Based off of this article from the Economist: A New Spectacle for the Masses

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, became the first leader in the Kremlin since Leonid Brezhnev, who invaded Afghanistan in 1979, to send military aircraft on bombing missions outside the territory of the former Soviet Union. Mr Putin has ruled out the use of ground forces in Syria, for fear of awakening painful memories of the Soviet debacle in Afghanistan. But by deploying jets and air-defence systems, Russia is complicating Western operations in Syria. France this month joined America in the increasingly crowded skies of the Levant. Two weeks ago it held elaborate domestic war games in terrain closely resembling the Syrian desert. Russian war reporters who spent months on the eastern Ukrainian front lines have suddenly appeared in Syria. For Russia though, it almost seems just as important to confront America, which Putin claims is trying to take over the world. Russia’s bombing in Syria was preceded by a flurry of diplomatic activity. On September 28th Mr Putin spoke at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, comparing Russia’s role to that of the Soviet Union in 1945 and blaming America for unsettling the Middle East. He did this by saying, “I am urged to ask those who created this situation: ‘Do you at least realise now what you’ve done?’ But I’m afraid that this question will remain unanswered, because they have never abandoned their policy, which is based on arrogance, exceptionalism and impunity.” After this statement, Russian media portrayed him as a God-sent superman who was sent to save the world. Mr Putin may be hoping that by claiming to fight IS he can force America into accepting him again as a partner in power, one too important to be isolated by sanctions imposed by the West in response to the war in Ukraine. Although this is a quite risky task with the possibility that Russia may get bogged down in an unwinnable conflict. The issues with America could get worse rather than better, which is definitely not what we want to happen. Russia’s official—and not entirely unreasonable—response is that IS poses a threat to its national security, particularly in the north Caucasus, where many young fighters in Syria come from. Even more important for Mr Putin is his hold on power at home, and here too Syria may be of use. The bombing provides a new and badly needed spectacle at a time when the war in Ukraine, which dominated the airwaves for a while, is starting to freeze and euphoria over the annexation of Crimea is fading.

This is important to us in the U.S. because foreign relations are really important right now. they are already extremely damaged and we can’t afford for them to get any worse. with tempers already flaring in the Middle East, the interaction of these two easily flareable nations is definitely risky business. two of the biggest powers, in nuclear and many other things, having bad relations is not only bad for them, but catastrophic for the whole world.