Vladimir Putin’s bombing campaign in Syria is a direct consequence of his failure in Ukraine.
It is too early to assess whether Russia’s airstrikes will save the Assad regime, but they have given a new lease of life to the band of commentators whose fulminations pass for political discussion on Russian television.
With the winding down of the Ukrainian conflict, these commentators were losing their grip on the public imagination. Now they are back in force, piling superlatives upon hyperbole as they hail Putin’s Syrian offensive as a new masterstroke, a bold move that has reasserted Russia’s status as a great …read more