The main questions:
1. Are we experiencing a comeback to Cold War rhetoric?
2. Is this going to be another Bear Trap defeat?
3. What effect will this have on other aspects of Russian international affairs (e.g. war in Ukraine, relations with Germany, who knows, perhaps even 2018 World Cup)

I think that (1) yes, what we see right now is the return of cold war rhetoric. The Russians insist the coalition of Western countries (let's just call it "the Coalition" for now - sounds cool) cease their bombing, the Coalition insist Russians cease theirs. It's clear that despite Putin's initial declaration this is not going to be a joint campaign against ISIS, but rather a conflict between Russia and the Coalition. Not unlike previously in Georgia and Ukraine, propaganda plays a huge role in this conflict. Right from the beginning, when Putin was playing a role of savior of the western world, saying that Russian involvement is the only way to destroy the Islamic State, etc. etc., all the way to what we are hearing now and the discourse between the official Russian statements (indicating all bombing is directed at ISIS) and the evidence presented by western media (evidence proving most of the bombing is conducted in areas where no ISIS activities where detected, and are instead aimed at Syrian opposition, backed by the Coalition).

Which leads us to (2). I must admit, I wasn't around for that, but doesn't this intervention looks exactly like the one Soviets tried to pull of back in the late '70s and '80s? Russian intervention, an increasing involvement - Russia is sending quite a number of aircrafts, they are sending special forces just in case, they are "selling" arms to the Syrian regime, including armored weapons... While on the other side of the conflict we have the opposing groups, Syrian National Coalition, Islamic Front, etc., which kind of resembles the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. Hell, one of the groups is even called the Army of Mujahideen. It's the Soviet-Afghan war all over again.

And finally (3). At one point it looked as if Russian support in Syria was going to be exchanged for the lifting of the sanctions introduced after their intervention in Ukraine. Now it seems almost certain, that Russians are not focused on fighting ISIS, but rather in defending the regime, which means that the political conflict between them and the West will only exacerbate. It kind of seems like Putin finally came to the point of "fuck the world, I do what I want", doesn't it? The one thing that annoys me the most, is that many countries don't want to reciprocate that attitude and instead continue making efforts to cooperate (I'm looking at you Germany).

And last but not least. Poor Kurds, right? : <

Anyway, I know how heated a discussion here can get, so let's hear it. What are your views on the subject? How about (1)-(3)? How should the West react to all of that?