One, at least the pace of removing chemicals from Syria has picked up:
The OPCW said three consignments of both "Priority 1" chemicals and less hazardous "Priority 2" chemicals have been shipped from Latakia over the past week.
The 11 consignments represent 49.3% of all the chemicals that must be removed from Syria for destruction, including 34.8% of Priority 1 chemicals and 82.6% of Priority 2 chemicals.
I know that at some level I just don't grok nuance, but I don't think the word "priority" means what the OPCW thinks it means.
Shouldn't all of the priority 1 chemicals be removed by now with, oh, maybe just a quarter of the so-called "priority 2" chemicals removed?
I mean, if we've gone to the effort to prioritize their danger, why not remove the higher priority chemicals first? That was the plan, after all:
The removal of Priority 1 chemicals was initially due by 31 December, while the deadline for the shipment of Priority 2 material was 5 February.
We'll see if Assad can inflict a lethal blow against the rebels under cover of this agreement before he loses all of his chemicals.