Not a short answer. I've read probably a dozen history books in the past 2 years trying to firm up this question. My opinion HAS changed in the following ways: - I recognize the legitimacy and necessity of Israel - I appreciate Islam as a religion but recognize that the fundamentalist factions of Islam hold more sway than the fundamentalist factions of Christianity - I understand that "nations" are a Western, Enlightenment concept imposed upon an unwilling and uninterested populace throughout the Middle East - I grasp that when we refer to the "civilized" world we are referring to those regions that did not behave as a frontier for the majority of history The Serbian War was a direct consequence of the Treaty of Versailles and an indirect consequence of a thousand years of bloodshed. The Middle East is no different. We look back on history at the genocide and slaughter perpetrated when protestantism popped out of catholicism, when the Cathars and Manicheans splintered off, hell, even the Mountain Meadows Massacre and we forget that Sunni/Shia/Wahabi/Alawi is more of the same, minus the geopolitical stability of republics, representative democracy or social progress. I shared this last week. Not nearly enough people read it. I'm sharing it again. Prior to this article, my opinion was that Syria is, has been and shall always be a Soviet puppet and the fact that they're Russians now doesn't change anything. My opinion after the article is that they are, have been and always shall be a Soviet puppet and when two ethnic factions who have been ready to slit each other's throats for 70 years suddenly decide to do so, you can't pick a side. Unless we want to play Empire and declare Syria the 51st state, press a full-court invasion and own Syria (in other words, what we did in Iraq minus the installing of a new government, troop draw-down and all the rest), we have no business getting involved. Should we pressure Russia to do something? Yeah, I think so. But we're doing bullshit with the Russians right now that pretty much saps our authority (ahem SNOWDEN). We won't anyway. It's all just a dance.kleinbl00, what's your take on Syria, and on the Middle East in general?