U.S. to Press for Syria Timeline After Putin Appeal
By David Lerman, Henry Meyer and James G. Neuger - Sep 12, 2013
Secretary of State John Kerry will press for a timeline for Syria to surrender its chemical weapons, an American official said, as Russia’s leader urged the U.S. to steer clear of a Middle East military clash.
The U.S. will insist on targets for gauging Syria’s compliance with a possible accord to put its chemical stockpiles under international control, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity as Kerry prepared to hold talks in Geneva today on the Russian-proposed compromise.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a rare direct appeal to the American people, used a New York Times opinion piece to urge the Obama administration to take the diplomatic instead of the military route to solving the Syrian crisis.
“A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism,” Putin said in his article, released late yesterday. “It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it.”
The next twist in the 2 1/2-year civil war in Syria, a Russian client state since the 1970s and home to Russia’s only Mediterranean Sea naval base, now hinges on diplomacy between Washington and Moscow with echoes of the confrontation as well as the cooperation of the Cold War era.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-12/u-s-to-press-for-syria-timeline-after-putin-appeal.html