U.S., Russia agree deal on Syria chemical weapons

[ProSense]

U.S., Russia agree deal on Syria chemical weapons

By Tom Miles and Warren Strobel

(Reuters) - The United States and Russia agreed on Saturday on a proposal to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, averting the possibility of any immediate U.S. military action against President Bashar al-Assad's government.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced the agreement after nearly three days of talks in Geneva...under the pact, Syria must submit a "comprehensive listing" of its chemical weapons stockpiles within one week.

He told a news conference with Lavrov that U.N. weapons inspectors must be on the ground in Syria no later than November. The goal, he said, was the complete destruction of Syria's chemical weapons by the middle of 2014.

Kerry said that if Syria did not comply with the agreement, which must be finalised by the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons, it would face consequences under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, the part that covers sanctions and military action.

- more -

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/14/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE98A15720130914

[leftstreet]

1. Good news

[ProSense]

2. Yes. n/t

[Cirque du So-What]

3. I consider it a lost opportunity

to include cluster bombs and biological weapons into the deal:

Are Syria's cluster bombs and bioweapons worse than its chemical weapons?
The alleged sarin gas attack was horrible. Releasing biological weapons could be much worse.
By Keith Wagstaff | September 5, 2013

<snip>

The Syrian government runs the most advanced chemical weapons program in the developing world, according to NBC News, with an arsenal of sarin, mustard gas, and other chemicals that is estimated at 1,000 tons strong.

<snip>

Cluster bombs have been banned by many countries because, in the words of the report, of their "widespread indiscriminate effect at the time of use, and the long-lasting danger they pose to civilians."

<snip>

Syria — like the United States, China, and Russia — is not one of the 112 countries that have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, "which prohibits the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions."

<snip>

While there is no sign that the Assad regime has used them yet, a congressional report released earlier this year stated that Syria has a "longstanding biological weapons program … that may have advanced beyond the research and development stage, and may be capable of limited agent production," according to The Washington Post.

more...
http://theweek.com/article/index/249212/are-syrias-cluster-bombs-and-bioweapons-worse-than-its-chemical-weapons

It's also well past time for both the US and Russia to step up to the plate to denounce cluster bombs and reaffirm their opposition to biological weapons.

[ProSense]

4. I consider it an opportunity to

get an even broader peace agreement.

Joint Statements After Trilat

Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and UN Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi

UN Offices

Geneva, Switzerland

September 13, 2013

SECRETARY KERRY: Let me just say to everybody that we will not – we will each make a very brief statement. We’ll not be taking questions at this time. And we apologize for that, but we need to get back to the conversations that we’re having on the issue of chemical weapons.

First of all, Foreign Minister Lavrov and I both want to thank Lakhdar Brahimi and the United Nations for their invitation to have a discussion today about the question of the Geneva 2 conference. As everybody knows, the principal reason that Foreign Minister Lavrov and I are here are to have discussions with respect to the initiative to gain control of and remove and destroy the chemical weapons in Syria. That is our principal mission here in Geneva. And I think we would both agree that we had constructive conversations regarding that, but those conversations are continuing and both of us want to get back to them now.

We came here this morning at the invitation of the Special Representative for the Geneva 2 and Syria negotiations in order to discuss where those negotiations are and how we can advance them. I will say on behalf of the United States that President Obama is deeply committed to a negotiated solution with respect to Syria, and we know that Russia is likewise. We are working hard to find the common ground to be able to make that happen and we discussed some of the homework that we both need to do. I’m not going to go into it in any detail today. We both agreed to do that homework and meet again in New York around the time of the UN General Assembly, around the 28th, in order to see if it is possible then to find a date for that conference, much of which will obviously depend on the capacity to have success here in the next day, hours, days, on the subject of the chemical weapons.

Both of us – Sergey Lavrov and I, our countries, our presidents – are deeply concerned about the death toll and destruction, the acts on both sides, all sides that are creating more and more refugees, more and more of the humanitarian catastrophe. And we are committed to try to work together, beginning with this initiative on the chemical weapons, in hopes that those efforts could pay off and bring peace and stability to a war-torn part of the world. And we’re very appreciative for Lakhdar Brahimi hosting us today in an effort to try to advance this initiative.

Sergey.

FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV: Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we had a very useful meeting with Lakhdar Brahimi. As you know, as John said just now, we are here basically to discuss the issue of chemical weapons in Syria. Now that the Assad government joined the Chemical Weapons Convention, we have to engage our professionals together with the Chemical Weapons Prohibition Organization, as we agreed with the United Nations, to design a road which would make sure that this issue is resolved quickly, professionally, as soon as practical.

But we are very glad to Lakhdar Brahimi for inviting us on this occasion to discuss a longer-term goal for Syria, namely the preparation for the conference which is called Geneva 2. Russia, the Russian President from very beginning of the Syrian conflict, have been promoting a peaceful resolution. We have firmly supported the Arab League initiative, their being observers, and we supported Kofi Annan’s initiative, the UN observers, and we were one of the initiators of convening Geneva 1. Last year here, we adopted the Geneva communique, resolved major – almost all major players, including all P-5 countries for the region, Arab League, Turkey, European Union, United Nations. And it is very unfortunate that for a long period the Geneva communique was basically abandoned and we were not able to have endorsement of this very important document in the Security Council, as is as adopted.

Thanks to John, who after becoming Secretary of State in spite of his huge workload on Arab-Israeli conflict understood the importance of moving on Syria and doing something about this. And I am very grateful for him for coming to Moscow on May 7th this year when we launched the Russian-American initiative to convene a Geneva conference to implement fully the Geneva communique, which means that the Syrian parties must reach mutual consent on the transitional governing organ which would command full executive authority. And the communique also says that all groups of Syrian society must be represented.

And we discussed these aspects and other aspects of the preparatory work today with Lakhdar Brahimi and his team. We are very grateful to Lakhdar for his insight, for the suggestions which he made and which we will be entertaining as we move forward parallel with the work on chemical weapons. We agreed to meet in New York in the margins of the General Assembly and see where we are and what the Syrian parties think about it and do about it. And we hope that we will be able to be a bit more specific when we meet with you in New York.

SPECIAL ENVOY BRAHIMI: Thank you very much indeed, both of you, first of all, for coming to talk to us in the Palais de Nation in Geneva. We look forward to the work you are doing on chemical weapons in Syria. It is extremely important in itself and for itself, but it is also extremely important for us who are working with you on trying to bring together the Geneva 2 conference successfully.

Our discussions today, as you have both said now, have been useful. And we are not going to retain you much longer; you have other business to do. Thank you again very, very much indeed for being here.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thanks, Lakhdar.

FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV: Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, sir.

SPECIAL ENVOY BRAHIMI: Thank you very much.

http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2013/09/214176.htm

U.S., Russia see Syria arms deal aiding peace talks

By Tom Miles and Oliver Holmes

(Reuters) - Russia and the United States agreed a new push to negotiate an end to Syria's civil war as they discussed a plan to destroy President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons in order to avert U.S. air strikes.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met for a second day in Geneva to work on Moscow's disarmament proposal; Washington remains skeptical and Kerry has said U.S. military action is still possible...However, after meeting the U.N. envoy for Syria, both Kerry and Lavrov said progress on the arms issue in their talks could help relaunch their efforts to bring Syria's warring sides together and negotiate an end to a conflict that has inflamed the Middle East and divided world powers since it began in 2011.

There is little sign of compromise inside Syria, however, where sectarian and ethnic hatreds have been deepened by two and a half years of war that has killed over 100,000 people and forced up to a third of the population from their homes.

<...>

Kerry told a joint news conference: "We are committed to trying to work together, beginning with this initiative on the chemical weapons, in hopes that those efforts could pay off and bring peace and stability to a war-torn part of the world."

- more -

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/13/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE98A15720130913

[Cirque du So-What]

5. Don't get me wrong

I strongly support expansion of this initiative, but I regret that its scope doesn't extend to the other horrendous weapons I mentioned.

[freshwest]

6. Russia and the USA are working hard on the worst offenders listed in the CWC. Syria can join the 98%

The CWC has reduced the world's stockpiles of WMD. Essentially, the world superpowers have agreed to disavow the greatest threat they posed on other nations to force them to bow to their will.

It was always a moral problem which grew out of wars. At one time, MAD was not 'mad.' It seemed prudent in a world that had lost 2.5% of its total population to years of all out, no holds barred warfare in which civilians were targeted as strategy to stop the ability of nations to continue to wage war. These things have always been about ending war.

The CWC invoked in the civil war in Syria, covers all WMD, Biological, Chemical, Nuclear and Radiological.

Symbolized here:



The CWC also has the authority to destroy and prevent the proliferation of Chemical, Nuclear and Missiles. Eventually, quietly and without so much drama, we will end that kind of warfare.

Much bigger challenges await the world and it's time to get past this. We can't afford the pollution from these in a world as crowded as ours. And we cannot afford, as Obama says, to ignore how wars between and within the nations of the world are destroying the needed infrastructure of the civil societies we depend on to live. Peace is the only answer worth seeking.

[sufrommich]

7. Glad to see this outcome. nt