Bad actors around the globe keep getting confused about the calendar, and it falls to the Obama administration to set them straight. The Russians, Secretary of State John Kerry protested back in March, have forgotten what century we’re living in: “You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th-century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped-up pretext.” Kerry was echoing President Obama’s observation that by seizing Crimea, Russian president Vladimir Putin was putting himself “on the wrong side of history.”

It’s a theme this president sounded in his first inaugural address, warning that “those who cling to power through corruption and deceit, and the silencing of dissent” are “on the wrong side of history.” He returned to it in his remarks (bracketed by golf outings) about the horrific murder of James Foley.