[Rufii]

Why are Russian planes bound for Syria flying through Greek air space? Unless Turkey is refusing overflights, Greece would be out of the way.

[silverleaf]

Avoiding Turkey perhaps

[katana]

While both Greece and Turkey are NATO members, Russia has always had friendly relations with the former and been in a serial state of war with the latter for hundreds of years. Besides, Turkey is the last country that would want a Russian naval base and ground troops operating in Syria. They have been flanked by their worst enemy.

In respect to the USA, the Russians in this game are playing chess. Kerry and the Obama administration are just playing with themselves. Nothing we are doing in that region is coherent. We are effectively aligning with Shia Iran, a big supporter of Assad and enemy of every other Arab regime in the region. And at the same time funding the Sunni opposition, actually Al Qaeda, helping to supplant him with a terrorist regime intent on killing (enslaving the younger females) every Christian, Jew, and non-Wahhabi Muslim they can get their hands on. In Egypt and North Africa they're backing the Muslim Brotherhood, a masquerade version of ISIS.

There's no consistency except everything they are doing is detrimental to Israel's security interests and the opposite of base American foreign policy in the region pursued through sixty plus years of both Democrat and Republican administrations.