Just kidding. But this headline or something like it might be featured on your news feeds. 

Russia could shoot down a US aircraft, however, and the response from the West will be a monumental decision. Russia has propped up its air defense capability in Syria. Please remember that Russia, right or wrong, has ground authority to be in Syria via the Syrian government. Another discussion we aren’t having – is do we recognize Syria’s government as legitimate? Rhetoric and words aside. If they aren’t a government – it’s a rogue nation and consistent with that would, indeed, be the removal of the Assad regime and a replacement. Assad is the beginning and end of all of this. Before it becomes an open war on the global scale. Is there no way to make the regime useful? Is there utterly no compromise?

Rhetoric is heating up. The White House recently had a meeting and discussed options to move forward in Syria. An option was striking the Assad regime. We don’t need a war with Russia and they don’t need a war with the West. But, they’re willing to do it. Are we? Much of Russia’s fear is rooted in a nuclear attack by the West, against them. Because they know that the war that would spark between the two powers wouldn’t yield a winner. We’re in an age where wars cannot be won. In part, due to globalization.

Here’s a different idea that no one is considering. Don’t judge, I’m just exploring a concept. One where we seek to envelop Syria into the West and co-opt Assad, somehow. Why would Assad turn down the possible Syria and economic growth he could enjoy by participating in the Western development model?

There are no good guys in Syria. It’s like the Spanish Civil War. So, let’s consider controlling Assad. Even co-opting him – which would be a huge sucker punch to Russia. It would ruin Iran’s plan. It would force everyone to work together for some reasons. It would also virtually guarantee the destruction of ISIL and guarantee there won’t be a re-emergence of the Ottoman empire. Russia and Turkey want their empires back. They’re a part of the global society – but they can be every bit as cruel to their subjects as Assad. We need to remember that Shia government troops, often police or SWAT, in Iraq have been rumored and some videos in the past have surface revealing brutality to Sunnis in Sunni towns.

Just because we think they’re OK and they walk and talk like a duck, doesn’t make them a duck. They’re just smart, and we’re desperate to hear what we need to believe; that the world agrees with our morality. But, it doesn’t seem like it does. I can’t help but be reminded we’re animals when I think about Syria. Mass slaughter of human beings, often indiscriminate, and even when there’s a reason – it’s not a good one.

We need to salvage what’s there – not destroy what’s left and build anew. Other approaches can lead towards democratic societies. Let’s look at Egypt, a place where the West has taken a different strategy. Sort of reform from within by compliance from the outside. We aren’t in charge of everyone and we aren’t the moral arbiters of the world. Our biggest problem with our policy is that we can’t get over ourselves. Our culture and “The Bachelorette” might be a reflection.

Featured image courtesy of www.whatdoesitmean.com.