Putin regime actions only gives Russia a bad name among civilized world. To defend the Islamic terror sponsor who is credibly accused in the involvement of assassination of the fmr. Lebanese president and numerous other Islamist terror activities against Israel and other countries is simply indefensible. Syria and the likes will return gratitude to Russia by financing or arming Islamist insurgency in North Caucasus and elsewhere.
The sad thing is that Antiamericanism is too strong among Putin ex-KGB circle to see the dangers of supporting Islamonazi regimes. The regime will work against the very interest of iys own country just to stick up to United States--very sad and pathetic.
It is time that Americans understood that Russia is an oriental nation and has rarely ceased to be other than an oriental despotism. It only has to the West by happenstance. The Russian Orthodox Church is Byzantium in modern dress with all the trappings of mysticism and little of the love of Christ. The people are primitives, drunks, and wastrels; don't belive it? Check the Russian immigrant populations in Brooklyn. The fact that Russia has intelligent scientists means no more than the fact there are intelligent scientists in Kashmir. We should have learned what Europeans know: You trust a Russian at your own risk.
Russia's muslim problem is properly characterized as 100x worse than France. Nor will they learn the lesson of Beslan or the French Intifada-- appeasing the Muslims or their proxy states is suicidal. What the Russians do have the French do not is an iron will to kill without remorse (or competence, unfortunately).