Things are moving fast diplomatically and militarily regarding Syria. Today, Kerry said somewhat in passing in London that the only way out for the Syrian regime would be to hand over its chemical weaponry within a week. Blunder? No matter, the Russian government quickly moved and proposed to ask the Syrian government not only to accept to put their stocks of chemical weapons under the control of international observers (whatever that means), but also move towards destruction of those weapons, and join the treaty on prohibition of chemical weapons (I suppose what is meant is the 1992–93 Chemical Weapons Convention. I’m only quoting from The Guardian). It presents an out for the players, certainly for Obama. Most importantly, it opens the possibility of going back to the UN (I mean the Security Council), as well as resuming negotiations eventually with Iran. All in good time. What moved the Russian authorities? Were they concerned that the strike contemplated by the US was going to seriously degrade Assad’s forces and make it more likely that Free Syrian Army forces, competing al-Qaeda forces, and other groups armed by Saudi Arabia and US allies would become strong enough to topple the regime?

This recent development makes it more difficult for the present conservative government of Israel to contemplate an eventual strike of Iran’s nuclear installations. Such a dangerous move was becoming a possibility as Obama, who is distrusted by the Israeli right, not to say despised, was preparing to go to Congress and would almost certainly walk back from the “red line” he drew regarding the use of chemical weapons by Assad’s regime. Israel has its own red lines, especially regarding Iran, Syria, and the Hezbollah. It can now relax a bit and continue to watch Obama. I hope the US government seizes the opportunity of opening a new round of negotiations with Russia and China at the Security Council, while aiming at some uneasy balance of power between Turkey, Iran, Irak, Egypt, Israel, and the petro-monarchies.