War or Peace in Syria?

Just when you thought US military intervention in Syria was getting less likely and perhaps diplomacy would win out in the end, there's this from the Washington Post:
The CIA has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria, ending months of delay in lethal aid that had been promised by the Obama administration, according to U.S. officials and Syrian figures. The shipments began streaming into the country over the past two weeks, along with separate deliveries by the State Department of vehicles and other gear — a flow of material that marks a major escalation of the U.S. role in Syria’s civil war.

Then, today, on one of the morning news shows was a discussion of how we could be assured that the chemical weapons would be secured and destroyed.  The lead-in was so insane (paraphrased, I think,  a member of the "intelligence" community - "it's a scam") that I didn't bother to listen to it.  So let's hope that the Obama administration is not going to continually move the goal posts on this issue, declare non-compliance, and then violate international law by bombing Syria.  We don't need another $4 trillion war in the Middle East.  You would think that the neocons have been totally discredited by now but somehow they are still yapping and still have their supporters in Congress.  

Unbelievable as it may seem, Russian president Putin seems to have gotten it right in an Op-Ed in the New York Times.  In it, the Russian president says a military strike at Syria "would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism," and "could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa." [USA Today, Sept.12] 

Putin's complete op-ed, in which he also cautions against American exceptionalism, can be found at this link to The New York Times article.

A destabilized Syria will provide Al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups with a new base from which to operate.  Bombing Syria in violation of international law will result in still more civilian casualties as well as destabilize the country.  The only real answer is that both the Western powers supporting the rebels and Russia and Iran supporting the Assad government in this civil war must stop the flow of arms to both sides, force them both to the peace table, enact an immediate and indefinite cease fire, and provide massive amounts of humanitarian, not military, aid to the suffering people of Syria.  Any other approach will be counterproductive, ineffective, and, ultimately, tragic.