France, Russia strike Islamic State; Hollande, Putin to meet

Reuters ^ | Tuesday November 17, 2015 | Chine Labbe and Crispian Balmer

[Future Snake Eater]

Putin is very much not a friend of yours, mine, or ours, and I guarantee you he lies about quite a bit when it serves his purpose, but the reality is that he doesn’t need to when it comes to ISIS. They’re a direct threat to Russia, and Russia has a national cultural paranoia and general xenophobia due to centuries of destruction and slavery from outside invaders as well as a generally pessimistic outlook on life brought about by centuries of their own brutal leaders. ISIS is an outsider threat, therefore it’s too easy to get the Russian population spun up against them.

Obama obviously doesn’t care for America, and he also obviously sympathizes with Muslims and Islam. They’re less of a physical threat to us right now than they are to Russia and Europe. Taken together, the likelihood of us getting involved in a meaningful way is unlikely.