Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to have remained an enigma to his friends and critics in the West ever since he came to power. With the announcement that Russia will be withdrawing most of its forces from Syria, that puzzle became even more unfathomable. Putin achieved his immediate goal: restoring Russia to the status of a superpower, especially in the Middle East. The Russian military's sudden foray into the Syrian turmoil prevented the rebels, for the time being, from taking control of what remained of President Bashar Assad's Syria. The Russian president demonstrated his armed forces' considerable capabilities (although he wasn't going up against any significant military power). Even more importantly, Putin proved that he was endowed with determination -- a quality so lacking among world leaders today. Determination is and has always been a vital component of any nation of weight and aspiration. But in a time when a weak, hesitant, and alienated leader like U.S. President Barack Obama is in the White House, any glimpse of that quality in an international official immediately puts that leader stage center. That's how Putin, in a few months of intensive airstrikes, managed to position both himself and his country as a nexus of power, without which nothing can be handed over. His popularity in Russia is sky high, which proves again that Russian citizens are ready to pay a high price for their country assuming superpower status. Even leaders of other nations, and some that want to become nations, like the Kurds, are starting to throw longing looks at the Kremlin. Nevertheless, Russia has not realized its goal of removing the economic sanctions applied to it after its intervention in the Ukraine. And the economic burden of a protracted stay in Syria could have weighed on Russia in the long term. The moment Putin realized that the Syrian lemon had been squeezed dry, and that all the dividends Russia would earn by using its fighter jets had been scooped up, he implemented an exit strategy. The announcement of Russia's exit was timed to coordinate with the opening of peace talks in Geneva, which was how Putin got a substitute for a victory picture: He is supposedly done with the military episode, and now he is leaving the pleasure of finding ways toward reconciliation to the "children." It's interesting that the two dramatic moves -- Russia's military incursion into Syria and its exit -- were lightning decisions that surprised most observers. And the ability to surprise is also considered an asset in complex international situations. But the story of the Russian intervention in Syria has revealed another player that knows how to operate in a shifting international reality and conduct itself in the face of various and sundry surprises by other sides: the State of Israel, and especially its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu appeared to be the only leader smart enough not only to accept the appearance of the Russian military in the Middle East, but also to derive diplomatic gain from it. Israel's considered approach stood out among the hysterical reactions of other countries, like Turkey. The airspace coordination between Israel and Russia worked well, but did not hinder the operations Israel itself initiated when it felt the need to take action. We saw once again that the Russian president holds the prime minister of Israel in high esteem, despite the Jewish state's independent positions and its determination to stand up for its interests -- or possibly because of them. Ariel Bolstein is the founder of the Israel advocacy organization Faces of Israel.
Russia is a superpower again
מערכת ישראל היום
מערכת "ישראל היום“ מפיקה ומעדכנת תכנים חדשותיים, מבזקים ופרשנויות לאורך כל שעות היממה. התוכן נערך בקפדנות, נבדק עובדתית ומוגש לציבור מתוך האמונה שהקוראים ראויים לעיתונות טובה יותר - אמינה, אובייקטיבית ועניינית.
