On Syria – Putin has it right

Russia’s Vladimir Putin is supporting Syria’s Assad for a very good reason.  People of the mid-east get the governments that they deserve – which historically has been a strongman type head of government.  The US has clearly shown what happens when a strongman like Saddam Hussein is deposed – the country degenerates into warring tribes.

Yes, the strongman type government is brutal – the strongman does what no committee type government can achieve.  And the US still believes that a democratic style government is what mid-east people want.  Yet countries like Iran, Egypt, Libya and Iraq quickly become religious intolerant and their people are ruled by not themselves, but by “religious” leaders – or in many cases, criminals wrapped in a religious flag.

America was founded on religious freedom.  The enemies of freedom then are the same as they are now.  The American way of life is the best for all but is a failed concept for those locked in ancient religious doctrine.

Putin has it right.  The US should not oppose his thinking and instead support it.  Without Assad, Syrian government will degenerate into tribal conflicts until a new religious extremist group can rule it by the knife and gun.