but we have to do it together. together bemuwe must strengthen collective capacity, to support those who seek a just and lasting peace. nowhere is our commitment to international order more tested than in syria. when a dictator slaughters tens of thousands of his own people, that is not just a matter of one nation s internal affairs. it breeds human suffering on an order of magnitude that affects us all. likewise, when a terrorist group beheads captives, slaughters the innocent and enslaves women, that s not a single nation s national security problem. that is an assault on all our humanity.
know on the ground today, it s clearly going to be russia, so they have this new deal in iran, the nuclear deal, of which russia is all over, and they re signing contracts that cannot be undone, acordsing to the nuclear deal, even if they find iran cheating. that is a stable relationship that s only going to grow. this protects assad if anything happens. the russias would throw assad over in a minute if they knew what was next and could continue their role of influence. i think russia is in a very good place to try to dictate the details of what happens next in syria. they ve got armament there, they ve got combat aircraft there that they are flying missions. all of that tells you they re girding up here for a very important, i think, next phase of this. and they ll go around the united states, they ll go through the united states, or they ll do it with the united states. and i think that s the big decision the president s going to have to make, what role he wants to play there. by the
managed transition away from assad and to a new leader and an inclusive government that recognizes there must be an end to this chaos so the syrian people can begin to rebuild. we know that isil, which emerged out of the chaos of iraq and syria, depends on perpetual war to survive. but we also know that they gain adherence because of a poisonous ideology, so part of our job together is to work to reject such extremism that infects too many of our young people. part of that effort must be a continued rejection by muslims of those who distort islam to preach intolerance and promote violence, and it must also involve a rejection by non-muslims of the ignorance that equates islam with terrorists.
see the islamic state go away but they want other things much more. until they want it as much as we do, the islamic state persists. talk about the doomsday precision you write about in our book. islamic prophesies of the times, iraq and syria figure large. they re using this effect because they believe they re rebuilding god s king doll on earth and building that for a final confrontation. how much of the factor of recruitment is geared to the fact they are so brutally violent as opposed to al qaeda also violent but not quiet as brutal or public as isis? this was a big split between
candidates about fundamental things that are trouble troubling. that s exactly what s being done right now. i can say if we continue obsessing over this and not worry about the fact putin is expanding the syria and we have a massive refugee crisis and chaos spreading across the middle east in a large part because of what we have not done in syria in two or three year, at the end of the day republicans are going to vote on that more than nods and winks over where barack obama was born and other questions. i ll be clear, the republicans should speak out aggressively against it but at the end of the day, that s not going to move voters to vote for one candidate or the other. at the end of the day, it s the issues. i would love to see a lengthy debate on that. still ahead, we have full coverage of pope francis immediating with president obama at the white