The apparent use of sarin to kill more than 1,400 civilians in Damascus on 21 August may highlight the limits of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) D but that does not mean that the world can afford to turn its back on such treaties. The role of international treaties in restricting the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons has not had a good press in recent years. Conventional wisdom tends to scorn the value of such pieces of paper' in real politick. Critics from both the left and the right heap derision on their selective reach and implementation.
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