not holding to it. or another deal breaker is if there is insistence that the assad government assumed guilt for the august 21st use of chemical weapons, that those in the government, the responsible for that, would be put to trial. still, senator diane feinstein and others believe putin does want to reach a deal to end this crisis, that he doesn t want to syria to have chemical weapons. yaffe says putin wants to show president obama he has the ability to end this peacefully if mr. obama can t, and there is another motivation. to be center stage, to be somebody that you reckon with and somebody that you have to come to and seek his approval and you have to come and kiss his ring, the world has to kiss his ring, i think that s part of it. what is frustrating to american leaders, putin s ties to syria could kill any effort to punish bashar al assad or they could be the only way to avoid a military strike.
weapons under international control and he says the perpetrators of the crime in his words have to be brought before the international criminal court. that s referring to bashar al assad, and he is begging for more ammunition to help his fighters. what s your reaction? what do you think? does this russian initiative havea averting u.s. military action. i have multiple concerns. assume russia is successful. we have now made russia a major player in the middle east. anwar sadat through them out 40 years ago and now he is injecting himself back into the middle east which will have real consequences. aren t they already a major player? they re the principle ally, the backer of military support, political support, financial support, for the syrian regime, so aren t they already a player? they re a player only one-on-one with syria. now they will have influence over the region, and that will
powerful way, so knowing that we have to be very, very leery how we go forward on this. we have no choice right now. once john kerry let the cat out of the bag. and now that the process has begun we ll play it out and see what happens and if the russians were to succeed in convincing bashar al assad to destroy the chemical weapons stock pile in syria, russia s prestige in the region would be enhanced. that might be a negative but on the positive side no more chemical weapons in syria, that would be extremely positive development for so much of the region, and thanks very much, congressman, for joining us. thank you. appreciate it. just ahead, eliminating chemical weapons in a war zone, why it could be potentially some say a mission impossible. we re taking a look at the daurchti daunting realities when we take a look at our coverage as the crisis in syria continues. [ male announcer ] these days, a small business can save by sharing.
doing this in complete faith. we have a long and winding history with the russians. we re going into this eyes wide open. reporter: in fact, even before negotiations begin, the u.s. and russia already have stark differences. on how long assad would have to give up his weapons, whether a u.n. resolution would be binding and crucially whether a deal would include the threat of force, which russian president vladimir putin has publicly ruled out. we can t give up that right. if we give up that right, in the cynical, bitter world of middle east politics, assad will not comply with this agreement. reporter: president obama himself has not set any red lines on the negotiations in public. that may be intentional to give secretary kerry some negotiating room. but on that key issue of force, the administration says there is no wiggle room. one u.s. official saying to me just now that the president would never agree to something that would limit his ability to use force if he believed th
weapons but actually wind up destroying them. why would bashar al assad do that? he may conclude that that would be his only way to remain in power, give up the chemical weapons, or follow in the foot steps of libya s gadhafi. jim acosta begins our special coverage of the crisis in syria. he is at the white house. jim, what is the very latest. ? today press secretary jay carneys said it is on the line when it comes to dealing with syria s chemical weapons but says the u.s. has seen more corporation from russia in the last two takes lan the last two years. the white house is hardly brimming with confidence that diplomacy will work. with president obama out of the white house at a volunteer event on this 9/11 anniversary, administration officials were fielding questions on syria and offering few answers. there is no timeline yet for the still developing russian proposal to rid syria of its chemical weapons. i don t want to suggest that