Russia Wants Syria to Join Chemical Weapons Convention

Logo of the Organisation for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in
the Hague, the Netherlands.

As a possible outcome of President Obama's meeting with President Putin of Russia, Russia is proposing a UN draft declaration backing an initiative to put Syrian chemical weapons under international control.

France is independently seeking a UN response under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the initial French draft resolution is "unacceptable" because it simply holds the Syrian government responsible for the use of chemical weapons.

Obama, according to the NY Times, is prepared to pursue control of chemical weapons in Syria by working through the UN.

Besides Obama - for whom the Russian proposal provides a face-saving alternative to a military strike - French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron have said they will review the Russian proposal seriously.

The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet in an emergency session at 4 p.m. to discuss Syrian use of chemical weapons. President Obama will address the nation on Syria this evening at 9 pm Eastern Time - at WH.Gov/Syria.

While little-mentioned in the Mainstream Media so far, Russia appears to want to give the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) more authority, and in particular wants Syria to join in the membership. He also told Russian television today that the United States and its allies should "pledge to renounce the use of force" as world powers work to deal with the Syrian chemical weapons issue. He said:

It is difficult to make any country -- Syria or any other country -- unilaterally disarm if there is military action against it under consideration.

According to Interfax (Russia's news agency), Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Moallem says that it is willing to disclose the location of its chemical weapons, stop producing more of it, and allow inspection by representatives of Russia, the UN, and other unspecified states, according to a report today from Russia's Interfax news agency. Reuters says Syria promises to give up chemical weapons, but there is no deal on the table yet at the UN.

U.S. Membership in the Chemical Weapons Convention

At our brunch in support of Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney yesterday, there was many questions about Syria. One question was whether and when the United States signed the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The United States signed the Convention on January 13, 1993, seven days before the end of President George H. W. Bush's term.

It came into force the first year of President Clinton's second term. The UK and USA memberships in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons came into effect the same day, April 29, 1997. They are listed by number on the OPCW website; these numbers do not reflect the order of signature.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is NOT a United Nations Agency, but operates as an independent organization in the Hague, the Netherlands. It has 189 member countries, at last count on the OPCW website. Syria is NOT one of the members.

SYRIA | NY Voters Opposed to U.S. Action

Rep. Carolyn Maloney gives mic to Alice

Tepper Marlin as Rep. Tim Bishop looks on.

Sept. 8, 2013–A vote on military action was taken at a fundraiser that my wife Alice and I supported for Rep. Carolyn Maloney yesterday on the East End of Long Island, NY, hosted by Rep. Tim Bishop.

The Q&A was extraordinary. Sharp questions, good answers. The voters of NY1 and NY12 are well represented.

Neither Bishop nor Maloney is listed as of September 6 (Friday) in the Think Progress tabulation as leaning either for or against action in Syria. In the House of Representatives, 39 expect to vote yes to Syrian action, 223 probably no.

Polls show that most Americans oppose U.S. action in Syria.

This is reflected in the mail for Rep. Bishop. He says that 95 percent of his constituents' messages are against a strike in Syria.

Rep. Maloney asked for a show of hands for support of a strike at Syria for use of chemical weapons. Only three people put their hands up, and 40-50 hands went up by people opposed.

SYRIA | Statements from House and President

HASC Chairman McKeon.

Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-CA), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, gave his views on the President's request for authorization to use military force in Syria on CNN's New Day, yesterday, September 2, to Anchor Chris Cuomo:

Over the last couple of years the President has surged the troops in Afghanistan while he cut the military budget. He flew missions over Libya while he cut the military’s budget. He changed the strategy to focus on the Pacific, while he cut the military budget. Our military has had over a trillion dollars cut over the last couple of years and going forward. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Chiefs that serve with him have not had any kind of certainty in how they plan and what they look forward to from year to year over the last couple of years.

This Sequestration - the President needs to fix. This would be a great time to fix that. To show the military that while we are asking them to continue on with mission after mission after mission. Instead of cutting back, like [President Obama] told them the day before he announced this decision that they weren’t going to receive the pay next year that they have been planning on.

Instead of doing that kind of thing to our military, we ought to look out for them just as we are looking out for those people in Syria. ... We cannot keep asking the military to perform mission after mission with sequestration and military cuts hanging over their heads. We have to take care of our own people first. ... The world has not gotten safer and yet we are cutting a trillion dollars out of our military- asking them to do more with less.

House Speaker Boehner.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced today (September 3) that he would support President Barack Obama's call for action in Syria, and urged his colleagues to do so as well.

I'm going to support the president's call for action. I believe my colleagues should support this call for action. We have enemies around the world that need to understand that we're not going to tolerate this type of behavior.

His spokesman, Michael Steel, added that the President should be making the case:

The Speaker offered his support for the president’s call to action, and encourages all Members of Congress to do the same. Now, it is the president’s responsibility to make his case to the American people and their elected representatives. 

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Ohio) said today (September 3) that he would support a resolution backing military action.

While the authorizing language will likely change, the underlying reality will not. America has a compelling national security interest to prevent and respond to the use of weapons of mass destruction, especially by a terrorist state such as Syria, and to prevent further instability in a region of vital interest to the United States.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also voiced support for military action in Syria.

President Obama did not draw the red line. Humanity drew it decades ago.

President Barack Obama said that he was confident that Congress would pass a resolution.

So long as we are accomplishing what needs to be accomplished, which is to send a clear message to Assad, to degrade his capabilities to use chemical weapons, not just now but also in the future, as long as the authorization allows us to do that, I'm confident that we're going to be able to come up with something that hits that mark.