NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: Russia Triples its Airstrikes in Syria.

“The escalation marks a dangerous shift in the Russian airstrike pattern to levels only seen prior to the brokering of the cessation of hostilities agreement in late February,” said Genevieve Casagrande, an analyst with the Institute for the Study of War.

The expansion, she notes, coincides with a further breakdown of the internationally-brokered Geneva peace negotiations, which opposition politicians dismiss as a “waste of breath” because of the continued airstrikes on opposition-held territory both by Russian warplanes and the air force of President Bashar al-Assad.

Russia’s air campaign to aid Assad does seem to be yielding better results than the US effort to assist Baghdad.