Overnight the continuing escalation of direct, as opposed to proxy, conflict in Syrian hit a new high as the Israelis launched their largest missile barrage in the 7 year history of the Syrian "Civil" War (archived). Not content to let the big countries work through their issues by proxy while US President Trump contemplates a withdrawal from the theater, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's behavior increasingly parallels that of the late Paraguayan President Francisco Solano Lopez in 1864.
Consider: