Barack Obama and Russian President Valdimir Putin toast during a luncheon hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the 70th annual U.N. General Assembly on September 28 in New York City.
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Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Photos: Tense moments between Obama and Putin
Obama and Putin shake hands while posing for a photo ahead of their meeting at U.N. headquarters on September 28 in New York.
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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Photos: Tense moments between Obama and Putin
Putin speaks with Obama during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing, China on November 11, 2014. U.S.-Russia relations have descended to a new low since Russia annexed Crimea in March.
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AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Presidential Press Service, File
Photos: Tense moments between Obama and Putin
Obama and Putin share a comical and awkward moment on a large split-screen during an international ceremony on the stretch code-named Sword Beach, in Ouistreham, France, to commemorate the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 2014. Obama and Putin had an informal 15-minute chat during lunch at the ceremony that marked the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings. "It's a positive thing that they spoke, but more needs to be done," a senior U.S. official said at the time.
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SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Tense moments between Obama and Putin
Putin greets Obama at the G-20 summit on September 5, 2013 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The United States and Russia have been squaring off over the bloody civil war in Syria.
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Guneev Sergey/Host Photo Agency via Getty Images
Photos: Tense moments between Obama and Putin
Obama listens to Putin after their bilateral meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico on June 18, 2012 on the sidelines of the G-20 summit. The meeting was the first time Obama and Putin held face-to-face talks since Putin returned to the president's office earlier that year. Obama said he and Putin discussed the conflict in Syria and "agreed that we need to see a cessation of the violence, that a political process has to be created to prevent civil war."
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JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GettyImages
Photos: Tense moments between Obama and Putin
Obama, who had become U.S. President six months earlier, enjoys tea with then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and members of the American delegation at Putin's dacha on July 7, 2009 in Moscow.
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Pete Souza/The White House via Getty Images
Story highlights
Ted Cruz:: Putin is strong-arming into the Middle East to prop up his client, Syria, and the Obama administration is caught flat-footed
The U.S. Syria policy is failing, and the U.S. can regain advantage by stressing exceptionalism, human rights and missile defense, he says
Editor’s Note: Ted Cruz is a U.S. senator from Texas. He is seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) —
Over the last week, the world has once again looked on aghast as President Vladimir Putin has taken violent advantage of regional instability to re-establish Russia’s influence, this time in the Middle East. Despite promises to join the United States in a counterterrorism effort against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Putin is on a mission to protect Russian assets in the Mediterranean by propping up his client, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Ted Cruz
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Courtesy of Ted Cruz
Meanwhile, the Obama administration has been caught flat-footed as Putin’s actions threaten to inflame and destabilize an already acute crisis.
Enough already. We don’t need a reset. We need a reality check.
Putin has been unmoved by the Obama administration’s threats of isolation on the international stage, and economic sanctions have on their own been no deterrent to his opportunistic behavior. More of the same will not result in success.
We need a coherent plan to address both the specific crisis in Syria and the challenge posed more broadly by Putin’s resurgent Russia. The good news is that America still has options – if our leaders can summon the will to exercise them.
For starters, in Syria we can’t double down on the failed strategies that have given Putin his opportunity to intervene. We are now two years out from President Obama’s proposed intervention after al-Assad used chemical weapons against his own people.
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Displaced Syrian residents wait to receive food aid distributed by the UN Relief and Works Agency at the besieged al-Yarmouk camp, south of Damascus, Syria, on January 31, 2014. According to the UN Envoy for Syria, an estimated 400,000 Syrians have been killed since an uprising in March 2011 spiraled into civil war. See how the conflict has unfolded.
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UNRWA/Reuters/Landov
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
An injured man lying in the back of a vehicle is rushed to a hospital in Daraa, Syria, on March 23, 2011. Violence flared in Daraa after a group of teens and children were arrested for writing political graffiti. Dozens of people were killed when security forces cracked down on demonstrations.
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ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Anti-government protesters demonstrate in Daraa on March 23, 2011. In response to continuing protests, the Syrian government announced several plans to appease citizens.
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Hussein Malla/AP
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Syrian children walk over bricks stored for road repairs during a spontaneous protest June 15, 2011, at a refugee camp near the Syrian border in Yayladagi, Turkey.
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Vadim Ghirda/AP
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Jamal al-Wadi speaks in Istanbul on September 15, 2011, after an alignment of Syrian opposition leaders announced the creation of a Syrian National Council -- their bid to present a united front against Bashar al-Assad's regime and establish a democratic system.
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Burhan Ozbilici/AP
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Delegates from Arab League member states and Turkey discuss a response to the government's crackdown in Syria on November 16, 2011.
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ABDELHAK SENNA/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Supporters of al-Assad celebrate during a referendum vote in Damascus on February 26, 2012. Opposition activists reported at least 55 deaths across the country as Syrians headed to the polls. Analysts and protesters widely described the constitutional referendum as a farce. "Essentially, what (al-Assad's) done here is put a piece of paper that he controls to a vote that he controls so that he can try and maintain control," a US State Department spokeswoman said.
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KHALED AL-HARIRI/Reuters/LANDOV
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Syrian refugees walk across a field in Syria before crossing into Turkey on March 14, 2012.
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BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Rebel fighters with the Free Syrian Army capture a police officer in Aleppo, Syria, who they believed to be pro-regime militiaman on July 31, 2012. Dozens of officers were reportedly killed as rebels seized police stations in the city.
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EMIN OZMEN/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
A Free Syrian Army fighter runs for cover as a Syrian Army tank shell hits a building across the street during clashes in the Salaheddine neighborhood of central Aleppo on August 17, 2012.
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GORAN TOMASEVIC/Reuters/Landov
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Family members mourn the deaths of their relatives in front of a field hospital in Aleppo on August 21, 2012.
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Edouard Elias/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
A Syrian man carrying grocery bags dodges sniper fire in Aleppo as he runs through an alley near a checkpoint manned by the Free Syrian Army on September 14, 2012.
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MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Free Syrian Army fighters are reflected in a mirror they use to see a Syrian Army post only 50 meters away in Aleppo on September 16, 2012.
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MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Smoke rises over the streets after a mortar bomb from Syria landed in the Turkish border village of Akcakale on October 3, 2012. Five people were killed. In response, Turkey fired on Syrian targets and its parliament authorized a resolution giving the government permission to deploy soldiers to foreign countries.
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ANADOLU AGENCY/REUTERS//LANDOV
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
A Syrian rebel walks inside a burnt section of the Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo hours before the Syrian army retook control of the complex on October 14, 2012.
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TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
An Israeli tank crew sits on the Golan Heights overlooking the Syrian village of Breqa on November 6, 2012. Israel fired warning shots toward Syria after a mortar shell hit an Israeli military post. It was the first time Israel fired on Syria across the Golan Heights since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
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MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Smoke rises in the Hanano and Bustan al-Basha districts in Aleppo as fighting continues through the night on December 1, 2012.
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Javier Manzano/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
The bodies of three children are laid out for identification by family members at a makeshift hospital in Aleppo on December 2, 2012. The children were allegedly killed in a mortar shell attack that landed close to a bakery in the city.
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Javier Manzano/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
A father reacts after the deaths of two of his children in Aleppo on January 3, 2013.
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MUZAFFAR SALMAN/Reuters/Landov
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Syrians look for survivors amid the rubble of a building targeted by a missile in the al-Mashhad neighborhood of Aleppo on January 7, 2013.
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ACHILLEAS ZAVALLIS/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Rebels launch a missile near the Abu Baker brigade in Al-Bab, Syria, on January 16, 2013.
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EDOUARD ELIAS/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
An aerial view shows the Zaatari refugee camp near the Jordanian city of Mafraq on July 18, 2013.
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MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
The UN Security Council passes a resolution September 27, 2013, requiring Syria to eliminate its arsenal of chemical weapons. Al-Assad said he would abide by the resolution.
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STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Residents run from a fire at a gasoline and oil shop in Aleppo's Bustan Al-Qasr neighborhood on October 20, 2013. Witnesses said the fire was caused by a bullet from a pro-government sniper.
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Haleem Al-Halabi/Reuters/Landov
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Syrian children wait as doctors perform medical checkups at a refugee center in Sofia, Bulgaria, on October 26, 2013.
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STOYAN NENOV/Reuters/LANDOV
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
An injured man is helped following an airstrike in Aleppo's Maadi neighborhood on December 17, 2013.
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MOHAMMED AL-KHATIEB/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
A man holds a baby who was rescued from rubble after an airstrike in Aleppo on February 14, 2014.
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Hosam Katan/Reuters/Landov
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
A US ship staff member wears personal protective equipment at a naval airbase in Rota, Spain, on April 10, 2014. A former container vessel was fitted out with at least $10 million of gear to let it take on about 560 metric tons of Syria's most dangerous chemical agents and sail them out to sea, officials said.
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Marcelo del Pozo/Reuters/Landov
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
A Free Syrian Army fighter fires a rocket-propelled grenade during heavy clashes in Aleppo on April 27, 2014.
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Jalal Al-Mamo/Reuters/Landov
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
A giant poster of al-Assad is seen in Damascus on May 31, 2014, ahead of the country's presidential elections. He received 88.7% of the vote in the country's first election after the civil war broke out.
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Pan Chaoyue/Xinhua/Landov
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Rebel fighters execute two men on July 25, 2014, in Binnish, Syria. The men were reportedly charged by an Islamic religious court with detonating several car bombs.
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AMR RADWAN AL-HOMSI/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Photographs of victims of the Assad regime are displayed as a Syrian army defector known as "Caesar," center, appears in disguise to speak before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington. The July 31, 2014, briefing was called "Assad's Killing Machine Exposed: Implications for U.S. Policy." Caesar, apparently a witness to the regime's brutality, smuggled more than 50,000 photographs depicting the torture and execution of more than 10,000 dissidents. CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the photos, documents and testimony referenced in the report.
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Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times/Landov
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Volunteers remove a dead body from under debris after shelling in Aleppo on August 29, 2014. According to the Syrian Civil Defense, barrel bombs are now the greatest killer of civilians in many parts of Syria. The White Helmets are a humanitarian organization that tries to save lives and offer relief.
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Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters/Landov
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Medics tend to a man's injuries at a field hospital in Douma after airstrikes on September 20, 2014.
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Badra Mamet/Reuters/Landov
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
A long-exposure photograph shows a rocket being launched in Aleppo on October 5, 2014.
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Rami Zayat/Reuters/Landov
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Rebel fighters dig caves in the mountains for bomb shelters in the northern countryside of Hama on March 9, 2015.
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KHALIL ASHAWI/Reuters/LANDOV
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Nusra Front fighters inspect a helicopter belonging to pro-government forces after it crashed in the rebel-held Idlib countryside on March 22, 2015.
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Abed Kontar/Reuters/Landov
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
A Syrian child fleeing the war gets lifted over fences to enter Turkish territory illegally near a border crossing at Akcakale, Turkey, on June 14, 2015.
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Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
A refugee carries mattresses as he re-enters Syria from Turkey on June 22, 2015, after Kurdish People's Protection Units regained control of the area around Tal Abyad, Syria, from ISIS.
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Uygar Onder Simsek/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
A sandstorm blows over damaged buildings in the rebel-held area of Douma, east of Damascus, on September 7, 2015.
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SAMEER AL-DOUMY/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Members of a Syrian opposition group attack the headquarters of al-Assad regime forces in the Aleppo villages of Nubul and al-Zahraa on February 12, 2016.
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Mustafa Sultan /Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
This still image, taken from a video posted by the Aleppo Media Center, shows a young boy in an ambulance after an airstrike in Aleppo, Syria, on August 17, 2016. It took nearly an hour to dig the boy, identified as Omran Daqneesh, out from the rubble, an activist told CNN. The airstrike destroyed his home, where he lived with his parents and two siblings. Director of the Aleppo Media Center Yousef Saddiq said Omran's 10-year-old brother, Ali, died from his injuries.
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Mahmud Rslan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Smoke rises after an airstrike in Aleppo on October 4, 2016.
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Mahmud Faysal/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Arabic writing that reads "some day we will return" is seen on a bus window as civilians evacuate Aleppo on December 15, 2016. The evacuations began under a new ceasefire between rebels and pro-government forces.
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KARAM AL-MASRI/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
This photo, provided by the activist Idlib Media Center, shows dead children after a suspected chemical attack in the rebel-held city of Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017. Dozens of people were killed, according to multiple activist groups. The United States responded a few days later by launching between 50-60 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian government airbase. US officials said the base was home to warplanes that carried out the chemical attack. Syria has repeatedly denied it had anything to do with the attack.
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Idlib Media Center
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Members of the UN Security Council raise their hands on April 12, 2017, as they vote in favor of a draft resolution that condemned the reported use of chemical weapons in Syria.
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KENA BETANCUR/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Residents of the war-torn city of Douma break their Ramadan fast on June 18, 2017.
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HAMZA AL-AJWEH/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
A member of the Syrian pro-regime forces fires a machine gun as a comrade holds his feeding ammunition belt on November 11, 2017. It was during an advance toward rebel-held positions west of Aleppo.
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GEORGE OURFALIAN/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
A child receives medical treatment after a village was attacked in the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region on February 25, 2018. Several people were treated for exposure to chlorine gas, opposition groups said, as airstrikes and artillery fire from the regime continued. CNN was unable to independently verify claims that chlorine was used as a weapon.
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MOHAMMED BADRA/EPA
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Bodies lie on the ground in the rebel-held city of Douma, Syria, on April 8, 2018. According to activist groups, helicopters dropped barrel bombs filled with toxic gas on Douma, which has been the focus of a renewed government offensive that launched in mid-February. The Syrian government and its key ally, Russia, vehemently denied involvement and accused rebel groups of fabricating the attack to hinder the army's advances and provoke international military intervention.
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EMAD ALDIN/EPA
Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures
Damascus skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire as the US and its allies launch an attack on Syria's capital early on April 14, 2018. US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons. Trump says the strikes are part of a sustained military response, in coordination with France and the United Kingdom.
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Hassan Ammar/AP
Some of my Senate colleagues vocally supported the administration’s plan to strike al-Assad. Others opposed, on principle, intervention of any sort in Syria. While I understood how important it was for Obama to enforce his own “red line,” I was skeptical of the proposal on the grounds that I did not think a “pinprick” strike that was “unbelievably small” and designed to “enforce international norms” would effectively further America’s national security interests.
As it turned out, the President rescinded his request to Congress to authorize military force against Assad. He instead opted to partner with Putin in an effort to remove chemical weapons from Syria, an arrangement that gave the Russian strongman his first toehold in the region.
We are now more than a year – and more than $4 billion – into Obama’s military effort against ISIS, which has been a failure. Despite the exemplary bravery and professionalism of our men and women in uniform, they are being deployed to execute a strategy so opaque and confused, under rules of engagement so restrictive, that there can be no hope for victory.
The $500 million training and equipping of the Syrian “moderate” opposition that Obama and his supporters have insisted would provide a viable alternative to al-Assad has utterly collapsed, with a pitifully small handful of fighters either defecting, dead or swept aside by Putin’s airstrikes.
Meanwhile, the government of Iraq remains paralyzed by sectarian conflict and increasingly under the sway of Tehran, and as such unable to muster an effective offensive against ISIS, despite a steady stream of American support in the form of regular supplies of arms and thousands of ground troops.
If we want to actually dismantle ISIS, we need to dramatically change course. We need a real, robust campaign that maximizes our overwhelming air advantage. We need to focus our efforts not on trying to create friends, but on supporting our real ones, especially the Kurds in Iraq and Syria who have actually had success against ISIS. And rather than pouring more resources into a dysfunctional Baghdad, we should extend consistent, robust assistance to our regional allies – Israel, Egypt and Jordan – who are on the front lines of this fight.
These actions would demonstrate real American resolve to dismantle ISIS without entangling us in some sort of devil’s bargain with al-Assad or the Iranians. And they would demonstrate to Putin that we will not allow him to move unimpeded into the region to advance an agenda that is contrary to our own.
There is also the larger issue of how we will confront a Russia that has been emboldened by six and a half years of American weakness. But we know perfectly well how to reverse this situation. Putin himself has told us what he fears the most. According to his September 2013 op-ed in The New York Times, it is American exceptionalism.
It is dangerous to dictators like Putin when Americans remember their exceptionalism. The unique combination of power and principle that has made the United States the greatest force for good on the planet has historically posed a grave threat to repressive bullies.
We have a successful model in front of us of how to deal with Russia without creating a diplomatic crisis. We can emulate the decisive actions that empowered Ronald Reagan to win the Cold War without firing a shot.
We can highlight human rights, and aggressively expand and enforce the Magnitsky Act, which targets Russian officials accused of human rights abuses. We can redouble our efforts to develop the defensive weapons that neutralized the offensive Soviet threat – particularly missile defense, which has seen a 25% budget reduction under Obama, according to an analysis from the conservative Heritage Foundation, and has been constrained by bad arms deals like New START.
We should not only move quickly to install the canceled interceptor sites Putin opposed in Poland and the Czech Republic, but also to develop the next generation of systems that will only increase his discomfiture.
These options do not entail a ground war in Syria, yet would effectively shake us free from the failed policies that have brought us to our current impasse. These options set us on a new path that puts Putin on notice that the United States is reclaiming our traditional role as leader of the free world.
