This is CBSI and the world. I'm John Batchel with my good colleagues, Bill Rajov FD,

and the Santa County of the Hudson Institute. Mr. Ambassador, three other countries are weighing in

on headlines at Reuters. The Kremlin, Moscow, says it still supports Assad. The U.S. and its ally, the UAE, are said to be discussing, making an offer to Assad that he can't refuse. We'll lift sanctions on you if you break with Iran. So that would be the fourth capital, Tehran. Can you sort

this out for us just momentarily? Who's playing what game and what is Assad's possibility here? Would

the Kremlin let him go? Would Iran let him go? Does he have a life expectancy that just became

radically shorter? Good evening.

I can attempt to make some sense of it, but whether I will or not is going to be up to those

who understand and how things play out as we move forward. Look, Egypt, even Saudi Arabia and the

United Arab Emirates have all been trying to get Bashar al-Assad back into what they

call the Arab camp away from Iran. Asan's terms for it, of course, are absolute security, which these countries cannot guarantee

without getting the United States on board.

The U.S. has not been able to deal with many complicated regions of the world since the

end of the certainties of the Cold War.

At that time, it was easy.

Anyone close to the Soviet Union bad, anyone not close to the Soviet Union acceptable,

anyone close to the U.S. good.

That certainty is gone.

And in this situation, as Bill has very rightly laid out the lay of the land,

you understand it's very difficult for Americans to make

choices. Do we listen to Erdogan? Should we listen to our Arab allies? Can we rely on Bashar Sadd,

who, along with his father, who ruled before him, have not been reliable from the American

point of view for a long time and certainly not from the Israeli point of view.

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