Ignoring the arrogant subtext of this article ... 
1) It seems that somehow Russia outplayed US with Turkey. Kudos to them. 
2)The author of this article has absolutely no idea of who are the "moderates" in Syria and who are not. 
3) If US interventions from the past have shown anything it is that violence in the countries only increases after the all the efforts of "democratization"
4) I agree that Russia-Iran axis is unlikely to create a new beautiful republic in the place of Syria, but it IS likely to stop the war and put the country to the rebuilding path.
5) Pretty sure that Syrians would prefer this to the Iraq/Afghanistan/Libya scenario.
6) The author should try and travel somewhere past Nebraska if he wants to write about his nation's policies that affect the rest of the world.