Yes, in an entirely context-free world.
In context, however, he has been obstructing the ability of the Security Council to deal with chemical weapons and Assad in general, and he has been a staunch supporter of Assad in the face of Assad’s atrocities, right up until the point of the threat of war.
This is not to say that we should bomb Syria – and the comic isn’t saying that either. It’s pointing out that Putin is not the good guy in this situation, even if he can write an adult-sounding editorial.
Edit: also… “But the actual content of Putin’s NYT editorial is entirely reasonable and uncontroversial?” Really? Even the part where he says that the Syrian government can’t possibly be to blame for the chemical weapons and it must be the evil al qaeda terrorists’ fault?
