Pat Buchanan Agrees with Vladimir Putin about Syria

In the department of strange bedfellows, I give you Pat Buchanan's essay supporting Russian intervention in Syria:

The problem in Syria is not so much with the Russians—or Iran, Hezbollah, and Assad, all of whom see the Syrian civil war correctly as a fight to the finish against Sunni jihadis.

Our problem has been that we have let our friends—the Turks, Israelis, Saudis, and Gulf Arabs—convince us that no victory over ISIS can be achieved unless and until we bring down Assad. Once we get rid of Assad, they tell us, a grand U.S.-led coalition of Arabs and Turks can form up and march in to dispatch ISIS.

This is neocon nonsense.

Those giving us this advice are the same “cakewalk war” crowd who told us how Iraq would become a democratic model for the Middle East once Saddam Hussein was overthrown and how Moammar Gadhafi’s demise would mean the rise of a pro-Western Libya.

When have these people ever been right?

So today I find myself in coalition with Vladimir Putin and Pat Buchanan, which, well, it is what it is. I know that Assad is a vicious thug, but is rule by a vicious thug worse than unending war, or than a victory for the Islamic State? We allied with Stalin to defeat Hitler. I think a similar approach is called for here.