Pax Putinica

As a staging ground for great-power rivalries, the Syrian civil war bears a startling similarity to the Spanish civil war that broke out nearly 80 years ago, in 1936 — the three-year conflict that set the stage for World War II.

Now as then, ruthless authoritarian powers (Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in Spain; Russia and Iran in Syria) are flexing regional muscle by helping a fellow dictator wage war on a helpless civilian population, even aiding in the destruction of entire cities — Aleppo and Homs are new Guernicas.