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But the response from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at a press conference in London this week seems to have pulled the world back from the brink of war.

“Sure, he could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week, turn it over, all of it, without delay, and allow a full and total accounting,” Mr. Kerry said, before adding this was “obviously” impossible.

Hypothetical, rhetorical, and punctuated with dismissive hand gestures, Mr. Kerry’s “obviously” impossible proposal was swiftly endorsed by Russia, the United States, even Syria.

The incident highlights the risky, but wondrous role serendipity sometimes plays in global affairs, a realm typically associated with vague, cautious and — most importantly — scripted language.

“John Kerry seems to have been born under a lucky star. If Dan Quayle or Joe Biden did that, they would just be laughing stocks,” said Gil Troy, a professor of history at McGill University. “He stumbled onto a gold mine because it actually gave Obama the way out.”

Mr. Kerry is not the first to stumble into success in the diplomatic arena, or to see his off-the-cuff ideas turn into policy.

Brian Bow, professor of political science at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said something similar seems to have happened with U.S. President Barack Obama’s view the use of chemical weapons represents a “red line,” a term he first used casually and rhetorically, and only later hardened into a casus belli.