Secretary of State John Kerry just gave Syria a hard deadline for starting the political transition to get rid of Syrian President Bashar Assad: Aug. 1. Kerry told reporters Tuesday if Syria doesn’t begin the process of removing Assad by Aug. 1, there will be serious consequences, The Associated Press reports. “If Assad does not adhere to this, there will clearly be repercussions,” Kerry said. “One of them may be the total destruction of the cease-fire and then go back to war. I don’t think Russia wants that. I don’t think Assad is going to benefit from that. There may...