I disagree only on one point.
I don’t care to isolate Assad from Russia.
Russia leaves and all the non-ISIS Islamists will become supreme over Assad. In other words, right now it is only Russia that is keeping the Syrian Islamists from taking Damascus. I say let Russia continue to own the situation in Damascus.
We should focus on ISIS and on helping the Kurds in northern Syria.
The problem in the Middle East comes down to just one word; culture. The Muslim culture is an aggressive war cult. There can be no peace as long as the culture calls for constant conflict. Even if only one of the subdivisions survived, it would fall upon itself in constant conflict because...that’s their culture. An Israeli PM said, “If the Muslims didn’t have Jews to hate they’d have to invent us.”
All of the “causes” of conflict boil down to one thing, the people involved have been trained since birth to get along with no one.
Iran as the potential hegemon is one of the greatest falsehoods promoted by the establishment and their Israeli and Saudi patrons. Iran, a poor nation with a small military budget with a limited reach, is outnumbered and surrounded by the Sunni world militarily supported by its great American servant and de facto Israeli ally. Iran is looking for survival in a Sunni sea, not hegemony. Once Iran is out of the way, Israel is going to soon see a militant Sunni hegemony much more dangerous than Iran could ever be.
Why is West asserting what Krauthammer mistakenly implied yesterday? That the Russians WANT a Med naval base in the Med in Syria? IIRC, they have had one since I went to Officer Basic in the 80s. So, acknowledge, if you want, they might want to CONTINUE to enjoy having that base but to imply it is new concerns me.