We have been tortured for over a week now with the trials and tribulations of chemical weapons use by Syria against its civilians….tonite the Prez will go before the nation in prime time to make whatever case needs to be made for the use of force to make Syria pay for their transgression……but during the day on Monday an off comment by Sec. Kerry brought about a new twist in the game…..Russia has told Syria to give up its CWs…….

Newser) – Obama has weighed in on the Russian proposal to get Syria to surrender its stockpile of chemical weapons, calling it both a “potentially positive development” and a possible “breakthrough”—but only if it’s a genuine offer. The move comes after Hillary Clinton also made cautiously positive comments about the idea, as did John Kerry—though he later tried to back away from them. Like Clinton, Obama says in an interview with CNN that he doesn’t believe Russia and Syria would have made this gesture had the US not threatened to retaliate in the first place. But, he says in a separate interview with ABC News, if the plan does work, he would “absolutely” pause the military strike.

“We’re going to run this to ground,” Obama tells CNN, saying he and Kerry will work with Russia and others to “see if we can arrive at something that is enforceable and serious.” Obama acknowledges that removing every last chemical weapon from Syria won’t end the country’s civil war, “but it does solve the problem that I’m trying to focus on right now, which is making sure that you don’t have over 400 children gassed indiscriminately by these chemical weapons.”

And then Mrs. Clinton when getting some medal of some sort had to weigh in on the unfolding story……

(Newser) – Hillary Clinton at last broke her silence on Syria today, offering a cautiously positive US response to Russia’s proposal that Syria turn over its chemical weapons stockpiles, Talking Points Memo reports. Clinton, who said she’d just spoken with President Obama about the day’s events, said that:

• If the regime immediately surrendered its stockpiles to international control … that would be an important step. But this cannot be another excuse for delay or obstruction. And Russia has to support the international community’s efforts sincerely or be held to account.

Kerry had initially appeared to forward the same idea, but the State Department then walked it back as merely a rhetorical statement. Clinton added that these negotiations “only could take place in the context of a credible military threat by the United States.” Clinton also reiterated Obama’s position that the Assad regime’s “inhuman use of weapons of mass destruction against innocent men, women, and children” demanded “a strong response.” But she said the US was ultimately best served by a political solution along the lines negotiated last year in Geneva, CNN reports.

And then the foreign minister of Syria had his say on the issue at hand……

Newser) – Syria is on board with Russia’s proposal to put its chemical weapons under international control, Foreign Minister Walid Moallem told reporters in Moscow today. Moallem earlier met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov today, and says he “welcomes” Lavrov’s suggestion, CNN reports. John Kerry appeared to suggest something similar today, and so did UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said he might urge the Security Council to demand Syria turn over its stockpiles for destruction. Ban said that, had chemical weapons been used, it would be a “terrible crime.”

But the statement doesn’t necessarily mean Syria will avoid a US strike. The State Department is now walking back Kerry’s comments, with a spokeswoman saying he “was making a rhetorical argument about the impossibility and unlikelihood of Assad turning over chemical weapons he has denied he used.” And writing for the AP, Vladimir Isachenkov observes that Moallem made no mention of timeline or specifics and notes that it remains to be seen whether his comments are truly “a genuine goodwill gesture by Syria or simply an attempt to buy time.”

While I was in the middle of compiling this post breaking news came over the wire…….

Though plenty remain skeptical that Syria will in fact hand over its chemical weapons, today began with more forward movement: Syria’s foreign minister says his government has “agreed to the Russian initiative” to hand over its chemical weapons for subsequent dismantling in order to “uproot US aggression.” The AP calls this apparent acceptance even “more definitive” than yesterday’s. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today said that Russia is consulting Ban Ki-moon and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons as it drafts the plan.

• France, for its part, intends to put that plan to the test: It will tonight present a draft resolution to the UN Security Council so that the world can “judge the credibility of the intentions that were expressed yesterday,” per its foreign minister, the Guardian and New York Times report. (As Reuters puts it, France is “turning a Russian idea into a full-blown diplomatic proposal.”)
• Among the “nonnegotiable” elements of France’s resolution, per the Guardian: All chemical weapons would have to promptly be turned over for destruction, and those behind the Aug. 21 attack must be brought before the International Criminal Court. The resolution would notably invoke Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which makes it binding and militarily enforceable. The Wall Street Journal notes, however, that Russia previously refused to get on board with a similar, secret Syria proposal because it was also made under Chapter 7. Russia and China have also previously pushed back against ICC involvement.
• Syria’s main opposition group is not on board with Russia’s plan. The Guardian reports that the Syrian National Coalition today called the proposal “a political strategy that aims to stall for more time, which will allow the regime to cause more death and destruction.” But the plan did gain another supporter today, reports Reuters: China.
• Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch today released a 22-page report that places the blame for the Aug. 21 chemical attack at the regime’s feet. It notes “Human Rights Watch and arms experts … have not documented Syrian opposition forces to be in the possession of the 140mm and 330mm rockets used in the attack or their associated launchers.”

Okay that is the story as it has unfolded at the time of this post…….Assad would not admit to having CWs in an interview recently and now they are willing to give up something they do not have…..sound fishy to you?  Yeah, me too.

Personally, this sounds like s delaying tactic, maybe trying to head off any strikes by the US….this could backfire on them but it should slow down the raging beast of intervention.

This needs to be watched closely for breaks in this whole wall that Syria is trying to build……but sadly Americans are more interested in Miley Cyrus twerking some old guy or her “restless tongue syndrome”…….just another sand pile in which to stick our heads until it is too late and then we can bitch and call each names…..kinda pathetic IMO…..