No joke.
"Help sought to destroy Syrian arms; Weapons agency invites private companies’ bids" by Mike Corder | Associated Press, November 22, 2013
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The global chemical weapons watchdog is inviting private companies to bid to get involved in destroying Syria’s stockpile of toxic agents and precursor chemicals.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Nobel Peace Prize Purely Political
If it were not Putin would have won one.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons posted a request for ‘‘expressions of interest’’ from companies that want a role in ‘‘treatment and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous organic and inorganic chemicals.”
The agency, which won the Nobel Peace Prize this year, was directed by the United Nations to oversee the destruction of the Syrian government’s chemical weapons. The unprecedented disarmament in the midst of a civil war now in its third year was launched following an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack on a Damascus suburb that killed hundreds of civilians.
The United States and Western allies accused the Syrian government of being responsible for that attack, while Damascus blames the rebels....
Turns out there may not have even been one at all.
What needs to be destroyed involves a wide range of chemical agents....
more than 700 tons....
The most toxic and weaponized chemicals in the Syrian stockpile have to be destroyed at a supervised secure facility.
The chemical weapons agency is considering destroying the most toxic parts at sea on a mobile destruction facility on a large ship or barge.
That sounds like a really dumb idea!
Related: U.S. Proposes Dumping Syria's Chemical Weapons Into the Sea
Let's hope there isn't a storm or "terrorist" attack on it, huh?
That option gained momentum last week after Albania refused a US request to host the destruction of Syria’s chemical arsenal....
Who wants that s*** in their country?
Ralf Trapp, a French-based chemical weapons disarmament consultant and scientist, agreed, saying the list was made up of ‘‘chemicals that can be disposed of by normal industrial chemical waste treatment companies, and none pose a direct, immediate chemical weapons risk.”
???????
The British Foreign Office said it would study any British expressions of interest.
‘‘We shall have to look at exactly what is being proposed,” a Foreign Office spokesperson said on customary condition of anonymity. ‘‘There is no objection to them expressing interest and we would expect normal health and safety and environmental regulations to be observed.”
And if not, oh well.
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Also see: Still many questions on Syrian peace talks
I should have known it was too good to be true.
