四六级与考研英语阅读资料046.docxVIP

Syria’s chemical weaponsDistrust and verifyRussia’s plan to disarm Syria’s chemical weapons makes sense only if it is backed by the threat of forceSep 14th 2013 |From the print editionTweetNEVER surrender the initiative. In handling Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons in Syria, Barack Obama has twice broken this basic rule of diplomacy. First the president submitted his administration’s muddled case for reprisals to a vote in a hostile Congress. Now he has handed the steering-wheel to Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president and no friend of America. Mr Putin is championing a scheme to disarm Syria’s poison gas and nerve agents.Disarmament might yet work. But the danger is that Mr Assad will be free to duck and feint until what little determination there is to punish him dissipates like sarin in the Damascus breeze. To regain control, Mr Obama and his allies in the West should seek a tight UN resolution instructing Syria to co-operate. If either Mr Assad or Mr Putin cynically obstructs the UN, then America should even now be ready to strike.In this sectionOne woman to rule them allBackdoor dealingsDistrust and verifyEnding the shameHow to taper safelyHang onReprintsRelated topicsRussiaBarack ObamaPoliticsGovernment and politicsPolitical policyThe best outcome of allRussia’s proposal came after John Kerry, Mr Obama’s secretary of state, told a press conference, in a throwaway remark, that the Syrian regime could escape a strike only if it gave up its chemical weapons—not that it ever would. Russia seized on his words and proposed precisely that. Mr Assad, it said, should agree to the eradication of his chemical weapons under Russia and UN supervision. That would stop him launching another nerve-agent attack like the one on August 21st that killed almost 1,500 people. It would prove that the world will not tolerate chemical warfare. And, after months spent talking past each other, the great powers would at last have a chance to work together in the UN to end Syria’s bloo