The US-Russian deal to resolve the Syrian chemical weapons crisis following intensive discussions in Geneva was a success in brinkmanship diplomacy. It avoided an anticipated US strike against Syria that would have reshuffled the cards in the crisis. A strike would have also jeopardized an already difficult settlement process, endangering reaching of a solution or making it more complicated.
The deal provides a lesson on the effectiveness of diplomacy and points to how important it is for the two superpowers to work together to reach an understanding on managing and containing the Syrian crisis as a sine qua non for avoiding escalation, which could be costly to everyone’s interests.
