The goal of Russia’s intervention is therefore not to contribute to the “struggle against terrorism,” as the Kremlin’s propagandists claim, but to restore political control, at any cost, to the regime that spawned the terrorism in the first place. More precisely, Russia’s aim is to rescue (after a long period of arm’s-length support) a dictatorship that American and French authorities describe as being responsible for causing more than 250,000 deaths since 2011.
因此，俄罗斯干预的目的不是克里姆林宫宣传机器所称的帮助“打击恐怖主义”，而是不惜一切代价重新建立对一开始催生了恐怖主义的政权的政治控制。更准确地说，俄罗斯的目标是拯救（在经历了长时间的平等支持后）一个被美国和法国当局称为必须对2011年以来250,000多人死亡负责的独裁政权。该政权的行为毫无疑问还助了伊斯兰国的崛起与一臂之力，这给了巴沙尔一张要求国际支持的王牌——也给了俄罗斯一个借口。