My Comment:  This is beginning to sound more and more like a meeting of the world powers to start or declare world war.  And there is a picture of obama that is disturbing at least to me, why do they insist on picturing this man with a backdrop that resembles a halo like he is a messiah?  See if you think so too.

(Daily Mail) David Cameron led seven world powers against one last night as he tried to shame Russian leader Vladimir Putin into agreeing that Syria’s brutal regime must be toppled.

As Syrian president Bashar al-Assad warned the West would ‘pay the price’ in terror if it attempted to oust him, the Prime Minister spearheaded efforts to persuade Russia to temper its support for the regime.

Over a dinner of crab and lamb at the G8 summit, the leaders of the US, Canada, Germany, Japan, France, and Italy joined the UK in urging President Putin to give ground.

Alone: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin cut a solitary figure as he arrived for the talks, amid mounting pressure from other G8 countries to back arming rebels in Syria

Greeting: As host David Cameron welcome President Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the summit at the Lough Erne resort in Enniskillen

US President Barack Obama arrives at the Lough Erne golf resort where the G8 summit is taking place

Talks: While Syria dominated the headlines, the first announcement at the G8 today was the start of formal talks on an EU-US trade deal unveiled by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, US President Barack Obama, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and UK Prime Minister David Cameron

British officials said Mr Cameron regarded it as a ‘clarifying moment’ that would signal whether world leaders were serious about pushing for a transitional government to take over from Assad.

Other than Russia, members of the G8 agreed on a five-point plan after two years of civil war in Syria. It included a condemnation of the use of chemical weapons and a declaration that Syria needs a ‘new government’ with the consent of its people.

Mr Cameron faces growing opposition at home amid suggestions that he is in favour of joining the US in giving greater assistance to those trying to overthrow Assad.

Allies: David Cameron and Barack Obama helped students paint a mural during a visit to the Enniskillen Integrated Primary School in Enniskillen ahead of crunch talks on Syria at the G8 summit

Art: The US President and British Prime Minister signed a project at the school to mark the summit being held in their town in this pictured posted online by Mr Cameron

Message: Mr Cameron wrote ‘with thanks for all you do’ while Mr Obama added ‘dream top dreams’

He has been warned that he could be defeated in the Commons if he tries to win parliamentary approval for Britain to arm the rebels.

A ComRes poll for ITV News revealed that only 17 per cent of voters would back providing arms. Tory MP Julian Lewis said he believed a motion to facilitate the arming of Syrian rebels would be ‘heavily defeated’ by MPs.

There are signs that, in the teeth of such opposition, Britain may step up technical support to rebel forces while the US could provide arms.

Talks: Ahead of the formal opening of the G8 summit, Mr Cameron met with US President Barack Obama before travelling to a local school

Split: Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain must protect the Syrian opposition from being ‘exterminated’ but  Mayor of London Boris Johnson warned any attempt to arm opposition forces could put weapons in the hands of ‘Al Qaeda-affiliated thugs’

G8 leaders are today expected to agree not to pay ransoms to terrorist kidnappers amid evidence that the price per hostage has spiralled to more than £1.5million.

Britain has long had such a policy but ransoms paid by other countries have become a significant source of terror funding. It is thought £45million has been handed to terror groups in the past three years.

Mr Cameron said: ‘I want countries to sign up to a tangible agreement.’

US President Barack Obama, who visited a school in Enniskillen with Mr Cameron today, is ready to arm the opposition in Syria.

But Mr Putin used a fraught press conference in Downing Street yesterday to warn the rebels ‘eat the organs’ of their enemies.

Mr Johnson put himself at odds with the Prime Minister, warning Britiain would not be able prevent weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists.

Global: Russian President Vladmir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe are in the Lough Erne resort for the summit

Late: German Chancellor Angela Merkel was one of the last to arrive in Belfast for the G8

Arrivals: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and French President Francois Hollande touched down at Belfast International Airport en route to the Loche Erne resort

The London Mayor said: ‘This is not the moment to send more arms. We can’t use Syria as an arena for geopolitical point-scoring or muscle-flexing, and we won’t get a ceasefire by pressing weapons into the hands of maniacs.

‘How are we meant to furnish machine guns and anti-tank weapons to one set of opposition forces, without them ending up in the hands of men like the al Qaida-affiliated thugs who executed a child for telling a joke?’ he wrote in a column in the Daily Telegraph.

As the two-year war in Syria threatens to dominate the G8 summit at the Lough Erne resort, Mr Cameron said he was ‘as worried as anyone’ that plans to arm opposition forces fighting to oust President Bashar Assad.

Speech: US President Barack Obama addressed thousands of young people in Belfast before travelling on to the G8 summit

Tribute: Mr Obama hailed the ‘sheer bloody genius’ of a new peace in Northern Ireland after years of conflict

Smiles: First Lady Michelle Obama introduced her husband, urging the school children to believe they could achieve anything

The two-day summit will see the Lough Erne resort in Enniskillen host Mr Obama, Mr Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, Canadian premier Stephen Harper, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Mr Cameron wants to make progress on a free trade deal between Europe and the US which he believes could ‘turbo-charge the transatlantic economy’.

President Obama, who gave a speech in Belfast before travelling to the summit, is expected to launch formal talks on the so-called ‘economic Nato’.

Mr Cameron believes it could be worth £10 billion to the UK economy, or £380 for every British household.

He said: ‘’These trade deals matter, because they mean more jobs, more choice for consumers and lower prices.’

Talks: President Barack Obama waved as he arrived at Belfast’s Aldergrove International airport with his daughter Sasha

Arrival: President Obama was seen walking down the steps of Air Force One with his Sasha

The PM posted on Twitter this morning that he wants to focus the summit on ‘tax, trade + transparency will help hard working families around the world’.

But Syria is likely to dominate the agenda, with attendees as far away from agreement as ever.

In a round of TV interviews at Lough Erne, Mr Cameron said: ‘Let’s be clear – I am as worried as anybody else about elements of the Syrian opposition, who are extremists, who support terrorism and who are a great danger to our world.

‘The question is what do we do about it? My argument is that we shouldn’t accept that the only alternative to Assad is terrorism and violence.

‘We should be on the side of Syrians who want a democratic and peaceful future for their country and one without the man who is currently using chemical weapons against them.

‘What we can try and do here at the G8 is have further pressure for the peace conference and the transition that is needed to bring this conflict to an end.’

Tensions between the world’s leaders over the Syrian conflict risk overshadowing Mr Cameron’s hopes of using the UK presidency of the G8 to reach a deal on tax transparency and trade.

Family: The US President is attending the G8 summit, but his wife Michelle, and daughters Malia (left) and Sash (right) are due to tour Belfast

A specialist military unit which is able to secure Syria’s chemical weapons is to be reinstated by the Ministry of Defence – two years after it was axed as part of budget cuts.

It would mean British forces would be able to join US forces sent to Syria to try and prevent its stockpile of weapons falling into terrorist’s hands. The unit was cut in 2011 in a bid to save £129million a year.

Mr Cameron insisted that the UK has not made a decision arm the Syrian opposition and faces a warning that up to 80 Tory MPs could try to block it.

He echoed remarks made by President Putin during a fraught Downing Street press conference with Mr Cameron yesterday where the Russian President made a blood-curdling reference to video footage of a rebel fighter apparently eating the liver of a dead Syrian soldier, he even suggested the Prime Minister was siding with cannibals.

Reacting to comments from Mr Cameron that those arming the Damascus regime had the ‘blood of the children of Syria’ on their hands, a furious Mr Putin said: ‘The blood is on the hands of both parties.

‘There is always a question as to who is to blame. One should hardly back those who kill enemies and eat their organs.

‘It is hardly in relation to the humanitarian and cultural values Europe has been professing for centuries.’ Mr Putin dismissed calls from Mr Cameron and the West to stop arming the regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad, saying Russia was supplying ‘the legitimate government of Syria in full compliance with the norms of international law’.

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Categories: new world order, news

Tags: britain, G8 meeting, putin, syria, US