In the race to dispose of our chemical weapons stockpiles, Russia is inching past the United States. Both nations had in excess of 30,000 tons, and Russia started later, but it doesn't have crazy activists and dirty politicians reaping the benefits of the disposal program. Well, okay, they have activists, but not as crazy or dirty...
Russia has acknowledged that it would not meet the deadline for complete elimination of its arsenal of chemical warfare materials, the head of the international organization that oversees the Chemical Weapons Convention announced yesterday.
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The new anticipated end date for Russian disposal operations is 2015, Rogelio Pfirter, director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said during this week's meeting of the Hague-based agency's Executive Council.
The full text of his address was not made public today, but an OPCW spokesman confirmed the statement on Russia's chemical demilitarization time line.
Both countries are about 50% done. Both are going to miss the 2012 deadline, which is understandable, given the politics. As long as there's a good faith effort and progress continues, no one is going to bitch about it.
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