Source: BBC World News
Speaking on BBC World News, Carnegie's George Perkovich discussed the proposal to seize chemical weapons from Syria and place them under international control. The Russian proposal could have significant value, said Perkovich, since the reason President Obama was considering the use of force in the first place was to deter the Assad government from using chemical weapons in the future.
"With the announcement of this plan," said Perkovich, "you have Russia's prestige associated with the issue of chemical weapons and it becomes that much harder for the Assad government to use these weapons again, so already I think a deterrent against future use is starting to be established."
"Furthermore," added Perkovich, "the Russian interest and the international support for it begins to create a precedent that can be very useful in the area of chemical, biological weapons, and the precedent is 'if you use these weapons you will lose them,' so 'use them and lose them.'"