Tue Sep 10, 2013 AT 6:43 AM EDT
Russia and Syria embraced Secretary of State John Kerry’s suggestionMonday that the Syrian government could avert a U.S. attack by placing its chemical weapons under international control, upending the Obama administration’s efforts to sharpen its case for military action, theWashington Post reports. Meanwhile, with just two words, Kerry managed to illustrate the Obama administration’s overall ambivalence toward a Syria strike, the latest shift in arguments from a man whose case for action has been changing almost with the days of the week, Politico reports. Saying that any Syria action would be “unbelievably small,” Kerry bolstered skeptics who believe the administration’s either only looking for a symbolic move against Syrian President Bashar Assad to be able to claim action or for those who believe that President Obama’s about to blunder into a long-term engagement in yet another fractured Arab nation. Sen. John McCain characterized Kerry’s remarks as “unbelievably unhelpful.”