Was 'Russian Plan' on Syria actually a sly move by Kerry?

Some geopolitical analysts believe that Russia is giving its client state, Syria, a way out of a U.S. air strike by jumping on some rather casual remarks made by Secretary of State John Kerry.

After all, the Russians made 11^th-hour attempts to delay the Gulf War in 1991 and the Iraq War in 2003.

But I wonder if this so-called “Russian Plan” to have Syria surrender its chemical weapons stockpile is really the result of a sly move by Kerry, perhaps even a pre-planned effort by strategists in the State Department.

One factor to remember is that Kerry knows Syrian dictator Bashar Assad as well as nearly anyone in Washington as a result of his disastrous efforts in 2009-11 as a senator to treat Assad as a “reformer” and attempt to negotiate better U.S.-Syria diplomatic relations.

In 2010, Assad famously said, “I trust Sen. Kerry and I think he’s genuine.”

With that bit of history as a backdrop, here’s a scenario that I believe is worth considering:

Kerry has been talking tough but the Obama administration really doesn’t want to risk another war. Time is running out and the State Department needs to send a signal. One of Kerry’s aides privately approaches a CBS reporter before the Monday press conference in London and suggests that she ask the secretary if there’s anything Assad can do to end this standoff.

She asks and, on cue, Kerry says:

"He could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week. Turn it over, all of it, without delay and allow a full and total accounting. But he isn’t about to do it."

The Russians quickly jump on that supposedly offhand comment and propose to the world that Syria hand over its chemical weapons in exchange for a stand-down by the U.S. military. Within hours Russia has convinced Syria to “welcome” the proposal.

Some 24 hours later, it appears the plan may successfully allow Obama to look tough while also avoiding war.

*****

UPDATE: It appears I was right. This is from Buzzfeed:

“The Obama administration’s explanation of how a Russian proposal to get rid of Syrian chemical weapons came to be has morphed rapidly in the past 24 hours, from being portrayed as an unexpected slip-up to — in its new incarnation — a plan that U.S. officials were involved in as early as last week.

“’I had some conversations about this with my counterpart from Russia last week,’ Secretary of State John Kerry said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, referring to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. ‘President Putin raised the issue with President Obama at St. Petersburg. President Obama directed us to try to continue to talk and see if it is possible. So it is not something that — you know, suddenly emerged, though it did publicly.’”