he arrived in stockholm earlier and is holding talks with fredrik reinfeldt. in russia he hopes to convince g-20 leaders that military action is necessary. the u.s. and britain and france say they are convinced syrian forces used chemical weapons to kill hundreds of civilians last month. the regime of syrian president ba bashar al assad needs to be punished but faces stiff opposition from the leaders of russia and china. vladimir putin and jinping also stated their objections to a military strike. putin says russia may resume selling anti-aircraft missiles if western countries attack without u.n. approval. >>> putin could start shipments to syria and added that accusations about the use of chemical weapons in syria should be based on solid evidence and not on rumors, intelligence from eavesdropping or chatter. putin said if there is proof that chemical weapons were used by the syrian government, he with not rule out securing military action but it would need to be sanctioned by the u.n. security council. >>> the u.s. congress is still weighing the pros and con

obama made the request in a meeting with swedish prime minister fredrik reinfeldt in stockholm. the u.s. president is to attend the g-20 summit in russi >> the prime minister and i are in agreement that in the face of such barbarism, the international community cannot be silent and that failing to respond to this attack would only increase the risk of more attacks. and the possibility other countries would use these weapons as well. >> sweden believes that syria's matters concerning international peace and security should be handled by the united nations, but i also understand the potential consequences of letting a violation like this go unanswered. >> obama says he believes the u.s. congress will approve military action. he said that with such congressional support, his administration will be able to send a stronger message to syria. >>> members of the u.s. senate foreign relations committee have passed a resolution approving a military strike. >> the resolution is agreed to and is ordered favorably reported by the committee. >> members agreed that the action should exclude gr

president obama arrives in sweden and will be greeted by prime minister fredrik reinfeldt. he has led a center-right government for the last seven years. he will face elections next year. certainly sweden has experienced some unsettled times and its own challenges dealing with integration of immigrants. if you'll recall, in may, about six days of riots in the suburbs of stockholm dealing with a police shooting and continues to be a very great topic of conversation with that immigration aspect. so certainly that would be part of the domestic conversation. prime minister reinfeldt has been very gracious in gathering his four other nordic colleagues to join with president obama in a dinner the evening after he arrives, and i would sense the conversation will be quite robust about the region, and certainly i hope, and csis has been engaged in a four-year study on the arctic. i think the president may hear quite a bit about the arctic from his swedish and nordic counterparts. secretary kerry, as you will recall, was just in sweden, northern sweden, in mid-may to attend the arcti

when prime minister fredrik reinfeldt came to power as part of a center right coalition in 2006, he moved to cut corporate taxes so the swedish companies now pay lower tax rates than american ones and the downsizing of government is part of a regional trend in neighboring norway the leader expected to win next week's elections is a conservative running on a campaign to cut taxes. slowly but surely scandinavian countries are moving away from big government to smart government. despite the tax cuts and recent moves to the right, scandinavian countries are big spenders but increasingly effective spenders. so sweden may have been a last-minute addition on obama's schedule but that doesn't mean that there are important lessons to learn there. they have picked the best of right and left in some cases. it's time we redefine the word swedenization. >>> up next, more on syria. did the president of the united states really need to go to congress to authorize a strike? it's a fascinating but murky question and we have the debate for you. when the world called for speed... ♪ ...when the world calle

let's assess what we just heard from president obama and the prime minister of sweden, fredrik reinfeldt. john king, gloria berger. gloria, first to you. did you get the sense from the president that if the house of representatives would reject this resolution, he would still be determined to go forward with a strike? >> yeah, i did. i got the clear sense that he feels the moral obligation to go forward with a strike. what was so interesting to me, wolf, was that the president said, look, this is not my red line. this is the world's red line. this is not my credibility, this is the world's credibility. and this is not iraq. okay. because this is not the question of weapons of mass destruction. we know he said that this chain of custody of these chemical weapons both directly to assad and he also made the case, i understand why people were questioning my not going to congress because if i had been in congress and been a senator, i would have demanded congressional authorization and that he said this change of course had been brewing in his mind for quite some time. but he said, you know,

reinfeldt. he said that we have to act and also defending his use of the so-called red line, saying i didn't use the red line, the world set a red line. obviously, guys, welcome to "squawk on the street," by the way. i'm carl quintanilla. one reason, jim, we lost 100 points on the intraday high yesterday. the ping-pong continues. >> well, i think that no one wants to take action before this that i know. and then everyone wants to take action after, as if there's this event. it will be a discrete event and then you go buy them. i think that's a little simplistic but that's what i'm hearing over and over again. >> it is possible that is what is, in fact, will take place. he did not answer the question specifically about what he will do if congress says we don't endorse bombing. >> we don't know. >> reserves the right as he has been saying for a few days now. >> oil and gold historically traded up instantly. oil comes down. gold has come down. maybe gold this time is different. i had a chart last n