[GOPJ]

If Putin's half as smart as we think he is, he'll use this opportunity to put the screws to Bashar al-Assad. He'll draw lines for him - and consolidate his power in that region. We sure as hell aren't going to throw money down the drain doing ‘nation building’ and the Russians don't want that either.

Influence is just fine... for all sides. AND cheaper.

There's a win here for all of us... Russians join the family of ‘good guys who won't allow chemical weapons’, they're warned ahead of time as friends do for each other, AND the monster Assad is weakened.

There's wins here if people are willing to take them...

[dfwgator]

I suspect there would be some ‘quid pro quo’ in play here.

The US takes a ‘hands off’ approach to Ukraine, or stops NATO expansion in exchange for Putin cooperating in Syria.