What considerations should the United States take in its approach to Syria? There are many, but undergirding all of them is a single basic proposition: Sticking it to Syrian President Bashar Assad isn’t worth starting a war with Russia. Russia isn’t the Soviet Union, but it isn’t Iraq’s rag-tag army either. Such a great-powers conflict, which could kill tens of millions of people, is a horrible idea under almost any circumstance.

Yet, if there’s one thing that unites the Washington foreign policy establishment right now, it’s that we need another regime change campaign: this time in Syria, an unnecessary, dangerous escalation. I used to worry we were sleepwalking towards war with Russia. Now we seem to be outright lunging.