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Gigot: Welcome to “The Journal Editorial Report.” I’m Paul Gigot.

Russia dramatically escalated its military campaign in Syria this week, firing long-range cruise missiles from warships in the Caspian Sea to support a land offensive by the regime of Bashar Assad. The missile launches follow two incursions into Turkish airspace by Russian jets and come as Vladimir Putin says he’s ready to restart diplomatic negotiations over Syria’s future, claiming Wednesday that the conflict must end with a, quote, “political solution.”

Joining us, Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion, who is chairman of the Human Rights Foundation and author of the forthcoming book “Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped.”

So, Garry Kasparov, welcome back to the program.

Kasparov: Thanks for inviting me.

Gigot: Great to have you here. What do you think Putin is trying to achieve in Syria?

Kasparov: It’s global plan to sort of destroy the world order and the stability, because dictator always benefits from chaos. The economy in Russia is not in a good shape and Putin knows it will not get better. He has to provide a legitimate reason—the Russian public—why he’s staying in power so many years and is planning to stay there forever. And of course, for an aggression, it becomes the main—