President Barack Obama outlined a starkly different approach in August 2011 when he declared that Mr. Assad had lost legitimacy, and urged him to relinquish power. But as Mr. Assad dug in his heels, Mr. Obama’s policy for Syria was marked by a chronic gap between ends and means. But President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia decided instead to help Mr. Assad enlarge the territory he controlled. Another important question is whether it might be possible to negotiate a broader political accommodation for Syria; despite his gains, Mr. Assad lacks the military manpower to control the entire country. “The reason we have ISIS is because of Assad’s political survival strategy of using mass homicide.

Source: New York Times April 01, 2017 01:17 UTC