From Russia With Love

From Russia with love. Well, probably not "with love."

There are reports that Russia is propping up the Assad regime not only with weapon sales, but that Russia has actually sent troops into Syria. For America, if not the world, that may strangely enough be a good thing.

Recall the angst of the media in the past few weeks. Reports almost daily on the atrocities of the Assad regime, of snipers and death squads, of journalists killed while trying to report from Syria. The upshot was a push for increasing pressure from the U.S. and the UN on Syria, with calls for sanctions and intervention. Some pundits even went so far as to suggest that the U.S. should militarily intervene in Syria.

The Obama-Clinton Foreign Policy Disaster Machine does not need yet another opportunity to bring down another Middle Eastern regime and raise up yet another Islamist regime. After helping bring down Mubarak, the U.S. will fund Islamist Egypt as an "ally." And after spending a billion dollars to bring down Qaddafi in Obama's "Not A War" war, the U.S. will no doubt help establish another Islamist "ally."

After fighting two wars in the Middle East to stop terrorism and "spread democracy," and with Obama cutting the U.S. military (while both Russia and China substantially increase theirs), America is not well positioned to take on the task of spreading democracy in Syria. Especially since such an action might well have drawn the U.S. into a confrontation with Syria's ally, Russia.

So the news that Russia has seized the initiative by sending its own troops into Syria should be something of a relief to Americans. At least, it should be for those who don't want another few billions of dollars or a few thousands of American lives spent on the task of establishing democratically elected Anti-American Islamist regimes. It can be hoped that even a foreign-policy-challenged duo like Obama and Clinton will not risk bringing American troops into direct confrontation with Russian troops and starting a world war. And it may be hoped that Russia can influence Assad to deal more calmly with his countrymen.

Now an important disclaimer. The point here is not that Americans should embrace Russian foreign policy. That is just irrelevant, because Russia is already allied with Syria; the balance of power in the Middle East is not affected. Rather, cooling the tensions in the Middle East, whether or not it was "with love," is a good thing for everyone.