The Syrian Civil War Update Thread

[Mr Khan]

mai said:

Mr Khan said:
It's an interesting compromise on Russia's part, namely because it would set a bad precedent (for Russia's long-term geopolitical view) allowing us to essentially shake down countries for their WMDs

It seems you just make up arguments here. CWs might be WMDs but they do not play any significant deterrent role nuclear weapons do (and those only with adequate means of transportation), they are non-essential for Syria outside of threatening Israel civilians, maybe, which is counterproductive rather than useful -- see my posts about minimal CW efficiency against regular army.

The concern from Russia's perspective would be that it validates the Western position that non-western allies are not allowed to use WMDs under any circumstances, and that merely doing so entitles the Western powers to demand that the country surrender their stockpile or risk being destroyed, especially since Syria was breaking no international law, due to being a non-signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention.

I guess Russia feels that the danger of outright American intervention outweighs the bad precedent towards Western interference that this sets otherwise.