Kerry's Mind Games

Published in der Standard
(Austria) on 9 September 2013
by Gudrun Harrer (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Kelly Barksdale. Edited by Laurence Bouvard.
Everything is meant “rhetorically”: That’s how it was with Vladimir Putin’s change of heart, when he said he would agree to a military intervention if the use of poison gas by Assad’s regime could be proven. Now U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has issued an ultimatum to Bashar al-Assad: He must hand over the chemical weapons within a week if he wants to stop a U.S. attack. The Department of State intervened, saying that wasn’t what was meant. Moscow ran with it anyway, with the suggestion that Syrian chemical weapons be placed under international control. The Syrians jumped at the idea.

Technically and politically, the undertaking would be nearly impossible. Even assuming Assad miraculously decided to hand some weapons over, who could verify that they were “the” Syrian chemical weapons? And then, assuming the greater miracle — Assad gave over everything he had — who would believe him?

In any case, we can at least hope that the U.S. will stop trying not just for international legitimacy, but also for international legality. After all, Kerry’s mind games only work when an internationally independent body is in charge of the weapons question. There already is one, though: Why Washington does not declare its readiness to wait for the U.N. inspectors’ report, which they compiled from samples in Syria, is hard to understand.


Alles nur "rhetorisch" gemeint: So war es mit der "Wende" Wladimir Putins, als er sagte, er wäre zur Zustimmung zu einem Militärschlag bereit, falls die Giftgas-Angriffe des Assad-Regimes bewiesen würden. Und nun kommt das "Ultimatum" von US-Außenminister John Kerry an Bashar al-Assad, er müsse in einer Woche seine Chemiewaffen übergeben, wenn er einen US-Angriff verhindern wolle. Das State Department griff ein: nicht so gemeint. Moskau setzte sich trotzdem darauf, mit dem Vorschlag, die syrischen C-Waffen unter internationale Kontrolle zu stellen. Und die Syrer sprangen prompt auf.

Technisch und politisch wäre das Unterfangen fast unmöglich: Einmal angenommen, das Wunder träte ein und Assad würde tatsächlich etwas abliefern - wie und wer sollte verifizieren, ob das "die" syrischen C-Waffen sind? Und was, wenn das Wunder noch größer wäre und Assad alles, was er hat, hergibt: Wer würde ihm glauben?

Aber immerhin, ganz kurz mochte man hoffen, die USA würden sich nun nicht mehr nur um internationale Legitimität bemühen - das tun sie -, sondern auch um internationale Legalität. Denn Kerrys Gedankenspiel funktioniert eben nur, wenn sich ein unabhängiges internationales Organ mit der Waffenfrage befasst. Dieses gibt es aber bereits: Warum Washington nicht seine Bereitschaft erklärt, auf den Bericht der Uno-Inspektoren, die in Syrien Proben gesammelt haben, zu warten, ist schwer verständlich.
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