By Vestnik Kavkaza
Washington decided to postpone making a decision on starting the military operation in Syria due to a new initiative by Moscow. On Monday, the Russian side has made a suggestion to place chemical weapons, the entire chemical potential of Syria under international control. And Walid al- Moallem, the Syrian foreign minister virtually gave the consent of the Government of Syria to the proposal articulated by Russia.
Alexei Pushkov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, commented on the situation: “It should be noted that on Monday, the Secretary of State John Kerry, admitted such a possibility as well. He said in particular that the transfer of chemical arsenals could prevent the American military strike. But, he added, that's not likely to happen. He did not believe that Assad will agree to such a move, as previously he has never been willing to give international control over the chemical arsenal of the country. Very diverse comments followed. The State Department spokesman Harf said that John Kerry spoke in a purely rhetorical way, that he simply made a hypothetical about a possibility of a solution. But in fact, the State Department is very skeptical about this possibility and does not believe that Assad will agree to the measure.
Susan Rice, Obama's assistant for national security, said she did not trust not only Damascus, but also Moscow. According to her, Moscow sabotaged the adoption of a number of resolutions in the UN Security Council. Therefore, there is no trust for the proposal on her part. As she said, "Nothing worthwhile will come of it, believe me." But later, in an interview with an American television, Obama said that of course, as he put it, absolutely, the strike could be postponed, if Damascus take such steps.
That is, we saw diverging statements from the U.S. administration. But I suggest to start from the fact that the president responded positively, he called it a potentially positive proposal. And that skepticism, which has been expressed by representatives of the State Department, and even Susan Rice as assistant of Obama may have expressed the disagreement within the administration, or may express something more - a split within the administration as to whether it is necessary to strike on Syria in general, or rather to look for an alternative to a military strike.
But be as it may, I repeat, as a result of diverging signals, we have a clear enough signal from Obama that if indeed Damascus is ready to go with this, the United States is prepared to delay a military strike. In this situation, in my view, the word "delay" means to give up. I cannot imagine a scenario in which, if the decision on the transfer of chemical weapons under international control is taken, the United States will maintain its plans for a military strike against Syria.”
