chemical weapons as a result of a russian proposal and not because of a possible u.s. military strike. that news comes hours after the russian president vladimir putin put the news to you. he said, russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling syrians to develop a compromise plan for it is own future. former secretary of state leon panetta says putin s op-ed is part of a strategy. i think it s clear that he s trying to weaken our resolve and make sure that we would not fulfill our pledge to conduct military action if we have to. so i think he was trying to, in his own way, weaken the united states and the effort to negotiate these issues. joining me now is republican senator jim inhofe of oklahoma.
this authorization for military action. that s a really good point, carol. i think that more broadly on the putin op-ed, what was fascinating, all of the things that you promised you wouldn t be, you are now. and during his first campaign for president he kind of downplayed the idea of american exceptionalism and what putin is saying, again, in a very nuanced, almost in a baseball way, you have to be the president and his aides to get it, you turned exactly into the person you said you wouldn t. so putin is using the same talking points that critics of the president use here in the united states. again, this is a critical juncture. isn t this a time when our nation is to draw together, especially members of our government? he clearly is again, for people out there who may not understand how there if there really are discussions that go back and forth between the white house and capitol hill, there have been a lot now on syria but
you re being attacked under imminent attack or with united nations security council approval. so putin is laying down his interpretation of international law that you cannot do it independently. the united states does not have the right to independently attack syria or any other country. that s his minimum waajor messa. the whole op-ed is rather muddled. he talks about that which is the major message but then talks about american exceptionalism and criticizes that. i find that really bizarre coming from the russian president. we ll talk a lot more about that later. thank you so much for joining us. a former u.s. ambassador to syria. we appreciate it. my pleasure. also this morning, the heavy rain is finally easing up in boulder, colorado, but major flash flooding is turning streets into fast moving rivers. we re not kidding. a storm center for parts of
dialogue, enabling syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. we are not protecting the syrian government but international law. no doubt this opinion will be on the minds of both john kerry and his russian counterpart today. in just a few hours they ll meet in geneva for more discussions about syria. as for reaction to putin s op d op-ed, democratic senator robert menendez said he almost vomited when he read it. i have to be honest. i was at diner and i almost wanted to vomit. the reality is, i worry when someone who came up to the kgb tells us what is in our national interest and what is not. and, you know, it really raises the questions of how serious this russian proposal is. chief national security correspondent jim sciutto is in geneva with more on the talks between the united states and russia. reporter: on the flight in i was constantly testing u.s. officials confidence in this
essentially called america a bully. this comes at a time russia is in negotiations with the united states over syria. putin s op-ed is in today s new york times. he says, quote, it is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional. whatever the motivation. a straight shot at president obama s primetime address on tuesday night. america s not the world s policeman. terrible things happen across the globe. it is beyond our means to right every wrong. but when with modest effort and risk we can stop children from being gassed to death and thereby make our own children safer, i believe we should act. that s what makes america different. that s what makes us exceptional. putin also defends russia s response to the crisis in syria, saying, quote, from the outset, russia has advocated peaceful