Syria CW | Charles Duelfer | Page 2

Category Archives: Syria CW

Syria CW – Success, but so what?

Syria has missed its latest deadline to finish removing Chemical agent and precursors from its territory.  However, they almost made it–about 92% done.  Bashar al-Assad clearly has moved to fulfill his obligation to get rid of his CW capability.  There … Continue reading

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Olympic Sport – CW Racing? And Snowden?

Snowden Lighting the Olympic Flame?  I bet someone in Moscow has considered it. The Olympics in Sochi are getting to be a test of political skill as well as athletic skill.  President Vladimir Putin clearly has Russia’s reputation, and more … Continue reading

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Syrian CW – The Slow Road to Latakia

Syria has will miss both target dates to remove its chemicals.  The most toxic amounts were due out at the end of the 2013 and the less dangerous components due out February 5th.   Security is not an excuse for the … Continue reading

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Syrian CW – The Next Stage

OPCW head Mehmet Uzumcu announced today that the initial removal of some chemicals from Syria had taken place today.  Chemicals in their specially designed and built containers were loaded onto the Danish ship Ark Futura at the port of Latakia.  … Continue reading

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Knowledge is Expensive – Veterans Day 2013

Knowledge is Expensive Veterans day celebrates those who have served the country in the military services.  There are many members of the military who served with me in the Iraq Survey Group (ISG).  Overall there were more than 1500 people … Continue reading

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Syrian CW – “Funtional Destruction”

The OPCW-UN inspectors for Syria have “completed the functional destruction of critical equipment for all of its declared chemical weapons production facilities and mixing/filling plants, rendering them inoperable.”  This is seven weeks after President Obama, in a dramatic prime time … Continue reading

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Syrian CW – Major Progress Continues – Who’s Left with CW?

While US media fixated on the budget scrum in Washington, things have been moving ahead toward the goal of eliminating Syrian CW.   Status. On the ground, inspectors are continuing to inventory and verify Syrian facilities, equipment and munitions.  They … Continue reading

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UN Security Council Resolution on Syrian CW–Good, But Who’s in Charge?

The UN process took a good step forward with the approval of UNSCR 2118 (http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2013/sc11135.doc.htm). It is important to remember that this will be the mechanism for eliminating the Syrian CW. The other UN activity–headed by Ake Sellstrom and presently … Continue reading

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The Syrian CW Declaration…So far, so good

Syria has taken the first critical step in the process laid out by Lavrov and Kerry last week in Geneva. Damascus made its initial declaration of its chemical weapons inventory and infrastructure to the technical secretariat of the Organization for … Continue reading

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The Syrian Framework Agreement

The Framework agreement and its two annexes get many things right. The burden of proof and all the heavy lifting are on Syria. The UN weapons inspectors are meant to verify Syrian declarations, direct the aggregation and ultimate disposal of … Continue reading

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