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I don't think he has any way to hedge his bets. Consider...

His idea of a goo deal with the US would be for us to (1) try to pressure Israel into giving up the Golan, (2) leave him alone in Damascus, (3) help him put the clamps on Hezbollah to dampen Iranian influence in Lebanon, (4) pressure the Lebanese to accept continuing Syrian influence, and (5) give him lots of financing. In return, he might allow CIA and SF into western Syria to interdict the flow of Qaida into Iraq. But he has little to no influence over the Sunni Iraqis, and he ain't letting us into the Bekaa to see what he's been hiding there.

So that's my opinion of what he wants. We all think the Dems are stupid, but do any of us really think they are stupid enough to give in on even half of that in return for ineffectual help in Iraq? Everything he wants is stuff we aren't going to give him. He's just playing us.

Assad is an Awalite (Awali), which is a subsect or heretical sect (depending on who you talk to) of the Shia branch of Islam. The Awalites are a minority in Syria. The Sunni's (who are the majority in Syria) are itching for payback for all the crimes Assad's father committed against them (especially the crushing of the Muslim Botherhood in Hama in 1982). No way Assad leaves the Iranian alliance. He is friendly with the Shia Iranians for a good reason, he is basically one of them in a Sunni sea. I do not know who floats these fantasies into the papers, but they are smoking crack...

We all think the Dems are stupid, but do any of us really think they are stupid enough to give in on even half of that in return for ineffectual help in Iraq?

Yes. I can see the Dems giving all that, and more, while receiving nothing -- beyond promises -- in return.

Then, they would tell us it was a "diplomatic success".