Russia has long been an ally of Syria. There is no reason why Russia could not move forward to secure the weapons and facilities. They are the most knowledgeable of them besides President Assad.
I believe it was a wise decision for President Assad to make a public appearance in the USA national media. The appearance personalized him. The truth can never hurt. Scary as it might seem. Nations unfamiliar to The West never expect reasonable actions come from dialogue. There is reason for that considering the USA's incredibly stupid attack into Iraq. Saddam did not lie about not possessing chemical weapons and nuclear capacity. Did he? It is understandable small nations in the Middle East shun a dialogue they perceive as a threat or one disregarded or one misconstrued to make guilt out of the truth.
09 September 2013 | Issue 5209
...Lavrov said that if such a move would help avert a possible U.S. strike on Syria, (click here) Russia would start work "immediately" to persuade Syria to relinquish control over its chemical arsenals.
He told reporters that Russia would urge Syria to concentrate its chemical weapons in certain areas under international oversight and then dismantle them.
At a news conference Monday, the Russian and Syrian foreign ministers strongly pushed for the return of United Nations inspectors to Syria to continue their probe into the use of chemical weapons and again warned Washington against launching an attack....
The West likes to call it transparency. In a time in our history when so many small regimes known as networks claim their own borderless sovereignty, the global impact of a single mistake can take on deadly actions.
Foreign Minister Lavrov is an interesting man. He was one of the first Foreign Ministers to actually understand physics (a scientific mind with structured logic), but, actually studied in Moscow State Institute of International Relations. Until Lavrov much of Russia's Foreign Ministry was far less structured and relied on military intervention more than diplomacy. Foreign Minister Lavrov transformed that and none too soon.
I would hope he would seek the UN Security Council as soon as possible to provide a legal recognition of this willingness of President Assad to remove the danger of chemical weapons from his nation. A nation engaged in a civil war with uncertain outcomes at this point.
I congratulate Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov that this should be the end of misunderstandings and a greater hope for peace. This is a good step for President Assad. It could and should carry great brevity when other nations view his circumstances.
Russia is quite used to peacekeepers and the dismantling of chemical weapons in Syria can be viewed as same with a limited engagement. Russia is fully capable of removing these weapons and disposing of them properly.
19:38 09/09/2013
MOSCOW, September 9 (Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press) – In a surprise move, (click here) Russia promised Monday to push its ally Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control and then dismantle them quickly to avert US strikes.
The announcement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov came a few hours after US 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.
Kerry added that he thought Assad "isn't about to do it," but Lavrov, who just wrapped up a round of talks in Moscow with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem, said Moscow would try to convince the Syrians....
I believe it was a wise decision for President Assad to make a public appearance in the USA national media. The appearance personalized him. The truth can never hurt. Scary as it might seem. Nations unfamiliar to The West never expect reasonable actions come from dialogue. There is reason for that considering the USA's incredibly stupid attack into Iraq. Saddam did not lie about not possessing chemical weapons and nuclear capacity. Did he? It is understandable small nations in the Middle East shun a dialogue they perceive as a threat or one disregarded or one misconstrued to make guilt out of the truth.
09 September 2013 | Issue 5209
...Lavrov said that if such a move would help avert a possible U.S. strike on Syria, (click here) Russia would start work "immediately" to persuade Syria to relinquish control over its chemical arsenals.
He told reporters that Russia would urge Syria to concentrate its chemical weapons in certain areas under international oversight and then dismantle them.
At a news conference Monday, the Russian and Syrian foreign ministers strongly pushed for the return of United Nations inspectors to Syria to continue their probe into the use of chemical weapons and again warned Washington against launching an attack....
The West likes to call it transparency. In a time in our history when so many small regimes known as networks claim their own borderless sovereignty, the global impact of a single mistake can take on deadly actions.
Foreign Minister Lavrov is an interesting man. He was one of the first Foreign Ministers to actually understand physics (a scientific mind with structured logic), but, actually studied in Moscow State Institute of International Relations. Until Lavrov much of Russia's Foreign Ministry was far less structured and relied on military intervention more than diplomacy. Foreign Minister Lavrov transformed that and none too soon.
I would hope he would seek the UN Security Council as soon as possible to provide a legal recognition of this willingness of President Assad to remove the danger of chemical weapons from his nation. A nation engaged in a civil war with uncertain outcomes at this point.
I congratulate Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov that this should be the end of misunderstandings and a greater hope for peace. This is a good step for President Assad. It could and should carry great brevity when other nations view his circumstances.
Russia is quite used to peacekeepers and the dismantling of chemical weapons in Syria can be viewed as same with a limited engagement. Russia is fully capable of removing these weapons and disposing of them properly.
19:38 09/09/2013MOSCOW, September 9 (Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press) – In a surprise move, (click here) Russia promised Monday to push its ally Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control and then dismantle them quickly to avert US strikes.
The announcement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov came a few hours after US 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.
Kerry added that he thought Assad "isn't about to do it," but Lavrov, who just wrapped up a round of talks in Moscow with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem, said Moscow would try to convince the Syrians....
