The Putin Doctrine

Professor Angelo M. Codevilla is a mensch, to borrow a term from the Yiddish. Here he writes for The Federalist admiringly about Russian military doctrine in the Middle East.

Putin knows that force discredits itself if it is not used decisively. Like Napoleon, he knows you can do anything with bayonets except sit on them. Russia’s expeditionary force in the Middle East, unlike America’s, is not there to drive around replenished minefields, getting legs blown off by IEDs. Their artillery will devastate ISIS’ strongholds as it did Chechnya. Their tank and plane combination will open the way for murderous militias.

Russia’s military orthodoxy is the decisive difference between its expedition in former Syria and Iraq and America’s recent ventures. Russian forces seem to be prioritizing objectives, weakening the rear with strategic air strikes, then moving the front forward with coordinated combined arms and little if any concern for collateral damage. Historically, this sort of behavior tends to engender respect rather than additional enmity.

Putin seeks only his own ends in the region, Codevilla believes. He has no lasting commitment to other actors, including those factions with which he may temporarily cooperate.