Up to a point, of course, it has a whole lot. Russian-Syrian relations are strong, rooted in decades of close cooperation. Since 2011, Russia has been one of only two indispensable allies to Assad, the other being Iran. Russia’s military and economic support has helped his regime survive so far, and its vetoes in the United Nations Security Council have helped avert both UN sanctions and U.S. military strikes. Whitaker notes that Russia has in fact moved very skillfully on Syria, successfully acting “as both a wrecker and a facilitator—blocking Security Council resolutions but also assisting in the removal of Syria’s chemical weapons.”