Amid the outpourings of anger and grief over the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane by Iran, the disaster also raises troubling questions about aviation security and the apparent failure to learn from past tragedies of this nature such as the 2014 MH17 attack.

Moscow, not surprisingly, has reacted negatively to Washington’s announcement that Iranian Quds Brigade Commander, General Qasem Soleimani, was killed in Baghdad in a US drone attack.

The idea of a ‘Russian resurgence’ in the Middle East set against a perceived American withdrawal has captured the attention of policymakers and scholars alike, warranting further examination.