Vermithrax]
Hexen]
Syria-Offensive opportunism, Iraq war fiasco left the US wavering on intervention and Russia pounced to hijack the peacekeeping role to try and build a coalition with Iran/Iraq/Syria.
To what end though? What does a coalition with these countries do for them?
It does a lot for them, with military allies in the region they can project power into the middle east and keep their opponents out. If you're the dominant party propping the others up, you can get favorable trade partnerships with them for natural resources. Russia already is the main energy supplier for Europe, I imagine Russia would love nothing more than to induct middle eastern oil producers into BRICS even though that's probably a pipe dream.
