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Slack.com slash DHQ. This is CBS Eye on the World. Here's John Bachelorette.

Syria, the darkness visible of Syria, a failed state, a catastrophe for the region and for

the planet. The new book, Putin's War in Syria, Russian foreign policy and the price of

America's absence. Anabar Shepskaya of the Washington Institute, now the author, Anabar Shepskaya.

And we begin with an incident that is bright in my memory and for Americans watching the

presidency react to catastrophes in the Middle East, certainly we'll all remember this.

It is August 21, 2013. Word comes of a chemical weapon attack in a suburb of Damascus. The

country is at civil war has been for several years now since the Arab Spring, but this is

extraordinarily outside the understanding of what is acceptable, especially because the

Obama administration and the president himself has indicated for more than a year that using

weapons of master's destruction, especially chemical weapons, is a red line. And congratulations

of very good evening to you. The president of the United States reacts and Russia reacts.

What do we need to know about these days between August and September of 2013? Good evening

and as always it's great to be on your show. What we need to know about those days is first

and foremost that Vladimir Putin has correctly read the Obama administration's intention

at that time in the run up before the chemical attack in the nerve agent, Seren, that Assad

used on his people and after. And that is that there was a lot of hesitation in the Obama

...