Vladamir Putin, known as the Internet’s man of action, has apparently become a man of words. His op-ed published by the NYT attempts to school Americans on Syria, chemical weapons, and themselves. “It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.”

+ Does this really look like a guy who doesn’t consider himself to be exceptional?

+ Gary Kasparov blasted the NYT and Putin in a series of Tweets: “I hope Putin has taken adequate protections. Now that he is a Russian journalist his life may be in grave danger!”

+ In his editorial, Putin insisted that the chemical weapons were used by the opposition, not the Assad government. According to FP, the UN is about to report some very different findings.

+ Meanwhile, WaPo reports that the CIA has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria.