he's also a fox news contributor. marvin, it's tough to know what's actually happening inside the rooms. so let's move to a separate question. what's at stake here? >> i think there are two large issues for the russians. let me start with them first. the russians since the early 1970s have not been major players in the middle east. the syrian crisis gives the russians an opportunity to move back into the middle east as a major player challenging the united states, and i think the russians have succeeded in that respect. the second major issue for the russians is to keep islamic radicals out of southern russia. that is a nightmare for most russian leaders. they fear that the extremists now fighting in syria against president assad may have an opportunity if they are victorious to come into southern russia and reignite islamic