Last week’s US-Russian deal on Syrian chemical weapons disarmament has been through a bumpy past few days, but seems to be on track again after the US and France backed off another round of attempts to get the UN to authorize war with Syria.

The nations began pushing again on the war after the UN report was released on Monday, and was threatening to destroy the deal outright since Russia was unwilling to go along with the resolution adding a “use of force” option.

It’s been incredible how many times Western officials have tried to revitalize the idea of authorizing a war in the deal, as Russia has made it clear repeatedly that they would not let that happen, and nothing has suggested that might change.

France in particular has seemed desperate to get some sort of war authorization out of all of this, with analysts saying that the Hollande government has been hoping to use its push for war on Syria to underscore its perception of France as a great power.