I’ve always thought of Vladimir V. Putin as an amoral ex-KGB thug. And I still do. But I have to admit he wrote a rather progressive op-ed piece in the New York Times on Wednesday. Overlook a belittling of Syrians’ desire for democracy, a fudge about who used the poison gas and a gratuitous sermon at the end, and what’s left is a well-reasoned appeal to international law.
Perhaps I was just a