Russia isn't supporting terrorism, far from it. It's all business. Syria is a valued and lucrative client who buys things with cash. That's all it is. Russia is assuming that Syrian terrorists won't target Russian interests. They could be wrong.
I wonder how much of russian posture on topics like this going forward is going to be influenced by what they perceive as the west hijacking the ukraine election, which they DO consider their traditional sphere of influence (and they are correct, at least until now).
"Russia isn't supporting terrorism, far from it. It's all business. Syria is a valued and lucrative client who buys things with cash. That's all it is. Russia is assuming that Syrian terrorists won't target Russian interests. They could be wrong."
Yes, good point. We in the US supported Bin-Laden in Afghanistan against the Russians in the 80's. Look how well that worked out for us. Same thing with Saddam in the early 80's against Iran. To me, Russia has a lot more to lose long-term by making buddy buddy with China and helping arm them. For now, the Russians are cash-hungry and sell to anyone.