Time wants the US to help Syria's Sunni Arabs exterminate the country's minorities. Why is it a surprise that Time is making Putin's refusal to let Russia's Syrian client regime of 50 years fall look like some kind of overwhelming Russian victory to goad us into helping the Sunnis kill Alawites, Christians and other Syrian minorities? Russia's stand over Syria is just another holding action in a sea of Russian client state collapses that started with the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is not some kind of great victory for Russia.
Russia is the historical protector of Christians in the Middle East. It is part of their political DNA, for 1,000 years. Americans by and large know little and care even less about the condition and prospects for these ancient indigenous Christians, descendants of the earliest days of the Church. They perform a valuable service and it’s in their own back yard. The USA has no desire to help these people and even if it had, has no clue how to do so.