Anshel Peffer on another bromance, the one between Netanyahu and Putin:

'Despite the recent concern in Israel that the Kremlin may be about to limit Israel’s operational freedom in the sky over Syria by supplying the Assad regime with new air-defense batteries, this latest escalation between Israel and Iran on Syrian soil has once again proved that Putin is prepared to allow Israel a very wide berth. Russian officials and sources close to Putin’s thinking have insisted ever since Russia deployed its forces in Syria nearly three years ago that the last thing the Russian president wants there is to clash with Israel. As one veteran Russian diplomat said earlier this year, “Putin knows that the one player in the region who can seriously jeopardize Russia’s achievement in Syria of saving the Assad regime, is Israel.” In repeated public and private messages, the Netanyahu government has made it clear to Putin that it has no intention of endangering Assad’s rule, as long as Israel’s strategic priority of preventing a long-term Iranian military presence in Syria, is upheld.'

(...)

'Now, with the Iran deal dead in the water and the Syrian conflict between Israel and Iran escalating, can Putin continue getting what he wants? Does he risk not only losing the stability of the Assad regime, but also the humiliation of seeing Russian-made weapons systems being destroyed by Israel's Made In America fighter-jets? For now he is sticking to his policy of balancing the interests of the two sides, with Russia pledging to continue supporting the nuclear agreement with Tehran while hosting Netanyahu. But if matters continue to escalate, as they seem to be doing, he will sooner or later have to pick a side.'

Read the article here.

Not picking a side is picking a side as well.

This is what the US and its allies have been doing for the last seven yers, not picking a side in Syria, or perhaps one should say: picking this side on Monday, and picking another side on Wednesday.