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Geopolitics

Assad Warns France Not To Attack Syria

LE FIGARO (France)

Worldcrunch

DAMASCUS — Bashar al-Assad warned France not to launch a military strike, which the Syrian president said would support terrorism against the interests of the Syrian people. In an exclusive interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Assad said that should Paris take part in a military intervention, "there will be repercussions, negative of course, for French interests."

Assad also reasserted that the Syrian army had not carried the chemical attack on August 21, challenging the United States, France and other countries that claim otherwise to publish convincing evidence. "All the accusations are based on allegations made by terrorists and on arbitrary video clips broadcast on the Internet," Assad said. "If the Americans, the French or the British had even a single (sign of) proof, they would have shown it from day one. We do not discuss rumors. We only deal with facts. If what they say is true, let them provide evidence of it."

The interview took place before the French government published its report Monday night on the alleged chemical attack of August 21. The nine-page document says that Assad's forces used chemical weapons three times between April and August and that the rebels do not have the capabilities to carry such an attack.

Speaking about U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to wait for a Sep. 9 vote by Congress on whether to intervene, Assad told Le Figaro: "For us, a strong man prevents rather than starts a war. But Obama is weak because he is facing pressure from within the United States."

With the French Parliament due to debate France's participation in a possible military intervention on Wednesday, Assad said: "How can France fight terrorism in Mali but support it in Syria? Will France become an example of the political double standards promoted by the US?"

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced Monday evening that the parliamentary debate will not be followed by a vote, leaving the decision in the hands of President Francois Hollande.

Le Figaro reports that a recent poll shows 64% of French citizens oppose an intervention in Syria.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

That Man In Mariupol: Is Putin Using A Body Double To Avoid Public Appearances?

Putin really is meeting with Xi in Moscow — we know that. But there are credible experts saying that the person who showed up in Mariupol the day before was someone else — the latest report that the Russian president uses a doppelganger for meetings and appearances.

screen grab of Putin in a dark down jacket

During the visit to Mariupol, the Presidential office only released screen grabs of a video

Russian President Press Office/TASS via ZUMA
Anna Akage

Have no doubt, the Vladimir Putin we’re seeing alongside Xi Jinping this week is the real Vladimir Putin. But it’s a question that is being asked after a range of credible experts have accused the Russian president of sending a body double for a high-profile visit this past weekend in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

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Reports and conspiracy theories have circulated in the past about the Russian leader using a stand-in because of health or security issues. But the reaction to the Kremlin leader's trip to Mariupol is the first time that multiple credible sources — including those who’ve spent time with him in the past — have cast doubt on the identity of the man who showed up in the southeastern Ukrainian city that Russia took over last spring after a months-long siege.

Russian opposition politician Gennady Gudkov is among those who confidently claim that a Putin look-alike, or rather one of his look-alikes, was in the Ukrainian city.

"Now that there is a war going on, I don't rule out the possibility that someone strongly resembling or disguised as Putin is playing his role," Gudkov said.

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