Ramadi

[Anomalocaris]

Not to mention that some of our Syrian rebel trainees recently turned over sixteen truckloads of weapons to al-Qaeda.

The real kicker? The Pentagon says that despite that, the program will continue.

WTF?

Could our whole military defeat a band of cave men?

No, but I bet just part of Russia's military could. I bet Putin has seen an opportunity to show case the fact that despite having an declining economy the size of that of Belgium, Russia is more effective and more to be feared when the going gets tough, at least in the arc between Syria and Afghanistan, than the US, much less China.

In Ukraine we managed to convince the Russians there is no future for them in playing the game we prefer, and to keep what they haven't lost yet, they need to play their own game. Now in Syria we give the Russians the opportunity to showcase the fact there is more in it for much of the middleeast to play Russia's game than to play ours.