Russia is still grinding along in the battle with Ukraine, but if the greater goal was to present Putin as a powerful leader who might be in a position to re-form parts of the USSR, he’s losing the war.
The latest blow was the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Fareed Zakaria writes that Assad’s collapse was a real sign of Russian weakness.
Bashar al-Assad’s fall points to a direct lesson: Russia’s growing weakness. Moscow had been Syria’s patron for over half a century. Syria was Russia’s last major client state in the Middle East. Moscow had spent huge amounts of blood and treasure supporting Assad over the past decade.
And yet, there was nothing they could do. Today the Post reports that Russia seems to be pulling out of Syria or at least pulling back.
Russia is dismantling equipment at an air base in Syria and loading it into cargo planes after the…
