A year ago, I would have thought twice before using the expression “proxy war” to describe the way that Russians see the civil war in Syria. The allegiances and motives in the conflict seemed too complex. Now things are even more complicated: Hizbollah is a direct participant. But I feel more confident describing what is happening in Syria as a proxy war between Russia and the west.
There are a number of rational geopolitical reasons why Vladimir Putin has chosen to support the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Russia has, after all, been doing business with Syria. Furthermore, given Russia’s domestic problems with Islamist terror, the president may prefer the secular devil we know in Damascus to potential jihadis we do not. Mr Putin may also want to show young dissidents at home that concerted opposition is not as inevitably successful as it might have seemed after Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
But one cannot overlook the emotional argument for Russia’s engagement in Syria. By putting our weapons on the opposite side to the west, Mr Putin is tugging at a Russian heartstring. Our country’s place in history and the world today is Russia’s unifying obsession.