[ETL]

And yet, I will not weep as Russia mows down Jihadis...

That part of it is of course great. The problem lies when that task is complete, if it ever is (Russia needs the instability as a cover for their expansionism). Russia will then set up strategic positions throughout the region. They are on the move to restore their (evil) empire, in large part thanks to Obama's deliberate weakening of our military and the near-treasonous missile defense and nuke deals he made with Putin. I suspect he has been intentionally weak going after ISIS for the specific purpose of giving Putin the excuse to move in and basically grab control of the region. This despite all of the smoke & mirror BS.

[baltimorepoet]

I suspect he has been intentionally weak going after ISIS for the specific purpose of giving Putin the excuse to move in and basically grab control of the region.

Before ISIS came to the region, Russia already was in good with Iran and Syria and to some extent Iraq. Russia is trying to keep her position in Syria, not expand. Grabbing Crimea was essentially reversing Khrushchev's ill-advised administrative transfer of Crimea to the Ukraine -- they wanted to make sure they kept their Crimean ports. Eastern Europe will never again fall under the sway of Russia. The Poles and others have long memories and are members of NATO. At best, the Russians can keep Byelorussia and Ukraine as a buffer zone between them and NATO. It is really idiots like Victoria Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt and others that were mucking around with things they shouldn't have, that helped provoke the whole thing. You might remember Nuland from her involvement in the Susan Rice talking points on Benghazi.