Moscow appears to understand better than Washington that the driving foreign-policy requirement of the 21st century is the preservation of the state in the face of Fourth Generation war waged by non-state entities, such as those fighting on the rebels’ side in Syria.
I think much of it is what "appears". The other side of it is that the Russian Federation inherits and promotes its continuation of the Soviet Union to the detriment of the Russian Nation; it remains just like the Soviet Union unable to build a rule of law distinct of the rule of the ruling party and generally is suffering from the Soviet mentality infecting its people as much as it infects its government. The desire to lecture the West is one of them.
None of that is to dispute the salutary aspects of Russian Federation's corrective of American foreign policy in the late presidencies, especially in thwarting Obama's aggression in Syria.
I submit it to my esteemed ping list. What do you think?
If you want to be on this right wing, monarchy, paleolibertarianism and nationalism ping list, but are not, please let me know. If you are on it and want to be off, also let me know. This ping list is not used for Catholic-Protestant debates.
It's hard to say how much of that is true. The Russian Federation has a statist, great power orientation that may be at odds with ordinary Russians wanting to live their own lives freely. At the same time, though, over the last 20 years, Russian has probably been freer and more democratic than at any time in its history. And a "statist, great power orientation" isn't something unique to Russia or to post-communist societies.