Russia: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

It seems as if the seeds of discord that Russia had been so successful in sowing against the United States are now coming to harvest in Russia's proverbial field. Russia is now finding themselves between a rock and a hard place as Turkey, who they have sought a friendship with in order to deliver a blow to NATO and Syria, where Russia has backed President Assad during the Syrian Civil war, are now in the midst of fighting among themselves.Sunday, two Syrian fighter jets were shot down by Turkish forces over the Syrian province of Idlib. A place where forces who had rallied against Assad once found refuge. Now they are under siege by pro-Assad forces basically right next to the Turkish border. The clash between Syria and Turkey was bound to happen sooner or later. This situation has the potential to engage Russia in a tumultuous quagmire all it's own, just like we got to experience in the Middle East.If we're really being honest with ourselves and withholding the normal placating language that's used to describe allies...Erdogan and Putin are authoritarian rulers with really nice titles. The only reason they're not being hated on like Kim Jong Un or Winnie the Pooh...oops, we mean Xi Jinping is because they are slightly more crafty than the previously mentioned dictators. And here's the kicker, Assad, as we all should know by now is definitely an authoritarian despot.Russia has been cozying up to Turkey for quite some time now in an attempt to weaken NATO influence in the region. Russia has LONG, hated the Turkish alliance with the west due to the strategic location right on his southern flank. So does Russia back Turkey and tell Assad that it sucks to suck, or does Russia back Assad and have Turkey running back to NATO? Or do they do nothing at all and let the situation devolve even further? We're assuming it'll devolve only because of the region's rich history of everyone getting along peacefully (that last part was sarcasm).So you've got three dictators, all vying for an edge in the same region, looking out for numero uno and while it seemed to work ok for a while, the inevitable selfishness of dictators has now placed all three countries in a precarious position, and Russia between a rock and a hard place. One that we hope will occupy Russia, Syria, and Turkey for quite some time. Why? Because fuck 'em, that's why.