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Let's say there is no Iraq War in 2003. The Arab Spring still occurs around the same time due to climate change but Saddam weathers it by brutally crushing anything that even remotely resembles a threat to his rule, much like he did in the 1990s. The rebels in neighboring Syria may or may not get help from him -- take your pick, it's not really relevant to the discussion. Thus he's still around in 2014-2015 when the Euromaidan occurs in Kiev and Russia uses the Little Green Men to capture Crimea.
So here is the question: given that before 2014 he was the last leader to try annexing a country by force and got smacked down hard for it, how would he react on the international stage to Russia's nearly-bloodless takeover of the region? Does he suddenly make noise about "fixing the injustice" from 23 years ago? Furthermore, now that Russians achieved something Saddam tried to do, how would that impact Russia's view of the 1991 Gulf War? Would it actually start saying Saddam was the undisputed "good guy" in the conflict? Will Putin try to build a closer working relationship with Saddam eek? And if so, how would that impact Russia's relationship with Iran or Syria?