Marc Pierini, a former diplomat now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and I appeared on Friday morning on Monocle 24’s The Globalist to discuss the supposed “deal” over the handover and destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons.
Listen to discussion from 8:10 on The Globalist homepage or in a pop-out window
In contrast to Pierini’s cautious welcome of the “major step forward”, I am pessimistic to the point of dismissal — at least with respect to the Syrian crisis.
1. What if Syria does not comply, not only weeks but months down the line — spinning this out?
2. “The big story in Syria is not chemical weapons — it is the heavy use of conventional weapons. That has expanded in the last few weeks, because this is the only way the regime feels it can keep control.
“The chemical weapons issue is a sideshow.”
(Featured Photo: US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov)
