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[Louella Dougans]

Well, things just got interesting courtesy of John Kerry and Russia.

My first thought when I heard the news was that there was an emergency face saving procedure going into action.  This way, everybody wins.  Assuming they can actually work together on it and it isn't just some big ploy, which is also possible.

...what happened.

A Russian proposal for Assad to transfer his forces chemical weapons to international control, thus taking them out of circulation.

[Repentence Tyrathlion]

Essentially, Kerry was asked what Syria could do to avert strikes, and he made a remark about complete chemical disarmament, before dismissing it as 'not going to happen'.  A few hours later, the Russians made an offer to Assad to essentially do just this, with the remark that the Syrian government had 'welcomed' this offer.  The US is officially holding a suspicious hard line, the UK is cautious but optimistic, not sure about elsewhere.

Like I said, perfect face-saving measure.  Obama gets an out from his red line, Russia doesn't have to go headlong into major issues over an ally along with removing the possible future threat of chemical attacks, and Syria has a security council backer to guarantee fair treatment for disarmament.  They of course have made no statement admitting that they have said weapons, but the fact that they 'welcomed' the offer means that either they do, or they're clawing for time - which is risky, given the implications of going along with the offer even in principle.

[Steffanie Saissore]

Yeah, just saw the headline from the BBC news feed but hadn't had a chance to read it yet.  Will be interesting to see what happens.

[Pieter Tuulinen]

If the US wants to derail this all they have to do is insist on:

1. Neutral UN inspection to confirm Assad has no more chem weapons.
2. Neutrally overseen destruction of the stockpiles Assad surrenders.

[Arnulf Ogunkoya]

If the US wants to derail this all they have to do is insist on:

1. Neutral UN inspection to confirm Assad has no more chem weapons.
2. Neutrally overseen destruction of the stockpiles Assad surrenders.

And then
3. Ignore any reports to the effect that the weapons are gone.
or
3. Send in an attack before the inspectors/overseers have time to finish.

Y'know, like last time. But only if it is really needed to make the Pres look good.

[Repentence Tyrathlion]

Something interesting that was remarked on the BBC news I was listening to - Iran is on board and supporting the Russian initiative.  The interesting part was some speculation by the guy talking that this was possibly the start of a new Iranian approach to foreign policy from the guy who replaced I'madinnerjacket - specifically, getting stuck in on the Syrian crisis as a prelude to warmer relations with the west.

Meanwhile, we've got the theoretical situation of the French and US playing good cop/bad cop.  The French proposal of harsh punishments for failure and all that has been suggested to be just the hardline point to start negotiating from, and will rapidly soften - but the US has history of ignoring the UN and kicking peoples' teeth in, hence the looming shadow of bad cop without the need for heavy handed UN stuff.  Again, BBC hypotheses.

Still, I'm actually feeling vaguely positive about this whole mess for the first time in... well, ever.

[Reyd Karris]

Still, I'm actually feeling vaguely positive about this whole mess for the first time in... well, ever.

Same here. Hopefully the situation resolves peacefully and quickly. ::knocks on wood::