Another interpretation of the Obama doctrine and how his strategy has undermined American power prematurely. A few quips from the article follow.

http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...ionist/473205/

Obama Is Not a Realist
He’s an isolationist with drones and special-operations forces.

Is Obama overseeing the self-containment, or “self-disempowerment,” of the mightiest nation on earth?
All told, in Goldberg’s words, Obama believes that the “the price of direct U.S. action would be higher than the price of inaction.”

Realism is more complicated. A realist knows that distant threats, if ignored, can turn into direct ones.
Speaking of the Middle East

Today, the Russians are back in force, posing a deadly risk to anybody who would dislodge them from the Levant. Today, Assad’s army is on a roll; millions of refugees have flooded into neighboring lands and into Europe.
True about Assad for now, but it appears Obama got it right about the Russians being unable to sustain themselves in Syria due to over reaching in the Ukraine and the drop in oil prices. They had ends and ways without means. Assuming the Russians actually do pull out the question then becomes s will Assad stand without active Russian intervention? Is Iran on its last legs also?