Putin Says: Writing in today’s NY Times, Russian President Vladimir Putin takes on the mantle of peacemaker in the Syrian crisis saying, “A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism.” Putin said the US must go through the United Nations Security Council before attacking Syria, if at all. “Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council,” Putin says. The Russians are also pushing a plan for Syria to turn over its chemical weapons to international.

  He also took issue with President Obama’s remarks Tuesday night describing US intervention as an act of “American exceptionalism.” Putin wrote, “It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.”

Putin also said, without citing evidence, that “there is every reason to believe it (poison gas) was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons.”

Balance of Terror: A UN report says both sides in the Syrian civil war have committed atrocities. The report cites nine massacres, eight of them believed to have been carried out by the government, and one by rebel forces. In one massacre attributed to the government, 150-250 civilians were killed in the village of al-Bayda. The report says the rebels also have resorted to hostage taking, torture and murder.

Flash: Heavy rains in Colorado have caused flash flooding in Boulder and nearby mountain towns. Two people are reported dead.

iDrop: Apple stock dropped 5% yesterday after analysts realized that the new cheaper iPhone 5C is actually expensive in China, where it is made cheaply. Chinese cellphone companies don’t subsidize the cost of handsets as American companies do, so at $700 the iPhone 5C is about an average month’s pay in China. The phone was designed in part to be affordable in countries where people make less money, like China.

Mr. September: Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter is out for the season after playing only 17 games this year. After breaking his ankle twice in less than a year, surgery, and muscle injuries, the Yankees decided he was not sufficiently recovered to finish the year.

Serial Killing: AMC has cancelled its rain-drenched Seattle murder series “The Killing” for a second time. Although it was popular with a cult of die-hard fans, not enough people watched. This time it’s probably dead for sure. Detective Sarah Linden will finally get a full night’s sleep.

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