HAVANA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro has lauded as smart a Russian proposal for a commitment by Damascus to remove its arsenal of chemical weapons, which he said helped decrease the possibility of a U.S. military attack against Syria.
The risk of the Syria conflict to explode seems to have diminished thanks to the intelligent Russian initiative, which stood strong before the unusual claim of the U.S. government, Castro wrote in his article titled Undeletable Memories.
The article was published on Saturday but was dated Sept. 10, the same day when Moscow announced its plan in a bid to prevent the worsening of the conflict in Syria.
U.S. threats to throw a demolishing attack against the Syrian defenses could cost thousands of lives to the Syrian people and untie a conflict of unpredictable consequences, Castro said.
U.S. President Barack Obama threatened a punitive military strikes against Syria in response to the alleged Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government in the suburbs of Damascus.
On Tuesday, Russia proposed the Syrian chemical arsenal be put under international control, which was accepted by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who also said that his government will join the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
After Syria agreed to the Russian proposal, Obama asked Congress to delay a vote to allow time for negotiations between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to "bear fruit."
Castro said Lavrov "contributed maybe to avoiding an immediate global catastrophe."
Castro, who turned 87 last month, said the American people are also opposed to a political adventure that would affect not only its own country, but also the whole humanity.
In August, Castro said that an attack on Syria would be a genocide against the Arab people.
Cuban Foreign Ministry has called for a political solution to the Syria crisis and rejected "any attempt to undermine its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity."
After three days of intense negotiations, Kerry and Lavrov agreed Saturday on a framework to secure and destroy Syria's chemical weapons by mid-2014 and impose UN penalties if the Bashar al-Assad government fails to comply.
According to the framework, Syria must submit a "comprehensive listing" of its chemical weapons stockpiles within a week, and weapons inspectors must be on the ground in Syria by November.
|
