On Syria

There is no clear option on Syria - we don't know if one or any option will work. I do believe the international taboo against chemical weapons is worth some spending to maintain it, but also that war is a Pandora's box. Let's hope the Russia play works.

Said Andrew Sullivan:

The money quote for me, apart from the deeply moving passage about poison gas use at the end, was his description of a letter from a service-member who told him, “We should not be the world’s policeman.” President Obama said, quite simply: “I agree.” And those on the far right who are accusing him of ceding the Middle East to Russia are half-right and yet completely wrong. What this remarkable breakthrough has brought about is a possible end to the dynamic in which America is both blamed for all the evils in the world and then also blamed for not stopping all of them. We desperately need to rebuild international cooperation to relieve us of that impossible burden in a cycle that can only hurt us and the West again and again.