Don't Know Much About History

The Sam Cooke lyric captures our president's ignorance as described in The Wall Street Journal's less-than-complimentary-to-Obama analysis of current Russian policy vis-a-vis the Middle East.

Ever since Russia launched a military campaign in Syria, the White House has offered the usual mixture of appeasement and lecturing. (snip) This is what happens when a U.S. president, who imagines history began sometime around 2004, confronts a power with a longer historical horizon.

For the Kremlin, the goal is clear: to position Moscow as a dominant actor in Middle East affairs, bolstering friends and punishing enemies. Far from running contrary to Moscow’s best interests, as Mr. Obama argues, Russian Middle East policy follows a clear vision and strategic patterns that in some cases date back to the czarist era.

Ummm, right ... a return-to-roots sort of action.