Putin: 'Can't Say 100%' Assad Will Give Up Chemical Weapons

by JASmius

Well, I'm stunned:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he isn’t “100%” certain that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will fulfill his commitment to give up chemical weapons.

Putin’s comments today may indicate that Russia, Syria’s arms provider and ally, harbors doubts about Assad’s reliability, though less so than the U.S., which has demanded a quick and intrusive process to prevent the use of Syria’s chemical arsenal and to test whether the Syrian leader will give it up.

Putin said Syria has taken “practical steps” by joining the Chemical Weapons Convention barring such arms and it now faces a disarmament process under a U.S.-Russia accord reached last week in Geneva that begins with an accounting of the weapons inventory due September 21.

“Will it be possible to bring everything to a conclusion?” Putin said in Valdai, Russia. “I can’t say 100%. But everything that we’ve seen up to now inspires confidence that this can and will be done.”

Of course, if Putin really wanted Assad to divest himself of his - which is to say, Saddam Hussein's - chemical weapons stockpile, let's just say he would be "1,000%" certain that his client would "fulfill his commitment."  Or else his mutilated corpse would be found floating in the Euphrates River or wherever.

Just one more noogie chortlingly delivered to President Red Lines' trophy-head.  Pity the Pachyderm Funeral Pyre will keep anybody from noticing it.