One might argue that the past is past and that, in view of the general disaster in Syria, Russia’s intervention will at least have the benefit of halting the country’s free fall. But the first consequence of Putin’s offensive – one employing methods tested in the two Chechen wars and not burdened, to put it mildly, by the precautions observed by Western armed forces – will be to increase, not reduce, the number of civilian casualties.
你也许会说，过去的事已经过去了，并且从叙利亚遍及全国的灾难看，俄罗斯的干预至少可以阻止叙利亚一败到底的颓势。但普京的攻势——他的这个做法已经经过两次车臣战争的检验，并且客气点说，他这么做时还不用像西方武装部队那样受到各种约束——的第一个结恶果将是增加而非减少贫民伤亡数量。