> But I think that Russian and US military policy sometimes is similar. Let's take Syria as an example. Syria had good relations with Russia and as a trustworthy and reliable ally allowed to build a Russian base there. I guess that US didn't like the idea of having a foreign military base in the Middle East so they supported the opposition trying to overthrow the government. And Russia didn't like the idea of losing a base and a good ally so they supported the government. > Am I wrong here? It looks like nobody really cared about Syrian people and that's what's similar in US and Russia foreign policy. Wars are usually waged for land or for power, not to protect someone's liberties.

It's a bit more complicated than just “nobody really cared” — the U.S. was already bogged down in two wars of choice with no end in sight so a third one was going to be a very hard sell. The U.S. did provide aid to some groups and actively attacked ISIL but the latter was the primary combat goal because there was no interest in occupying Syria and accepting the massive requirements in personnel and casualties that would require.

That's one of the key differences with the current situation in the Ukraine: Russia has made it clear that their goal is to rebuild the historic empire and are willing to accept large death counts to do so.