Editor’s Note: This piece on the War on the Rocks Hasty Ambush blog is published in partnership with the Hoover Institution’s Military History in the News.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, is piling on military support for the faltering Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. And Washington is shocked — as Washington’s always shocked when the predictable-but-distasteful becomes reality.
Unlike the current U.S. administration, Putin doesn’t abandon embattled allies. What’s more, Russian leaders, whether in Soviet or neo-imperialist guise, always strike when the United States and the West are distracted or weak.After being forced to back down by the Berlin airlift, Soviet leaders paid more attention to timing their actions. They cracked down in Berlin in 1953 when the United States was trying to end the Korean War. In 1956, Russian tanks moved into Hungary while the British and French were flubbing the Suez Crisis and getting spanked by the United States. Twelve years later, the Soviet Army …