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Content: Russia is active. And activity attracts people's attention. Activity, action, is what people see, and in many of these countries it is viewed as effective action, for Russia." In speaking to Americans during travels around the country Wohlforth believes they have a largely inflated sense of Russia's importance, due in part to reports of its perceived success abroad. It has successfully convinced at least some observers that its intervention in Syria has succeeded in its goals of preserving the regime of Bashar Assad and contributed to defeating the Islamic Stategroup, and perhaps showing that Russia is capable of sidelining the U.S. Meanwhile America remains locked in an intractable conflict in Afghanistan where the Pentagon is considering yet another surge of forces in support of a fledgling local military. The contrast is stark amid the long list of U.S. interventions in the last two decades – Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, Mali – versus a post Cold War Russia that has only recently returned to overt international operations. "Russia's emergence on the international stage as a powerful player moved Western media to ascribe to Putin – and Russia – omnipotent qualities," says Ivan Kurilla, a professor at the European University at Saint Petersburg. " Putin was featured more than once on the cover of Time magazine, and Russia was in almost every single media outlet issue since the end of 2016. Certainly, it resulted in the growing perception of Russia as a powerful player. Cold War rhetoric legacy has also helped to frame 'Russia debate' in the West as debate about arch-enemy."