Monday, October 27, 2014

The Syrian Quagmire

Are you suffering under the misapprehension that the situation in Syria is simple? Good vs. evil? Disabuse yourself of that notion by reading Graham Allison's article for The Atlantic. Hat tip to RealClearDefense for the link.

Allison writes we are effectively allied with former bitter enemies - Iran, Hezbollah, and Assad's Syria; against former allies - the Sunni Iraqis and the anti-Assad Syrians. And that, if the side we are currently supporting with airstrikes wins, we may find that outcome as odious as we would a winning caliphate.

As we wrote some days ago, there are no good guys in the region, only less bad guys. In Syria, it is hard to tell who's less bad. The Iraqi Kurds seem "less bad" but supporting them risks further alienating long-time ally Turkey, which already views us with some distaste.