<i>&gt; neither Naziism nor Communism believed that success was a sign that Divine Providence was smiling on them.</i><p>You didn&#x27;t study your history, comrade! Communist orthodoxy believed in a historical inevitability that overlapped very closely with a sort of man-made Divine Providence. The Nazis had their own set of religious and spiritual motivations, their racial destiny and so on.<p>They differed from Abrahamic religions in the sense that they expected &quot;victory&quot; in this world and in their time, as opposed to vague posthumous compensations and end-of-times prophecies; but they <i>did</i> believe in a &quot;greater power&quot; manifesting itself in their successful deeds.<p><i>&gt; backing down in Syria will only embolden them.</i><p>That&#x27;s a false dichotomy. The problems in Syria won&#x27;t go away with bombs, and it was manifestly stupid for Hollande to join the party willy-nilly, especially after having experienced first-hand the inefficiency of his security apparatus. What is needed is a real agreement between the real power brokers (Turkey, Saudi, Russia, Iran) to cut off the crazies for good. We need hard diplomacy, not hard policies.