president putin buddies with this murderous dictator in the first place? it's a longtime alliance that goes back to when assad bought weapons from russia. that deal reportedly continues to this day. one russian lawmaker said today that russia, quote, couldn't refuse bashar al assad and keep on seeing how people, women and children are dying. never mind that it's assad's own forces who are killing them, bombing entire towns, murdering children with poisonous gas. according to the human rights watchdog the number killed in syria's civil war is approaching 250,000 people. now today russia is sending its military to keep the man behind all the bloodshed in power and attacking forces that the united states supports. a complicated, multilevel conflict with numerous competing interests and goals just became more difficult to manage for the u.s. coalition. and much more dangerous to american forces. the russians have done an end around the united states and