Who Is a Better Strategist: Obama or Putin?

Pitting a former KGB agent against a former community organizer and seeing what happens in Syria.

Who's the better grand strategist: Barack Obama or Vladimir Putin?

That's not quite the right question, of course, because both leaders depend to some degree on intelligence reports and advice from trusted advisors and not just their own judgment. Accordingly, any assessment of their relative performance is to some degree an evaluation not just of the individual leaders but also their respective foreign-policy brain trusts. Still, the buck does stop at the top, and Russia's recent move into Syria has a lot of people wondering if the Kremlin has outflanked, outwitted, and outgunned the White House once again.

Is this really true? Has the crafty former KGB officer done a number on the former law professor and community organizer? And what does this latest turn of events tell us about each country's ability to formulate and implement an effective foreign policy?...

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