Putin è vicino a perdere la presa in Medio Oriente

By Brendan Cole – Senior News Reporter:

Russian President [Vladimir Putin](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/vladimir-putin) has offered himself as a Middle East mediator to end Israel’s “Operation Rising Lion” against Iran, but for Moscow the escalating conflict could also see another instalment of what could be termed “Operation Falling Influence.”

Six months after the ousting of his Syrian ally [Bashar al-Assad](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/bashar-al-assad), Putin now sees another Moscow friendly regime teetering, as [Donald Trump](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/donald-trump) weighs up joining Israel’s targeting of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear capabilities.

“If the Assad regime was like an appetizer, the loss of the Iran regime in the Russian orbit would be the main course,” Andrew Borene, a former senior staff officer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) told *Newsweek*.

Read more: [https://www.newsweek.com/putin-grip-iran-israel-middle-east-2087812](https://www.newsweek.com/putin-grip-iran-israel-middle-east-2087812)

If he could lose his grip on other things, that would be lovely

Powers going to the next lunatic in line

I doubt it was ever that strong of a grip.

Russia has always managed to oversell itself. But it’s GDP is less than half of Germany’s. And most of that comes from gas/oil.

It’s military power was still largely based on soviet tech and hasn’t performed well in battle.

Yes, they can put on a show and as a neighbouring state, there are reasons to be concerned. But Russia projecting power more than a thousand kilometers from their border was always unrealistic.

Yes, that’s the truth