Ross Douthat’s Sunday NYT column discussed the similarities and differences between the ongoing conflict in Syria and the Spanish Civil War. While the analogy is by no means absurd (it occurred to me months ago), Douthat’s (correct) conclusion that the situation is likely to remain a stalemate for some time to come is evidence that the more appropriate analogy is to the Thirty Years’ War, as I suggested in a post in, I believe, August.