Russian weakness exposed
Russia is still grinding along in the battle with Ukraine, but if the greater goal was to present Putin as a powerful leader who might be in a position to re-form parts of the USSR, he's losing the war.
The latest blow was the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Fareed Zakaria writes that Assad's collapse was a real sign of Russian weakness.
Bashar al-Assad’s fall points to a direct lesson: Russia’s growing weakness. Moscow had been Syria’s patron for over half a century. Syria was Russia’s last major client state in the Middle East. Moscow had spent huge amounts of blood and treasure supporting Assad over the past decade.
And yet, there was nothing they could do. Today the Post reports that Russia seems to be pulling out of Syria or at least pulling back.
Russia is dismantling equipment at an air base in Syria and loading it into cargo planes after the ouster of longtime Moscow client Bashar al-Assad, images show.
Captured by Maxar on Friday morning, the images reveal two An-124 cargo planes at Russia’s Hmeimim airfield with their nose cones opened to receive equipment, the commercial firm said...
Russian troops were vacating smaller bases in Manbij and Kobane on Monday, the Syrian news outlet North Press Agency reported this week.
Russia may maintain some bases in the country but no one thinks they look like a dominant power player in the region right now.
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Russia has been bogged down in Ukraine in a battle they thought would be over in days. It is now seeing its assets in the Middle East crumbling. Much of its operations correspond with the weakness the Biden administration has shown. The events in the Middle East are a continuation of the disarray by both Russia and the Biden team.
See also:
'Large-scale withdrawal': Officials say Russian military has began withdrawing soldiers from Syria
Moscow also continued withdrawing military equipment from bases across Syria, as reported last week by The Jerusalem Post.
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