Putin takes the gloves off. He issues a direct challenge to the White House.

Thanks to William for the link!

via Bloomberg.

As Russia’s air war in Syria nears its fourth week, officials now admit that Moscow’s aim is far broader than the publicly announced fight against terrorist groups.
The Kremlin’s real goal is to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad retake as much as possible of the territory his forces
have lost to opponents, including U.S.-backed rebels, Russian officials say. Moscow’s deployment of several dozen planes, as
well as ships in the Black and Caspian Seas, could last a year or more, one official said. President Vladimir Putin is willing to run the risk of falling into the kind of quagmire that helped sink the Soviet
Union a generation ago for the chance to roll back U.S. influence and demonstrate he can dictate terms to Washington. If
the strategy is successful, Russia’s largest military drive in
decades outside the former Soviet Union would force the U.S. and
its allies to choose between Assad, whom they oppose for his
human-rights abuses, and the brutal extremists of Islamic State.
“They’re going to have to recognize that Islamic State is
the real threat that has been countered only by the Syrian
regular army commanded by President Bashar al-Assad,” said
Iliyas Umakhanov, deputy speaker of the upper house Federation
Council, who oversees international relations at the assembly.

Full article here.

Remember my little meme of Putin sitting on our couch drinking our milkshake, eyeing our wife?  Remember me going on to say that we need to get a handle on this situation before before he takes her, the furniture, the house, the truck and the kids start calling him daddy?

I was right.

This is a pure power play and Russia is seeking to be the "Kingmaker" in the region...the funny thing?  They're already halfway there.  Note the regional leaders that have traveled to Moscow recently.  Note the regional leaders that are scared shitless by what they see as weak US leadership (they never mention the EU by the way).  This problem needs to be worked!  Make no mistake about it.  This is a direct challenge to the White House.