I did not say Putin is a hero.
He is working in his own and his countries best interests.
But he is smarter than we have been. He is not messing around with all this “nation building” stuff.
Russia has a manpower problem as well. They do not have enough military personnel to ‘hold’ vast tracts of territory. That’s why they are just trying to control a small area of the coast in Syria. They want access to the ports primarily. They don’t want to hold Aleppo or Mosul or vast tracts of land. That would be stupid
Putin doesn't give a crap about the people of Russia. They can't even voice their opposition to him without fear of being thrown in prison or ending up dead. He's like any other dictator, he does what he has to to stay in power.