Chess Player
Putin is an excellent chess player. He is doing exactly the same what he has done in Ukraine. He utilizes the state of chaos in Syria and the indecisiveness of Obama and his western allies to serve his own goals to restore Russia's place in the world back to it's old Soviet Union glory.
A strong naval force is essential to project your power in order to serve your global interests. The ice free ports in Crimea and the eastern Mediterranean are part of that global strategy.
While air superiority is essential for the success of an armed conflict, no war has ever been won by air strikes only. Boots on the ground only will assure the success of your campaign. That's exactly what is going to happen in Syria now, and that's what happened in Ukraine.
Under the pretense of preserving peace Russian ground troops will deploy in Syria to support the only structured military force besides ISIS, Putin's old ally Assad.
There is nothing the West can do now except watch in awe how quickly and efficiently Russian forces will deploy into Syria and reinstall the old Assad regime.
Last edited by maxphlyer; 8th Oct 2015 at 09:32.