As U.S. and Russian diplomats reached an agreement over the weekend to dismantle Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles, the public expresses support for a diplomatic approach to the crisis but is skeptical about its effectiveness. By a 67% to 23% margin, the public approves of Barack Obama’s decision to delay military airstrikes and pursue a diplomatic effort to convince Syria to give up its chemical weapons. However, just 26% think Syria will give up control of its chemical weapons, while 57% think it will not.

The United States doesn't have to trust Russian President Vladimir Putin, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Sunday on "Face the Nation," over his tentative agreement to help identify Syria's chemical weapons, place them under international control and ultimately dismantle them was "the only way to solve" the country's raging civil war.

Diplomatic elder statesmen Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski told Fareed Zakaria on Sunday that Russia's prime motivation in its Syria diplomacy was stability. Speaking on "Fareed Zakaria GPS" on CNN, both said the superpower deal on Syria was designed to allow President Vladimir Putin to combat the tide of radical Islamic power in the region and also within his nation's borders - but that the U.S.-Russia deal on Syria also managed to extricate the United States from a difficult situation.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Geneva, Switzerland, September 12-14, to discuss matters concerning Syria, including the use of chemical weapons and steps to address these developments.

For the past month at least, the world seems to have been discussing nothing but whether, how and when the United States will engage in a punitive air strike of some sort against the Syrian regime of Bashir al-Assad. Three things stand out about this discussion.

Iran is a close ally of Syria, so officials in Tehran are following the Syrian conflict closely. But so are ordinary Iranians, who worry that the crisis could distract their government from pressing matters at home, like the economy. Anchor Marco Werman discusses Iran’s reaction to events in Syria with Iranian journalist Shirin Jaafari.

With the Russian proposal for Bashar al-Assad to allow the international community to take control of his chemical weapons stockpile, the Obama administration happily claimed that coercive diplomacy worked. The details of such transfer remain complicated, and it’s certainly possible that ultimately there will be no actual transit of the weapons.

Putin is known for the love of strong language and a questionable, if not inappropriate, sense of humor. This has not changed over his nearly 15 years in power. Russia’s head of state ascended to the presidency in 1999-2000 famously promising to “waste terrorists in the out house, ” and most recently dismissed Assad’s chemical attack claims as “utter nonsense,” raising some eyebrows in the West.