The Russians beat the Americans to Berlin in World War II, and now it looks like Russian-backed forces are racing American-backed forces to liberate Raqqa, the Islamic State’s putative capital in Syria.

The U.S. is backing an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters who have slowly been advancing on Raqqa from the north, while the Syrian Army of Bashar Assad has been moving on the city from the south and west, with the help of Russian air support.