Recent events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies. Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization — the United Nations — was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.

The government here viewed a Russian proposal for Syria to hand over its chemical weapons to an international body as a major tactical victory in the face of a looming U.S.-led attack. "Moscow and Damascus pull the rug from under Obama's feet," read a headline in the semiofficial Al-Watan newspaper on Tuesday morning.

Russia and the International Olympic Committee are turning to each other for help in battling a “campaign” against and “speculation” about the anti-gay law that bans “homosexual propaganda” and has driven protests against the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, which open in less than six months. A top IOC official told media Monday that sponsors, particularly those based in the United States, are worried about the law, raising concerns at the IOC that some could pull out of partnerships before the Games begin.

At this weekend’s G20 summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin has invested a substantial amount of his time rallying nations to stand against American efforts to engage in military action against the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad. As of right now, it’s working, and I can imagine Barack Obama pouting in the dark somewhere, like Rihanna at the VMAs. Syria seems like it’s shaping up to be another Iraq. Yet again, large swaths of the international community are choosing to rebuke American military adventurism.

After months of standing firm (and almost alone) against international intervention in Syria, by the end of August, Russian President Vladimir Putin seemed resigned to the prospect of a U.S. strike against Bashar al-Assad’s regime. To be sure, he was not happy about it, but the use of chemical weapons against civilians in a Damascus suburb appeared to have brought the current phase of the Syrian crisis to its inevitable climax.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has left Beijing to attend the G20 summit in St. Petersburg and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Bishkek, in what is his third overseas visit since he became president in March this year. His trip, which will also include visits to Central Asian countries, has attracted extensive attention. The Chinese and Russian leaders appear very close on the international stage, reflecting the special relationship between China and Russia and triggering the topic of a China-Russia alliance once again.

Vladimir Putin doesn’t mind posing for shirtless photos — but paint the Russian president in drag, and you’ve apparently gone too far. Russian police seized a portrait depicting Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wearing women’s lingerie from the Museum of Power in St. Petersburg and shut the gallery down. According to the Associated Press, the artist, Konstantin Altunin, has fled the country.