Bashar al-Assad and company are actually trying to win the war. This is a somehow still a surprise in certain quarters.

The Russians didn’t “intervene” is Syria so much as “surge” there. The surge is ending, with most of the Kremlin’s immediate goals accomplished. But Russia is still in Syria.

It’s a little like a drug high, with a purposeless sense of exhilaration quickly giving way to a serious headache. If you’re tempted, seek counseling.

Trump is for real, like it or not, because the people who are attracted to him have real problems, and for the most part they are problems not of their own making.

We still may not know everything, but thanks to Jeffrey Goldberg, we know a whole lot more than we did a few days ago about how the President thinks.

What’s been happening in Syria since the “cessation of hostilities” began to take effect about ten days ago? Both less and more than meets the eye of the casual observer.

In the Middle East, if you pull on the partition string, there is really no telling where it ends.

Just what are Russians playing at with the most recent peace push in Syria?

The deal negotiated by Secretary Kerry is a rotten one. And he now has no choice but to pursue it, on terms he cannot control.

Has the President been a much savvier operator in Syria than he’s been given credit for, or is he a strategically incoherent improviser of last resort? Perhaps a bit of both.