference to end the war in Syria,"As I've been asked by the parties to convene this conference under the auspices of the United Nations, I'm now actively engaging with all the parties: the U.S., Russia, the United Kingdom, Franc

The Austrian government has issued an official position paper, now circulating among EU member states, in opposition to the British-French proposal for lifting the arms embargo in Syria. Dated May 13, the document is a cogent summation of the reasons why the lifting of the EU embargo would be politically and legally unacceptable.

First, the political reasons:

An article by Tom Cocks released by Reuters news service on May 13, confirms what readers of LarouchePAC and EIR have known for almost two years: that the Tony Blair-inspired regime-change policy, implemented by his puppet, President Barack Obama against Muammar Kaddafi in August 2011, provided advanced weaponry for insurgent guerilla attacks against the governments of Mali and Nigeria.

Her Majesty's government must be very worried about the possible implications of the agreement, earlier this week, that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made with his Russian counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, to hold a peace conference on Syria, that would bring together representatives from both the Syrian government and opposition forces.

Despite messages apparently delivered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week that Israel might attack Syria again, and a general hype in the media about that possibility, leading retired military figures are speaking out against such action.

In further comments to the media on May 17, following a meeting in Sochi with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed Western criticism of Moscow for supplying weapons to Syria's government.

Over the past few months a debate has emerged over whether or not the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF), passed by Congress in the aftermath on Sept. 18, 2001 in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, is adequate for how the so-called war on terror is now being waged by the Obama Administration.

Robert Gates, interviewed on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday, reiterated his opposition to U.S. military involvement in Syria. Excerpts from the interview follow:

Appearing on Fox & Friends on Friday, attorney, journalist and talk show host Geraldo Rivera questioned whether the CIA annex in Benghazi was involved in running guns through Turkey to the Syrian opposition.