Russia Chooses Sides In The Growing Shia Vs.Sunni Conflict. Learning Nothing From History And Having Personal Dislikes Shape Policy

       The U.S. and Russia are determined to not learn from history. The Soviet Union did not succeed in their invasion of Afghanistan. That was recent history that George Bush chose to ignore. The longer history of failed invasions in Afghanistan were ignored by the Soviet Union and the United States. The U.S. could have responded to the Taliban and Al Qaeda without a full scale ground invasion that has the U.S. bogged down there some 15 years later. Especially in light of the fact that the Taliban was a Saudi sponsored, funded and created monstrosity.
        Then Bush and Co., (including Colin Powell, who perhaps could have shaped things to be different ) foolishly invaded Iraq, ignoring all the lessons of Vietnam. Obama, ever playing politics, withdrew from Iraq, having learned nothing from the lessons of WW2 (where U.S. troops are stationed to this day in Japan and Germany, over 70 years after the war), setting the stage for the genocide against Yazidis,middle east Christians, and others by Sunni Islamist fanatics.
          The U.S. under Reagan backed Islamic fanatics that were fighting the Soviets, even though it was known that these fanatics were torturing Soviet prisoners of war, mutilating them and killing them in the most horrific ways imaginable.These fanatics, which included Bin Laden, turned later on their U.S. sponsors.
           In the fighting between Shia and Sunni Muslims, (which is tearing apart Yemen and causing mass starvation, along with other countries) Russia is choosing sides with Iran, Assad in Syria, and others on the Shia side. Just like in the Soviet days, when the Soviet Union backed one group of murderous dictators, and the west backed another.
            If Russia and the U.S. care about stability in the world, none of the religious fanatics, Shia or Sunni, will be backed. But Russia seems more driven by dislike for the United States and west than plain common sense. If Islamic fanatics, Shia or Sunni, get their hands on nuclear weapons, Putin will learn then who are the real enemies.