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| U.N. Security Council Approves Syria Resolution | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Fresh from victory in a compromise Security Council resolution to strip Syria of its chemical weapons, Russia’s foreign minister said Friday that the breakthrough was possible partly because the West has realized the threat of military force to solve conflicts is “ineffective, meaningless and destructive.” | Fresh from victory in a compromise Security Council resolution to strip Syria of its chemical weapons, Russia’s foreign minister said Friday that the breakthrough was possible partly because the West has realized the threat of military force to solve conflicts is “ineffective, meaningless and destructive.” |
| The foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, whose collaboration with Secretary of State John Kerry laid the groundwork for the resolution, also said in a General Assembly speech that he hoped the resolution would provide momentum to convene a conference aimed at purging the Middle East of all weapons of mass destruction. | The foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, whose collaboration with Secretary of State John Kerry laid the groundwork for the resolution, also said in a General Assembly speech that he hoped the resolution would provide momentum to convene a conference aimed at purging the Middle East of all weapons of mass destruction. |
| The Security Council resolution, finalized Thursday night by the five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — is aimed at coercing the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad to comply with a pledge to relinquish its chemical weapons. | The Security Council resolution, finalized Thursday night by the five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — is aimed at coercing the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad to comply with a pledge to relinquish its chemical weapons. |
| Although the resolution does not automatically threaten the use of force if Syria reneges — a Western concession granted to Russia — the measure nonetheless represents the Security Council’s most significant action to date on the Syria conflict. | |
| The full 15-member council unanimously approved the measure Friday night. | |
| Agreement on the resolution also reflected a dizzying rush of diplomacy that seemed unthinkable just a few weeks ago, when the Obama administration was threatening Mr. Assad with missile strikes in response to an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack near Damascus that left more than 1,400 people dead including more than 400 children. | Agreement on the resolution also reflected a dizzying rush of diplomacy that seemed unthinkable just a few weeks ago, when the Obama administration was threatening Mr. Assad with missile strikes in response to an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack near Damascus that left more than 1,400 people dead including more than 400 children. |
| Mr. Obama, who contended that the use of such weapons had crossed a threshhold of tolerance that could not go unaddressed, scrubbed the military strikes amid a crescendo of criticism at home and abroad that he risked entangling the United States in another war. His reversal was aided by Russia, which devised a diplomatic alternative under which Syria agreed to voluntarily relinquish its chemical weapons under the agreement negotiated by Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Kerry. | Mr. Obama, who contended that the use of such weapons had crossed a threshhold of tolerance that could not go unaddressed, scrubbed the military strikes amid a crescendo of criticism at home and abroad that he risked entangling the United States in another war. His reversal was aided by Russia, which devised a diplomatic alternative under which Syria agreed to voluntarily relinquish its chemical weapons under the agreement negotiated by Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Kerry. |
| Mr. Lavrov’s speech on Friday, as Russia’s representative during the annual General Assembly session in New York, seemed partly framed as a criticism of Mr. Obama, whose speech to the organization three days earlier had asserted that the United States would remain heavily engaged in the Middle East and leave all options open, including the use of force, to protect its interests. | Mr. Lavrov’s speech on Friday, as Russia’s representative during the annual General Assembly session in New York, seemed partly framed as a criticism of Mr. Obama, whose speech to the organization three days earlier had asserted that the United States would remain heavily engaged in the Middle East and leave all options open, including the use of force, to protect its interests. |
| “It is alarming to hear the statements on the right to use military force to ensure one’s own interest in the Middle East region under the pretext of the ‘remaining demand for leadership’ in international affairs,” Mr. Lavrov said according to the English translation of his speech, posted on the United Nations Web site. “All the recent history testifies that no State — no matter how big or powerful — can cope alone with the challenges of that scope faced by mankind today.” | “It is alarming to hear the statements on the right to use military force to ensure one’s own interest in the Middle East region under the pretext of the ‘remaining demand for leadership’ in international affairs,” Mr. Lavrov said according to the English translation of his speech, posted on the United Nations Web site. “All the recent history testifies that no State — no matter how big or powerful — can cope alone with the challenges of that scope faced by mankind today.” |
| Mr. Lavrov, whose country has supported Mr. Assad, also suggested in his speech that Western countries opposed to Mr. Assad because of his repression of the democratic opposition were increasingly coming around to Russia’s view that the greater danger in Syria lay in its growing attraction to jihadists. | Mr. Lavrov, whose country has supported Mr. Assad, also suggested in his speech that Western countries opposed to Mr. Assad because of his repression of the democratic opposition were increasingly coming around to Russia’s view that the greater danger in Syria lay in its growing attraction to jihadists. |
| “The desire to portray in a simplified way the developments in the Arab worlds as the struggle of democracies against tyrannies or the good against the evil has long obscured the problems associated with the rising wave of extremism which spills over to other regions today as well,” he said. | “The desire to portray in a simplified way the developments in the Arab worlds as the struggle of democracies against tyrannies or the good against the evil has long obscured the problems associated with the rising wave of extremism which spills over to other regions today as well,” he said. |
| “The terrorist attacks in Kenya have demonstrated all the gravity of this threat,” he said, referring to the shopping mall siege in Nairobi this week by fighters from the Shabab, a militant Islamist group in neighboring Somalia. | “The terrorist attacks in Kenya have demonstrated all the gravity of this threat,” he said, referring to the shopping mall siege in Nairobi this week by fighters from the Shabab, a militant Islamist group in neighboring Somalia. |