This is the core of your reaction - to misinterpret (whether intentionally, or because of inability to comprehend grammar) what I said. Now I repeat: he had promised to destroy ISIS and
withrdew in half a year. Your reading: he promised to destroy ISIS and
to withdraw in half a year. Don't you see the difference between the first sentence where two successive actions are described and the second one where two infinitives specify the promise? Thus, I never claimed Putin set any timeframe for his operation. So your criticism is invalid.
All this was meant to say that Putin hasn't reached the goals he had claimed to set which amounts to an ostensible failure. The conclusion from the hypothetical experts that you denied.
Yeah, they totally forgot about the Crimea:
http://www.kyivpost.com/article/opin...ea-410786.html