Backing up the diplomatic dance on Syria: Editorial  U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a joint news
conference with British Foreign Secretary William Hague and
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, unseen, following their
meeting at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris, Monday, Sept. 16, 2013.
The U.S. and its closest allies laid out a two-pronged approach
in Syria on Monday, calling for enforceable U.N. benchmarks for
eradicating the country's chemical weapons program and an
international conference bolstering the moderate opposition. (AP
Photo/Francois Mori)  Diplomacy is an excellent alternative to
war, even when its byzantine twists, rhetorical and otherwise,
remain mostly mysterious to those not born to wear a pin-striped
suit and a Brahmin’s poker face.  It’s so mysterious, in fact,
that even the Scandinavian sages who annually award the Nobel
Peace Prize for “the best work for fraternity between nations”
bestowed it upon Henry Kissinger amidst the Vietnam War and
Barack Obama when he had been pre