"Moving Syria’s chemical arms tricky" by Michael Birnbaum | Washington Post, November 28, 2013
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — World powers agreed that they wanted to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons program. But actually getting rid of the banned material could be far trickier and might require giving military-grade assistance to the Syrian government.
Several weeks into a breakneck effort to disarm Syria of its toxic arsenal, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is overseeing the operation, says the country’s ability to produce the banned munitions has been eliminated.
But the next goal — getting the stockpile out of the country by Dec. 31 and then destroying it — is proving to be a far more difficult diplomatic and logistic feat.
The Obama administration has struggled to find a partner willing to accept the chemical weapons and appears to be considering the possibility that they could be destroyed at sea. No decision has been made, but ‘‘one of the destruction options of the chemicals would be on a ship at sea in an environmentally safe manner,’’ State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
In other words, they want to dump the stuff in the ocean!
That would be ‘‘technically possible and seriously feasible,’’ according to OPCW spokesman Christian Chartier.
But even getting the chemicals to a Syrian port is difficult, according to a senior OPCW official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ongoing discussions.
There are about a dozen sites in Syria where chemical weapons are stored, and all of them are separated from port by contested roads, he said. Some of those roads have been shut down to the United Nations and civilians because of fighting.
Moreover, the chemicals are tempting targets for some rebel groups to seize, either to use the preliminary materials within Syria or to eventually build a toxic weapon for use elsewhere.
Meaning they are safest where they are?
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Related: U.S. Proposes Dumping Syria's Chemical Weapons Into the Sea
Maybe they should be left where they are for now. You know, under guard and everything.
Also see: Destruction of Syria's Chemical Weapons Put Out For Bid
Someone has to make a buck of this.
"Syria’s Assad won’t cede power in peace talks; Syrian officials won’t budge on president’s role" by Albert Aji | Associated Press, November 28, 2013
DAMASCUS — In Tehran, the Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers called for a ceasefire as soon as possible, saying that a halt in fighting would enhance chances of peace talks succeeding....
Those are opposing sides saying it, and if true it further illustrates the catastrophic failure of USraeli foreign policy.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the end goal of the Geneva gathering next year must be a transitional government.
Related: Syria Still About Regime Change
‘‘The goal of Geneva has nothing to do with foreign demands,’’ Psaki said. ‘‘It has to do with bringing an end to the bloodshed and suffering of the Syrian people.’’
After you did so much to cause it?
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And have you noticed that since the Syrian government won the war there are no more battlefield reports in my Globe?
