Why did Russia Intervene in the Syrian War?

The 2011 failed transition in Libya was an important learning experience for Moscow. It consolidated the conservative faction in the Russian political establishment and nearly silenced the liberal opposition. After Libya, Russian officials coined their new approach to the Middle East, which can be summarized as follows: first, authoritarian states in the Middle East are in any case better than failed states which come to replace the former after public uprisings; those failed states are often planned...