memeorandum: Russia deal opens door to end Syrian civil war, says Rep. Cummings (Carlo Muñoz/The Hill)

12:30 PM ET, September 15, 2013

Top Items:

Devin Dwyer / ABC News:

Obama Rejects Criticism of Shifting Syria Policy: 'I'm Less Concerned About Style Points' — WASHINGTON — President Obama says a tumultuous month as commander in chief, when his policy toward Syria took a number of unexpected turns, may not have looked “smooth and disciplined and linear,” but it's working.

Discussion: msnbc.com, Weasel Zippers, Israel Matzav and ABC News

Margaret Wente / Globe and Mail:

Barack Obama, the 98-pound weakling — So, let me get this straight. Some red lines cannot be crossed, and gassing Syrian children is one of them. That's what Barack Obama told us Tuesday evening. “The images from this massacre are sickening,” he said.

Discussion: Power Line

Ashley Killough / CNN:

Obama on Syria criticism: Washington grades on style, not substance — Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama has responded to critics who disagree with his handling of the situation in Syria, saying he's more concerned about the end goal - no chemical weapons in Syria - than about “style points.”

Discussion: Politico, The National Interest and Associated Press

Devin Dwyer / ABC News:

Obama Calls GOP Debt Ceiling Demands an Assault on US ‘Constitutional Structure’ — WASHINGTON — On the eve of another fiscal showdown with congressional Republicans, President Obama is outright refusing to negotiate over an increase to the nation's debt limit, saying doing so would alter …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Yahoo! News

Carlo Muñoz / The Hill:

Russia deal opens door to end Syrian civil war, says Rep. Cummings — The U.S.-Russian deal to end Syria's chemical weapons program could be the diplomatic opening President Obama is seeking to end the bloody civil war in the Mideast country, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md) said Sunday.

Discussion: Politico

Pamela Falk / CBS News:

Syrian chemical weapons agreement bound for United Nations Security Council — PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO — The U.S. and Russia shook hands on a groundbreaking framework agreement Saturday to identify Syria's chemical weapons, place them under control of the Chemical Weapons Convention and its compliance body …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The Raw Story

John Kerry / US Department of State:

Remarks With Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov After Their Meeting — Remarks — Intercontinental Hotel — SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you very much for your patience, not just this morning, but over the last couple of days. We're very appreciative and particularly grateful to Sergey Lavrov …

Discussion: Democracy in America and The Moderate Voice

US Department of State:
Framework for Elimination of Syrian Chemical Weapons

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, BBC, emptywheel, Belmont Club, Politico, NPR, Wonkblog, The Raw Story and The Hinterland Gazette

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
U.S. and Russia Reach Deal to Destroy Syria's Chemical Arms

Richard Dawkins / New York Times:

By the Book — What's the best book you've read so far this year? — I've been reading autobiographies to get me in the mood for writing my own and show me how it's done: Tolstoy (at one time my own memoir was to have been called, at my wife's suggestion, “Childhood, Boyhood, Truth"); …

Discussion: Steve Sailer and Althouse

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The Arguments of the Great Recession Are Over. Hooray. — Five years after the financial crisis, the general expert consensus is that the Obama administration did a good but not great response job. The financial rescue measures saved the banking system from wreaking deep, widespread destruction …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Paul Krugman, The Reaction and Prairie Weather

David Rose / Daily Mail:

Global warming is just HALF what we said: World's top climate scientists admit computers got the effects of greenhouse gases wrong — A leaked copy of the world's most authoritative climate study reveals scientific forecasts of imminent doom were drastically wrong.

Discussion: Power Line, Wall Street Journal and Watts Up With That?

Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times:

Big U.S. banks keeping door open to another financial crisis — Big banks have watered down rules aimed at keeping them from fobbing bad loans off on investors and ensured loopholes in transparency rules. ‘Fundamentally not that much has changed,’ an analyst says.

Discussion: Hot Air

ABC News:

Full Transcript: President Obama Speaks Exclusively to George Stephanopoulos on ‘This Week’ — Alexander Vilf/Host Photo Agency via Getty Images — Below is the full interview transcript of George Stephanopoulos' exclusive interview with President Obama for “This Week,” conducted at the White House on Friday, Sept. 13, 2013.

Discussion: Guardian