Hmmm, what's this? A guarantee from the US that Russia will have a role to play in the newly independent free state of Syria without the homicidal al-Assad at the helm?

That sounds like a form of economic and political hegemony, as well as cavalier international Chauvinism that would make Machiavelli blush. Of course that is what Putin is angling for, but the days when the world powers can carve up the little countries are long gone. The spot fires and conflicts we are fighting now are the consequences of such failed policies, anachronistic colonial opportunism and mercantile predation.

Velvet gloves and diplomacy for certain, but for goodness sakes we have to nurture and safeguard the national sovereignty of nations like Syria, soon to be recovering from years of unspeakable trauma. The last thing we should do is deny them the freedom and autonomy that they began fighting for so many years ago.