I spoke with BBC Radio 5 and BBC West Midlands this morning about President Obama’s surprise decision to refer US military action on Syria to Congress for approval.

BBC Radio 5 (with Stephen Yates, former Bush Administration official): Listen from 1:05:50

BBC West Midlands: Listen from 16:32

Take-away points:

1. “Obama effectively kicked the can down the road last night. It will be two weeks before the US can take any military action. It doesn’t make any sense strategically.”

2. “The Assad regime will be breathing a sigh of relief.”

3. “At the end of the day, Obama looked more to domestic opinion and to his powers as Commander-in-Chief than he did to the specifics of the Syrian situation.”

There is also discussion whether Obama was motivated by the British Parliament’s rejection of immediate military action on Thursday, about the domestic political situation in Britain, and the myth of the US-UK “special relationship”.

And the conversation with BBC West Midlands ends with the question, “Is there any hope in the future for Syria?”