NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: Turkey & Saudi Arabia Form Pact to Take Down Assad.

Al Nusra is, of course, the Syrian branch of al Qaeda. The AP reports that Turkish sources say that “mutual frustration with what they consider American indecision” drove the Turks and the Saudis together on this, and that U.S. officials for their part have expressed concern.

Given the preexisting differences between the Turkish government and the Saudis, this is unlikely to be a long-lasting alliance. But in the short term, it will certainly result in strengthening some rebel groups in Syria that the U.S. worries about. By not moving forcefully early on, the U.S. has left the field open to others—whose ideas about what groups should get money, weapons and training may make Washington nervous.

See, when Jeb Bush recently said his biggest foreign policy influence was W, maybe he was cannily figuring that after the Obama debacles, the W era will look pretty good in retrospect.