Walking IN Everyone's Shoes

VLADMIIR PUTIN, president of russia, must feel as if he has an albatross around his neck in his alliance with syria, syria and its international criminal dictator. russia and Syria have been allies for some time, going back at least as far as the 1967 war, and the russians never in their wildest imaginations thought that anything like this could ever happen. Vladimir Putin is still, at last report, clinging to the story that the chemical warfare in syria was used by the rebels, not assad. This is pitiful. But what else can he do? He is trapped by his friendship with a black sheep. He'll have to come to terms with the truth eventually, you would think, but who knows? Self made illusions can linger long! These alliances poison world politics, or seem to. The United States and Israel. The United States and Great Britain. Russia and Syria and Iran. There are many more where those came from, all over the world. They serve their purpose, various military , political, and economic advantages, but they also create international rivalires and, for lack of a better word, "gangs" of nations, with ever changing membership within the gangs. Would a moratorium on international alliances have any positive impact? Would it force nations to cooperate more generally, or would it have just the opposite effect? Nations seem to ally with like minded nations" democracies with democracies, dictatorship with dictatorship. However, more than once the united states has supported a dictatorship, such as south viet nam, whenever circumstances seemed to make this beneficial to america. Circumstances sometimes produce strange bedfellows, such as the united states and the soviet union in world war two. We could draw names out of a hat at the United Nations and choose up new allies! Maybe do this on a regular basis, to give all nations a chance to find out what its like to be allied with, to walk in the the shoes of - everyone else.