Retired U.S. Army Gen. Mark Hertling, part of CNN’s paid military “experts” whose job is to play up the anti-Russia narrative, said yesterday that the loss of military bases in Syria should the Bashar Assad government be overthrown would deprive Vladimir Putin the ability to have influence in the Mediterranean . “Both of those bases give him access to the Mediterranean. Once he loses that because of a potential overthrow of Assad, he has lost capability to influence the Mediterranean,” he claimed during a Dec. 3 newscast (Notice that in Hertling’s poisoned mind, it’s not Russia, it’s “Putin.")