10 | September | 2013 | The Obama Diary

Three Years Ago Today: President Obama waits in the Blue Room before his news conference in the East Room of the White House (Photo by Pete Souza)

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Today (all times Eastern):

12:30: The President meets with the Senate Democratic Caucus, United States Capitol

1:45: Meets with the Senate Republican Conference

9:01:30 Delivers a statement on Syria from the East Room

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BREAKING: Syrian foreign minister says Syria has accepted Russian proposal to surrender control over its chemical weapons.

— The Associated Press (@AP) September 10, 2013

MORE: Syrian foreign minister said he agreed to the Russian initiative to “derail the U.S. aggression.” http://t.co/fxrTsJPiRC -MM

— The Associated Press (@AP) September 10, 2013

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Steve Benen: Syria signals stronger support for solution

Yesterday, after Russia endorsed Secretary of State John Kerry’s suggested course on Syria’s chemical weapons, Syria’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, quickly expressed support for the idea. The Syrian official did not, however, fully and formally embrace the proposal on behalf of the Assad government.

Today, Syria went further:

Syria confirmed it would accept a Russian-brokered proposal to place its chemical weapons under international control Tuesday, just hours after France announced it would seek a U.N. Security Council resolution seeking a similar plan…..

….. while I hope this resolution to the crisis comes together quickly, let’s not get too excited just yet.

…. let’s keep the champagne on ice. I’m sure everyone is hoping for the best, and there’s reason for cautious optimism, but the crisis is ongoing, high-level meetings will continue in Washington and elsewhere today, and President Obama is still scheduled to deliver a national address this evening from the White House.

Full post here

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well, well, well …..Obama and Putin discussed current Syria chem weapons proposal during G-20 Summit. http://t.co/ZRKhWc5zOg

— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) September 10, 2013

well, well, well…”In other words, the proposal is a true diplomatic breakthrough long in the making.”; http://t.co/ZRKhWc5zOg #idiotpress

— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) September 10, 2013

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Oooooh, this is brilliant:

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The consistency of President Barack Obama: “Inaction tears at our conscience.” .@jonfavs http://t.co/bwUMh7vjS7

— KSK(africa) (@lawalazu) September 10, 2013

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Bob Cesca: A Deal to Prevent a War in Syria Reveals Obama as JFK, Not GWB

For the last couple of weeks, President Obama has been running a two-tiered strategy: on one hand, scaring the holy bejeezus out of Assad and Putin, while simultaneously offering enough time for Assad regime to save face as it contemplate how to wiggle out of this mess.

It was only on Monday when it occurred to me that the most appropriate historical precedent wasn’t Iraq (of course) or Libya, but the quarantine line around Cuba in October, 1962. I’ll come back to this presently.

Of course the truth about how the Obama administration’s national security team has handled the Syrian chemical weapons crisis was almost entirely obscured in the press when it was reported that Russian president Vladimir Putin, via his foreign minister Sergey Larov, had, at least on paper, convinced Bashar al-Assad to permit the dismantling and seizing of his military’s chemical weapons arsenal. In keeping with nearly every accomplishment of this president, whether center-right or center-left, liberal or conservative, the news was treated as somehow a loss for the administration….

This scenario entirely overlooked two things: 1) the Friday G20 meeting between Putin and the president, and 2) Secretary Kerry’s remarks on Sunday, which offered Syria a way out…..

More here

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The People’s View

If you haven’t read ‘President Obama Drops the Mic: Crumbling Under US Pressure, Russia Tells Syria to Disarm’ yet, do it now!

I’m beginning to think Spandan has a crystal ball – he’s got this right every step of the way.

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Steve Benen: The origins of a diplomatic solution

The prospect of Syria giving up its chemical weapons seemingly came out of the blue yesterday …. But did the idea really come about accidentally? Did Kerry stumble into a solution with an off-hand remark?

…….. here was an exchange with PBS’s Gwen Ifill that struck me as especially interesting:

IFILL: John Kerry talked today about a limited, targeted, unbelievably small effort. And now we’re hearing news that Russia has a plan, a solution, perhaps, which would allow Syria to take all of its weapons and put it under international control. Is that something that you’ve had any conversations at all with President Putin about when you were in St. Petersburg last week?

OBAMA: I did have those conversations. And this is a continuation of conversations I’ve had with President Putin for quite some time. As I said to you the last time we spoke, this chemical weapons ban matters to us, to the United States.

More here

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And some on the Left. RT @ThePlumLineGS: True motives of critics of Obama on Syria from right now being revealed with uncommon clarity.

— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) September 10, 2013

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Michael Tomasky: Getting Behind the Russia Plan

My biggest question about what is evidently being called (slightly unfairly to John Kerry) the “Russia Plan” is this: What’s Russia’s motivation for suddenly being peacemaker here? Putin hates Obama, hates America, and has thrown about two tons of sand in the gears of the U.S.-Rossiya relationship since he got back into power. So why would he want to pull Obama’s chestnuts out of the fire?

I’m not sure, but I think it’s basically for the same reason that the guy on the other side of those double-yellow lines on the road doesn’t suddenly swerve in front of you. He may be an asshole. He may beat his wife. If you met him in a bar, he might be all likkered up and decide he wants to kick your pasty, yuppie ass just for the hell of it.

But he doesn’t want to die, or wreck his own vehicle. I think this must be kind of like that….

More here

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