Business Week has the story Putin Says Iran Military Strike to Be ‘Truly Catastrophic’

His remarks about Iran and North Korea were interesting, but I find his remarks about Syria worth quoting.

Syria has come under mounting international pressure as a result of President Bashar Al-Assad’s crackdown on protesters, which is nearing its one-year mark.

Putin said that the resolution would be possible if the UN demanded not only from Assad to withdraw his forces but also from opposition to take away militant units from towns. “Refusal to do so is cynical,” Putin said.

It is no so much whether I agree or disagree with what he says here.  The marvel is that this is the first time I have read what he was thinking when Russia vetoed the plan of the other countries to put more pressure on Assad.

Maybe I need to add another law – Greenberg’s Law of Inexplicable Behavior – “When the media report on the existence of some seemingly inexplicable behavior, they owe us a report on what are the reasons that the actor uses to justify this behavior. Until you are able to read such explanation, you have to realize that the media is not reporting the whole story.”