Syria | Charles Duelfer

Tag Archives: Syria

Syrian CW – “Funtional Destruction”

The OPCW-UN inspectors for Syria have “completed the functional destruction of critical equipment for all of its declared chemical weapons production facilities and mixing/filling plants, rendering them inoperable.”  This is seven weeks after President Obama, in a dramatic prime time … Continue reading

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The Syrian CW Declaration…So far, so good

Syria has taken the first critical step in the process laid out by Lavrov and Kerry last week in Geneva. Damascus made its initial declaration of its chemical weapons inventory and infrastructure to the technical secretariat of the Organization for … Continue reading

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Lavrov-Kerry Agreement on Syria-Now What?

Sometimes things work out. This may be one of those occasions. It appears the US has agreed with the general Lavrov proposition that an arrangement similar to what was imposed upon Saddam in the 1990’s be applied to Syria. This … Continue reading

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Lavrov’s Plan

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has offered a plan that could provide a way out of the Obammá Syrian dilemma. Lavrov, who was Russian ambassador to the UN during the height of the Iraqi-UN weapons inspection activities, seems to have … Continue reading

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At times like this, What would Saddam do?

Among the various rationales expressed for a military strike on Syria is that need to make Bashir al-Assad pay a price for using CW. But what does Bashir value? We learned from debriefing Saddam that his value structure was much … Continue reading

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Response to US attack – Cyber?

It is hard to imagine Moscow or Tehran or Damascus doing absolutely nothing in response to a US attack. Will it be Cyber? If I were Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, that’s what I would be talking about with President Putin. … Continue reading

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Sniper Attacks on UN Inspectors – Not Surprising

Dr. Ake Seltron’s UN inspection team has now drawn sniper fire. Unfortunately, the UN inspectors are easy targets. To do their job, they have to be out in the open. Using highly visible UN SUVs may be questionable, but committed … Continue reading

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Syrian Agreement for Inspections–Why?

If Damascus is permitting the weapons inspectors access to the sites of recent apparent CW attack sites (as reported Sunday 25 August 2013) then why, if they had a role in the recent attacks? First, the weapons inspectors are only … Continue reading

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Syria CW Use: Who crossed whose red-line?

Did Bashir cross Obama’s redline, or the other way around? The perspective in Damascus may be different. The Syrian situation has taken yet another turn for the worse. Which is to say it has become even more unpredictable. The apparent … Continue reading

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Bashir CW Action will Unify Security Council – And NATO Will Bomb-And Iran?

NBC’s Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski (who has been working in the Pentagon longer than many of its current inhabitants have been alive) reported yesterday: “The Syrian military is prepared to use chemical weapons against its own people and is awaiting … Continue reading

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