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.

From a reader with a lot of experience in politics and negotiation, following this post earlier today: It's odd that the choice seems to be framed as airstrikes vs. do nothing.

Australia's new government-elect prepared for a tranfer of power Sunday, with policies to cut foreign aid and roll back greenhouse gas reduction measures in moves the new leaders say will help balance the nation's books. Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott also plans to visit Indonesia soon in part to discuss controversial plans to curb the number of asylum seekers reaching Australian shores in Indonesian fishing boats.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded tepidly to Hassan Rohani's Rosh Hashanah Twitter greetings on Saturday, saying he is not impressed by "Greetings coming from the mouth of a regime that only last week threatened to eradicate the State of Israel." Netanyahu added that the Iranian leadership will be evaluated through its actions, and not via greetings "whose only goal is to divert attention from the fact that even after the elections, it continues the enrichment of uranium and the cunstruction of a plutonium reactor meant to allow it to develop nuclear weapons that will threaten Isr

It's basically a normal routine for Dennis Rodman now: have a banquet dinner, watch some basketball, and exchange gifts—with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, that is. The former NBA star returned to the Hermit Kingdom on Tuesday and, according to local news, is taking in the sights with Jong Un (whom he has called his "friend for life," even while using expletives to refer to Hillary Clinton and President Obama) and the dictator's wife.

The United States' relationship with Brazil is on the rocks after more National Security Agency revelations, this time that Washington spied on President Dilma Rousseff. She is so furious that she has threatened to cancel her trip to the US next month — the only full state visit scheduled at the White House this year and the first by a Brazilian head-of-state in two decades.

In recent days, the blogosphere and the international press have been abuzz over the public relations campaign undertaken by Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, and his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. Tweets by accounts associated with both men — caveat: the president has not explicitly confirmed his —can be credited with nudging Iran’s public posture on Syria in a more moderate direction, and distancing the new Rouhani administration from the anti-Semitic trope of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A nation's credibility is of course important in the conduct of foreign policy, but as a goal of military action, it has a troubled history. Focus on defending U.S. credibility in the mid-20th century blurred the difference between vital and non-vital interests, ultimately leading to American intervention in remote places like Korea and Vietnam.