Russian military options in Syria and the Ukraine (UPDATED)

This article was written for the Unz Review: http://www.unz.com/tsaker/russian-military-options-in-syria-and-the-ukraine/ The past two weeks have been rich in military developments directly affecting Russia: Syria: 1) Russia has announced that she will transform the Khmeimim airfield into a full-fledged military base with a permanently deployed task force. 2) Russia will deploy her heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser (often referred to in the West as an “aircraft carrier”) Admiral Kuznetsov to the eastern Mediterranean