Sunday Roundup

This week brought the arrival of Op-Ed Diplomacy, as Presidents Putin and Obama (via the brilliant satiric brain of Albert Brooks) took to theand The Huffington Post respectively to address the ongoing crisis in Syria. Putin, speaking "directly to the American people," extolled international law, made a case against a retaliatory U.S. strike and chided "American exceptionalism," saying that "God created us equal." (Except, of course, for gay people). "Mr. Putin," Obama/Brooks responded, "we put a man on the moon and you barely got a monkey home safely... It's one thing to put down exceptionalism, but before you do that, you at least have to produce one Broadway show, or make one commercial airliner, or invent one type of salad." Putin, "Obama" noted, cares so much for his people, rather than see them argue, he will "graciously offer them the solace of prison." We'll happily publish President Putin's reply -- unless it's from Yakov Smirnoff.