Back in September, the Obama administration was still floundering in its dealings with Syria and that nation’s chemical weapons. Obama had unwisely set a “red line” over chemical weapons use, and then didn’t back up his words – well, unless you count Secretary of State John Kerry’s promise of an “unbelievably small” military strike. Vladimir Putin seized the opportunity to broker a deal to destroy those weapons, thus guaranteeing that Russia would control the destiny of their client state.

Fast forward a couple of months, and, ABC News reports, “A U.S. cargo vessel equipped with special gear could be neutralizing some of Syria’s most dangerous chemical weapons at sea come January.” The Pentagon says that it could take 45 to 90 days to complete the neutralizing of some 500 tons of the chemical components used to make mustard and sarin gas. Damascus has declared 1,300 metric tons of weapons and chemicals.

Syria is still in a chaotic civil war, and rebel forces once again accused Bashar al-Assad’s regime of using chemical weapons in an attack Thursday.