The Latest on Syria

The United States and Russia have reportedly reached a deal that would see Syria's arsenal of chemical weapons destroyed:

The United States and Russia reached a sweeping agreement on Saturday that called for Syria's arsenal of chemical weapons to be removed or destroyed by the middle of 2014 and indefinitely stalled the prospect of American airstrikes.

The joint announcement, on the third day of intensive talks in Geneva, also set the stage for one of the most challenging undertakings in the history of arms control.

"This situation has no precedent," said Amy E. Smithson, an expert on chemical weapons at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. "They are cramming what would probably be five or six years' worth of work into a period of several months, and they are undertaking this in an extremely difficult security environment due to the ongoing civil war."

Meanwhile, Syrian rebel forces are still pleading for US airstrikes, and General Salim Idris, the head of the Western-backed rebels' nominal military command, the Supreme Military Council, isn't happy with the compromise: "All of this initiative does not interest us. Russia is a partner with the regime in killing the Syrian people. A crime against humanity has been committed, and there is not any mention of accountability." So, it basically looks like we've managed to make everyone pissed off at the US at this point, even as we continue to try to thread the needle in the worst way:

George Little, the Pentagon press secretary, emphasized that the possibility of unilateral American military force was still on the table. "We haven't made any changes to our force posture to this point," Mr. Little said. "The credible threat of military force has been key to driving diplomatic progress, and it's important that the Assad regime lives up to its obligations under the framework agreement."

Secretary of State John Kerry (Bad Cop) reiterated yesterday that the "threat of force is real" if Syria doesn't comply with handing over their chemical weaponry, while President Obama (Good Cop) stopped by This Week with George Stephanopoulos in order to put a hopeful spin on the emergent diplomatic resolution, noting that "a actual, verifiable deal that will begin that process" hasn't been struck, but "the distance that we’ve traveled over these couple of weeks is remarkable."

So that's where we are. "Comply or we bomb you! (But please don't make us bomb you.)"

Discuss.