Russia's Syrian Offensive; The Ties that Bind Putin and Assad; Russian President Cultivates Aura of Strength
CURNOW: More now on our top story, Russia's military operation in Syria. The Russians and Syria leader are allies. But analysts say it's more about political expediency than any deep personal bond. So why has Moscow made its move now? CNN's Brian Todd has that.</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a letter, a personal overture from Bashar al-Assad to Vladimir Putin, which opened the door to Russian forces entering Syria. That's according to Syrian and Russian officials, a request from an embattled dictator to his ally, which now threatens America's already shaky strategy against</s>ISIS. MATTHEW ROJANSKY, THE WOODROW WILSON CENTER: The dangerous factor in the Assad-Putin alliance and the Russian intervention in Syria, more broadly, is that it's putting a lot more fuel on an already raging fire. If Assad comes on strong now with a new offensive backed by Russian materiel, Russian troops, Russian pilots, Russian planes, a lot more people are going to die.</s>TODD (voice-over): It's an alliance dating back to the Cold War, when the Soviets gave arms and support to Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad, a man every bit as brutal as his son. But analysts say the personal relationship between Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin is far from friendly.</s>ANDREW TABLER, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: Actually President Putin was very angry with President Assad after the most recent peace talks between Syrians in Moscow in April. During those peace talks Assad and his delegation were extremely rigid and actually went against the express wishes of Putin. So he was angry about that.</s>TODD (voice-over): Why is Putin so invested in Assad now? Analysts say Putin needs warm weather ports and bases on the Mediterranean and wants to counter America's moves in the region. But this is also about Putin projecting his relevance and strength, admitting to CBS' "60 Minutes" it's something he takes pride in.</s>CHARLIE ROSE, CBS HOST: They see these images of you, bare-chested on a horse and they say, there is a man who carefully cultivates his image of strength.</s>VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): You know, I'm convinced that a person in my position must provide a positive example to people. In those areas where he can do this, he must do this.</s>TODD (voice-over): But how could betting on Bashar go south for Vladimir Putin?</s>BEN JUDAH, AUTHOR: If I was Vladimir Putin, which, frankly, I'm not, I would be very worried about footage coming from Syria of Russian pilots potentially being kidnapped or burned, such as happened to a Jordanian pilot not that long ago.</s>TODD: If something like that happens, don't look for whatever personal connection there is to hold. A U.S. intelligence official tells us Putin's involvement in Syria is his chance to be at the --</s>TODD: -- center of the world stage. And if Assad's failures threaten to trip him up, this official says Vladimir Putin may be inclined to push Assad out and support someone else as Syria's leader -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.</s>CURNOW: Well, let's delve a bit deeper into Vladimir Putin's true motivations. We know he's got a carefully constructed image as a man of action and that he spent his formative years in the KGB. But the many more complexity here in a deeper mission. Steven Lee Myers joins us from our Washington bureau to discuss this. He is a "New York Times" correspondent and the author of "The New Czar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin." Thanks so much for being with us. So you argue that the prism through which Vladimir Putin looks at things is czarist, in a way, goes way beyond Soviet times?</s>STEVEN LEE MYERS, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": I think what you're seeing now with the military action in Syria is a manifestation of years of frustration that Russia has felt after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But it was a weaker state. It was no longer the superpower that it had been. And if you look at what's happening now, especially in the news today with the cruise missile strikes, you see the effects of a modernization of the military that really began when he first came to office but accelerated after the war in Georgia in 2008, which, despite being a victory for the Russian forces, was kind of a disaster in the way that it was conducted. And so you've seen a lot of resources poured into modernizing aviation, the missile fleet and so forth. And I think now Putin is showing the world that Russian has returned. I mean this has been a constant theme of his since the day he came to the office, that Russia was no longer going to be beaten down. It was no longer going to be on its knees, as they often say in Russia. And I think also there was a frustration that the United States was able to use its military force in Iraq and Afghanistan and Libya to topple governments. And in this case, he drew a line and said, no, Russia isn't going support the leader, its ally, in Syria.</s>CURNOW: But Peter the Great, for example, had this besiege mentality and, like Peter the Great, he also saw the need for expansionism to demonstrate or project strength. Where is he coming from? Where is he getting his inspiration from?</s>MYERS: I think it really goes to the question of not expansionism as much as restoration. And he is looking at Peter the Great. He's looking at some of the Soviet leaders. He is looking at the period when the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia's borders shank to the Federation itself. Its allies, the former republics have split off; some have joined NATO. Others have grown closer much closer to NATO, as you saw happening with Georgia and Ukraine. And I think that he is looking again to find a way to reassert Russia as a central player, a central superpower once again.</s>CURNOW: And let's talk about the role of the Russian Orthodox Church here. Putin grew up in a secular environment but he has embraced the church. There is one line of thinking, saying that, in a way, this intervention, part of his reasons is this desire to perhaps save or defend Christianity in the Middle East.</s>MYERS: He was baptized when he was a baby during the Soviet Union not long after Stalin's death and that was, at the time, not something that was openly done. His mother baptized him in secret. His father was a committed Communist. He served in the KGB where, of course, believers were not welcome. And yet people, from that period, talk about him as being a believer. Some people have questioned the depth of those religious feelings. But there's no question that when he came to power in 2000, he very much embraced his own religious beliefs and the central role of the church, which goes back to what we were talking about a minute ago, about the sense of the Russian Empire, the greatness of the state and the Russian Orthodox Church is obviously central to that and has been for centuries. There are ties, very close ties with the Orthodox Church and the Christians in the Middle East and, as you have heard in many countries, there's a great deal of concern about the fate of the Christians in the Middle East because of the expansion of radical Islam.</s>CURNOW: Lots to talk about and you really have had some great articles, unpacking a lot of these motivations, the man behind Putin, what does he want, in some of your "New York Times" articles. I found them fascinating. So thanks for joining us here at the</s>IDESK. MYERS: Thank you.</s>CURNOW: Well, the next catastrophic floods inundate the U.S. state of South Carolina, trapping an 85-year-old man and his dog in a car. We'll show you what happened when a --</s>CURNOW: -- local resident risked his own life to save him.