Vladimir Putin's Syria intervention represents Russia's most direct and brazen challenge to the West to date. It risks turning into a proxy war with the United States and its allies in the Middle East. It also risks alienating Turkey as well as Sunni Muslims worldwide.
And the Kremlin doesn't seem to care.
Does Putin's Syria gambit represent Russia's return to great-power status? Or is it a desperate gamble that will end in a quagmire?
We discuss all this as well as the Kremlin's efforts to sell the war at home in the latest Power Vertical Podcast.
Joining me are co-host Mark Galeotti, a professor at New York University, an expert on Russia's security services, and author of the blog In Moscow's Shadows; journalist, author, and political commentator Leonid Bershidsky, a columnist for Bloomberg View and founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti; and Moscow-based foreign-affairs expert Vladimir Frolov, president of the LEFF Group.
Enjoy...
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Podcast: War Games
Listen to or download the podcast above or subscribe to The Power Vertical Podcast on iTunes.