In true John Birch fashion, Ted Cruz seems to think it's a good idea to push us into World War III, by forcing China and Russia to give Syria's leader a giant bear hug and force them to own Assad's use of chemical weapons.

US News & World Report:

The potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate has risen to prominence with tea party support. He said President Barack Obama should more aggressively pursue a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the actions of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who reportedly authorized a chemical weapons attack that killed more than 1,400 Syrians, including more than 400 children. "The man is a monster and he should be universally condemned," Cruz said. But Obama should force China and Russia to actually veto the proposal and publicly embrace Assad, he added, so that American would be justified by raising hostilities. "And then in response…we should respond directly with respect to Russia by immediately reinstating the anti-ballistic missile stations in Eastern Europe that at the beginning of the Obama administration they canceled in an effort to appease Russia," Cruz said. "And with respect to China, we should immediately approve the sale of F-16s to Taiwan that the administration canceled in order appease China.

Woo, diplomacy. There's more.

"Bullies and tyrants don't respect weakness or appeasement; in the Arab world, appeasement only encourages more violence; I am a big believer of peace through strength," he said. "We should understand that we don't deal with nations like Russia and China by embracing arm and arm, and signing Kumbaya. The one thing Russia and China understand and respect is strength."

I'm sure you caught the Ronnie RayGun reference in the "peace through strength" remark there. But this is really true John Birch doctrine right here. "What we need to do, Amurkans, is teach those damn Commies a big lesson."

For Cruz, it seems World War III and a total meltdown of the entire global economy would be just the ticket.