Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iran's new president for the first time this week, reportedly armed with an offer to supply missile systems and build a second nuclear power reactor that is likely to gladden Tehran and trouble the United States.
Huh. Well, it's nice to have a timely reminder of just what kind of Russia Putin is making.
If Russia really gets Assad to agree to remove chemical weapons from Syria, I'd check the fine print to make sure Russia isn't moving them to Iran. Just saying.
But we can recover from this diplomatic faux pas by Kerry and his boss by writing a UN resolution to implement that chimerical disarmament plan that Russia cannot allow to pass. Condemn Assad. Make it hard enough on Assad that we could arguably use failure to abide by every provision as authorization to strike.
For fun, add a provision that allows Western planes to patrol Syria's skies to verify disarmament procedures and to protect UN personnel looking at facilities. Obviously, Syrian planes can't fly at all because of the need for this provision.
Russia will veto it. Or China will. That will end this delaying action and put Russia on record as being fine with Assad's actions.
Smart diplomacy would exploit their devotion to Assad and the notion that states can even gas their own people without the international community being able to say a word about it.
And will someone get Kerry a TelePrompter and tell him to read it exactly as printed?
UPDATE: Ka-ching! The price tag keeps going up:
A senior lawmaker and ally of President Vladimir Putin suggested on Wednesday that Russia could increase arms sales to Iran or review cooperation over Afghanistan if the United States launches military strikes against Syria.
To be fair, "reset" was our delusion and not a Russian plot to deceive us. The Russians pointed out from the start that it was "overcharge."
