Posted on 09/09/2013 8:01:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
MOSCOW (AP) — In a surprise move, Russia promised Monday to push its ally Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control and then dismantle them quickly to avert U.S. strikes.
The announcement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov came a few hours after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that Syrian President Bashar Assad could resolve the crisis surrounding the alleged use of chemical weapons by his forces by surrendering control of "every single bit" of his arsenal to the international community by the end of the week.
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
Kerry probably botched the deal by making it an ultimatum.
Good chess move on Putin’s part.
Putin puts Obama in check and has five more moves in mind.
This is painful to watch, but exactly what I expected.
A. They don't want to risk Russian SAM systems looking bad
B. They don’t want to lose Assad's business
C. Both A and B
If this comes to pass, I hope the chemical weapons they secure say “Made in Iraq-2000”.
Yes, but I was really hoping Obama would be totally disgraced by his mishandling of this situation.
It does allow Barry out of the box he put himself in...
You think Assad might tell Mad Vlad “nyet!”??
I don’t.
RE: Good chess move on Putin’s part.
I never thought I’d see the day when FReepers would be cheering Putin on over our own President.... but there’s always a first time, I guess.
Noble Peace Prize for Putin
They will probably turn over the old ones that are stock-piled, unusable, and dangerous. It’ll be interesting if Assad “lets” the UN come and get them. Meanwhile, Assad will just get newer and better ones.
Well played, Mr. Putin.
Checkmate.
RE: Noble Peace Prize for Putin
What about Barry? Will the Nobel Committee take back the prize they preemptively gave him?
Yeah, our president is playing checkers.
Not surprised. Putin wants to not only stop Mr. Obama, but protect the Christians in Syria. He knows that if the USA attacks Syria, that could very well topple Assad and bring in AQ into power, destroying what is left of that community.
Good point, and then we will be stuck with the bill for getting rid Assad’s trash.
More money for new weapons that way. The Russians and the Syrians are not dumb, unlike our folks in DC.
The Russians are playing chess. The Iranians are playing chess. The Chinese are playing Go. 0bama is playing midnight basketball, and not for the team whose uniform he’s wearing.
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