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Originally Posted by kato13
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Russian intervention in Syria has as a lot more to do with unsettling Saudi Arabia and the West as it has with aiding Assad. Saudi Arabia is the prime instigator in devaluing oil prices and its targeted as much against Iran and Russia as it is against US shale producers. Iran and OPEC (outside of the Gulf states) would be the main supporters of Russian intervention in Syria, and their hope would be that it will force oil prices back to pre-2014 levels.
It is quite obvious that Russia is supporting the Iran/Shia faction in the Middle East, and the fact that Iran is also intervening in Iraq, Syria (Assad regime is Shia) and supporting the Shia rebel faction in Yemen is targeted against Saudi Arabia who is now the leading Sunni Muslim state in the region.
If Russia fails to unsettle Saudi Arabia and force oil prices up then it could be in trouble. It hasn't got the finances to sustain a military build up without oil and gas prices rising to levels they were two years ago, and its economy is neither large enough or diverse enough to cushion the impact of falling revenues from oil exports. Russia could go the self-reliance route but unlike Germany in the 1930's it does not have the level of science and engineering excellence that existed in the German economy. However there is no trade ban with Russia. The Russians can still import what they need and try and produce the rest themselves which will be difficult. The role of China in all of this could be very relevant to Putin's scheming. China does have the financial reserves to support Russia, although with the trouble they are also having with their finances and economy it may not be as much as Putin hopes. But China can aid the Russian economy be exporting excess manufactured products. China produces many of the same products that Russia imports from Western countries such as Germany, just the quality and reliability of these products is not as good. But they are cheap, and Russia can also barter its military technology for most of what its needs from China or agricultural products from a whole range of countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa.