A few weeks ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared mission accomplished in Syria, announcing the withdrawal of most military from that country. But you can never really trust what the Kremlin says. According to Fox News, “There is more evidence that Russian forces are not pulling out of Syria, but instead, more troops are arriving there, a new video from Russian television Saturday apparently shows. The video shows a convoy of Russian troops headed to Palmyra to begin mine clearance operations after ISIS was routed from there [last] week.”

This is a familiar pattern. Fox adds, “Critics point to a similar pledge from President Putin when Russia agreed to a ceasefire and to withdrawal troops and equipment out of eastern Ukraine in 2014. The outgoing U.S. commander of NATO forces in Europe recently said Russian troops and equipment remain. Despite sending less than half of its jet fighters back to Russia, there are now more Russian attack helicopters in Syria than at any time since the air campaign to shore up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began in late September.” As one anonymous American defense official put it, “The Russians installed underground fuel tanks in their airbase in Latakia. This was not a temporary move, but a permanent one.”

Putin’s ultimate goal in Ukraine was not revenge, but supremacy. Similarly, we shouldn’t expect him to just up and leave Syria without some sort of contingency plan. He’s got something up his sleeve, which is why he got involved in the first place. The question is: What exactly? If Barack Obama’s foolish “red line” hadn’t moved so much, we wouldn’t now be waiting to find out. As historian Michael Ledeen opines, “Putin knows time is running out on The Wonderful Thing That Happened in Washington (aka the Obama administration). So whatever he wants to get, now is the time. Maybe he’s got plans for those bombers.” Time will tell, but one thing is clear: Obama’s weakness has invited worldwide chaos.