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Russian Defiance Seen as Confidence Builder for Syria's Government
(New York Times) Anne Barnard - The Syrian government is acting with new assurance as its ally Russia moves to take over the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine, dismissing American objections and signaling growing assertiveness against the West. As the prospect of a compromise to end the Syrian war seems increasingly remote, bonds between Moscow and Damascus are deepening. To Russian and Syrian officials, the Syrian war and the standoff over Crimea are essentially part of a single, larger battle, against post-Cold War American unilateralism. Perhaps having tested the political wind, shopkeepers across Damascus have painted the Syrian flag on the corrugated metal gates of their shops, a statement against opposition groups that adopted a pre-Assad Syrian banner as their symbol.