He's not trying to convince anyone. It's all posturing. He's trying to look as good as possible (look like a reasonable, restrained, trustable major player in i

He's not trying to convince anyone. It's all posturing. He's trying to look as good as possible (look like a reasonable, restrained, trustable major player in international politics), and put the US in a position where we look as bad as possible if we do intervene. And he's doing a great job. The offer to get Syria to put their chemical weapons under international control was brilliant. Obama was saying, "They crossed a red line, there's no option but military," and then Putin put forth a peaceful solution.