April 7, 2021
William Potter and Hanna Notte
Red Line: The Unraveling of Syria and America’s Race to Destroy the Most Dangerous Arsenal in the World
On 6 April 2021, CNS non-resident senior scholar Dr. Hanna Notte hosted two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Joby Warrick for a discussion on his latest book Red Line: The Unraveling of Syria and America’s Race to Destroy the Most Dangerous Arsenal in the World”. The event focused on past achievements and ongoing challenges related to Syria’s chemical weapons (CW). In particular, Notte and Warrick discussed different dimensions of the CW disarmament effort in Syria in 2013-4, detailed with great nuance in Warrick’s book, including the significance of US-Russian cooperation, the threat of CW proliferation to non-state actors, and the operational challenges before the OPCW-UN Joint Mission. They also discussed the post-2014 unravelling of international consensus on the Syria CW dossier, particularly as it has played out in the OPCW and UN Security Council, and addressed ways in which a further erosion of the CW taboo could be mitigated. A highlight of the event was a slide show and commentary by Joby Warrick of a selection of photos and anecdotes from his book.
