Out of a moment of extreme crisis has come an opportunity-now it's up to all sides to seize "IT" with both hands.

We can write a new chapter in the diplomatic handbook, dedicate it to the off-the-cuff remark – the gaffe even – which averts a war.

"We don't yet know if John Kerry's apparently unplanned comment in London, suggesting Syria could avoid a US military strike by turning over its stash of chemical weapons, has set in train a process that will ultimately prevent armed American action. But Barack Obama described it as a "possible breakthrough" and the relief can be felt across multiple world capitals.

Of course the practical problems are legion – one report claims that getting rid of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile could take not weeks or months but "years". Nevertheless, this latest initiative deserves to be taken seriously because it gives all the key players something they need. Crucially, it would allow the antagonists to step back from the brink without losing face.

For Bashar al-Assad, the prize is obvious. If he agrees to ban the banned weapons, to use the vocabulary of the Northern Ireland decommissioning process, he can dodge the US bullet that was perhaps coming his way. Even with Kerry promising on Monday that any attack would be "unbelievably small", Assad would still prefer to avoid an American attack if he can.

For Russia, whose foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, seized on Kerry's rhetorical flourish and turned it into an initiative, there is a double benefit. First, Vladimir Putin gets to pose as the global statesman who stayed the hand of the mighty American hyper power. Second, Russia has its own reasons for wanting to see Syria's toxic arsenal put beyond use. Moscow has long worried about such weaponry falling into opposition jihadist hands should Assad fall. Spiriting it out of Syria dampens that danger. (Tehran is said to support the latest Russian plan for similar reasons.)"(source: guardian.uk)



Let's be honest about this. This is good for a public that does not want to be embroiled in war, but this is a victory for Assad, and unlikely to end the war. The revulsion produced by his use of chemical weapons (and before someone's knee-jerk response about definite proof, it doesn't really matter for the point I'm trying to make) shows Assad what a poor part of his arsenal chemical weapons really are. He can't use them without risking a western response. So he's giving up something e can't use, for what is in effect a free hand in dealing with his opponents. 100,000 have died before chemical weapons were used, and no one is going to lift a finger as long as he uses conventional weapons. The west has nothing on him, no cards to play, why would he make the slightest concession...
This gaffe will not stop war, because we are already at war with Syria (thanks to the terrorists we have sent in), and because the US wants hegemony over the Middle East to offset the decline of its empire....The suggestion that Assad did this is laughable.
If CW were launched, then there would be satellite imagery from just before the attack, showing a missile launched from within regime held areas. The numerous US geo-stationary satellites that are currently hovering over Syria are designed to spot these things. They've been doing it for decades.
This evidence doesn't exist because it never happened. We know the terrorists are in possession of CW, we know that they have already used them, and we know they had the most to gain from the use of CW...So who do we think used them?
Apparently it's whoever the Botox bandit (Kerry) plucks out of a hat FFS!!!

Ending the summit, Mr Putin said that world opinion was firmly against US-led intervention, and warned that Russia would take the Syrian side in the event of conflict.

“Will we help Syria? We will,” he said. “We are already helping, we send arms.”

He added: “We cooperate in the economics sphere, we hope to expand our cooperation in the humanitarian sphere, which includes sending humanitarian aid to support those people - the civilians - who have found themselves in a very dire situation in this country.”

Russia has been a long-time supplier of weapons to Syria, including a state-of-the-art air-defense system that would threaten even US warplanes attempting to attack. The Russian president said his country would stand with the Assad regime in Syria if the US launches airstrikes.

The apparent threat came as the G20 summit ended with a public split, 11 of its members issuing a statement hinting at the need for US action against the Assad regime of its alleged use of chemical weapons. Russia already supplies military aid to Syria, but the hint of more Russian backing in the event of a confrontation with the US sent jitters through financial markets worldwide.

Mr Putin also mocked Western leaders like US President Barack Obama considering intervening in Syria, suggesting that the majority of their electorates opposed any military action - including Prime Minister David Cameron for failing to persuade the Commons to back British involvement.

Mr Obama, meanwhile, compared the Syrian crisis to World War II, likening his country’s debate over intervention to the eventual American decision to support Britain against Nazi Germany.