Oversaw the fighting in syria. he was awarded the hero of russia medal before his command in syria. before his appointment russia s military was not lead by a single commander. joining us retired four star navy admiral james stavridis, international security and diplomacy analyst for nbc news and msnbc. admiral stavridis, what can you tell us about this new general in command? butcher of syria kind of sums it up. we have to remember that he started life as a junior officer in chechnya. grozny, the name of the city means terrible in russian and his behavior even as a young officer in command was terrible. he is in every sense a war criminal. his record in syria is a mirror of what is happening today in