are now going to be against russia. to take this furtherer on the sunni-shia divide, do you think he sees it that way, that basically russia s on the side of the shia? i think he sees it, that russia s on the side of strong men. when i was in the government, i used to listen to his theory about peace and stability, and he always emphasized that we have to support the strong men, that s the only way to keep the peace. but he s been doing that for four years. that strategy has not worked. so now he s doubling down to support him. but de facto, it means what you just said. you are now seeing a sunni-shia divide, and russia now is on the shia side. and that s going to reverb berate not just in the middle east, i m sure the saudis are looking at that and sunnis will be wondering why is the leader