He had been Vladimir Putin’s “son of a bitch” in the Middle East for nearly a decade. Today he is just the latest in a growing list of ousted autocrats living in exile in Moscow.
Nine years ago, in September 2015, Russia intervened in Syria’s civil war in an effort to prop up the teetering regime of Bashar al-Assad. And in the process, Moscow gained a diplomatic and military foothold in the Middle East as well a bargaining chip to leverage — and potentially blackmail — the West.
But Assad’s abrupt fall from power earlier this month has flipped the script on the Putin regime as Moscow has been forced to withdraw large amounts of military hardware and troops from Syria.
So what does it mean going forward? On The Power Vertical Podcast this week, host Brian Whitmore speaks with veteran journalist and author Michael Weiss, a contributing editor at New Lines magazine, a correspondent at Yahoo News, and director of special investigations at the Free Russia Foundation. Michael is also the author of the book ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror. Also on the podcast we discuss Ukraine’s assassination of Russian Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov in Moscow.
Enjoy…
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SHOW NOTES
Michael Weiss’ published works can be accessed here and here.
A Substack article by Mikhail Zygar, “Putin’s Son of a Bitch,” which was referenced on the podcast, can be accessed here.
The Power Vertical Newsletter on Substack can be accessed here. Recently published work by Brian Whitmore can be accessed here, here, and here.