Today’s Headlines and Commentary

The BBC reports that Italian journalist Domenico Quirico and Belgian teacher Pierre Piccinin da Prata have been released after being kidnapped in Syria in April. That's about it for good news from the weekend. How else to talk about Syria? Let us continue to count the ways. On the consequences of a strike: In the New York Times, Charlie Savage has a story on what it would mean, historically and legally, for the President to strike without congressional or Security Council approval. He cites Jack: "Mr. Goldsmith said that in the Kosovo campaign, the Clinton administration shied away from arguing that it was consistent with international law to carry out a military attack not authorized by the Security Council purely for humanitarian reasons. Its fear was that such a doctrine could be misused by other nations, loosening constraints on war." Frank Bruni: "What matters here are the complicated ethics and unpredictable ripple effects of the profound choice about to be made." On the proof: How to know whether Assad is responsible for the chemical weapons attack? On Sunday the White House cited the "common-sense test." In response to calls for "slam dunk, smoking gun evidence," McDonough dryly reminded the world that "intelligence does not work that way." See it on CNN's "State of the Union." On the weapons source: Is Ukraine's Oktyabrsk port feeding weapons to Assad? Joby Warrick of the Washington Post tells us why it matters. Also on Saturday, the New York Times published this disturbing story detailing the world's failure to stop Syria from amassing nerve gas from suppliers all over the globe---including a number of American companies. On the military strategy: In case anyone was wondering, America's veteran generals don't like messy, open-ended wars, says Mark Perry at Al Jazeera America. On international opinion: In a speech today, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay spoke out against military intervention and in favor of negotiation, writes the Times. UN chief Ban Ki-moon made headlines on Saturday by inveighing against "ill-considered military action" in Syria. Here is Al Jazeera, here is the Post. Eleven countries issued the following statement "on the margins" of the G20 summit, calling for "a strong international response" to Assad's chemical weapons attack. The Wall Street Journal has the full text. The Pope has entered the ring. Unsurprisingly, he appears to be advocating peace. Or as he put it, "Violence and war are the language of death!" Tens of thousands filled St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for a four-hour Syria "peace vigil." Will the strike be limited? Punishing? A game-changer? A grind? Paul Richter of the LA Times argues that the administration's case for intervention is riddled with contradictions. A strike would be "practically flawed," but "morally defensible," declares George Packer at the New Yorker. Chemical weapons have no bearing on the Middle East's attitude toward U.S. intervention in Syria, says Shibley Telhami in Foreign Policy. Who exactly are the Syrian rebels? Experts can't come to a consensus, writes J. Dana Stuster, also at FP. Speaking of consensus, Robert C. Bordone and Alonzo Emery have an unusual opinion piece in the Harvard Negotiation Law Review advising President Obama to avoid ultimatums in favor of being "tuff" on Syria---that's a reference to Antoinette Tuff, the heroic bookkeeper responsible for talking an assault-rifle-armed man out of shooting up a Georgia elementary school. Americans are war-weary: fact or fiction? Bill Keller dubs it the "cliché of the season"---and only part of a broader story of new isolationist leanings built on economic troubles, political dysfunction and xenophobia. And then there's the non-Syria news: A drone strike killed up to 16 people in Afghanistan on Saturday, and on Sunday a Taliban assault in another province killed four intelligence officers and wounded 120 civilians. Accounts vary: see the Times and the AP. Reuters reports President Hamid Karzai is condemning NATO for the strike. And over the weekend, a Karzai spokesman angrily refuted U.S. Special Representative James Dobbins's characterization of impending "civil war" in Afghanistan. Here is Pajhwok News. The AP cites analysts who say militants in Pakistan are training for an ethnic-based civil war in Afghanistan after foreign troop withdrawal 16 months from now. On Saturday, the BBC reported Pakistan's plans to release seven Taliban prisoners, including at least one senior militant, to "facilitate" the Afghan peace process. Today the "heavyweight championship of the technology world" resumes: Verizon and the FCC are in court today for oral arguments on the FCC's net neutrality law. Here is Ars Technica. In response to a suit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the DOJ will be releasing a cache of documents on the government's interpretation of Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act no later than tomorrow. Threat Post has the details. In the meantime, the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel is reporting that the NSA can crack into most smartphones. The AP reports. Is spy czar Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander a cowboy? Shane Harris has a detailed exposition in FP. Over at Threat Level, David Kravets and Robert McMillan write that revelations of the backdoor built into the NSA's number generator cast a pall over the entire tech industry. Matt Buchanan of the New Yorker declares the NSA's work to render technology less secure "[t]he most damning aspect of the new disclosures." The disclosures are triggering renewed interest in legislation introduced in the House back in July proposing a ban on NSA encryption backdoors; check out this one-page summary of the Surveillance State Repeal Act. Is there a link between life insurance and military suicide? Alan Zarembo of the LA Times offers a sobering look at this largely unexplored question. Also in the LA Times: this feature on Candace Desmond-Woods, whose husband returned from Iraq with PTSD. To end with a little history: sixty-five years ago today, Kim Il-Sung announced the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. On Saturday, Kim's grandson, current North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, was declared Dennis Rodman's "friend for life." Just don't mistake Rodman for an ambassador: when asked by reporters about requesting the release of ailing American missionary Kenneth Bae, Rodman shot back "that's not my job." 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