While I don’t know Assad personally I doubt he thought about this move alone and I’m quite sure it in-sync with other Iranian intentions that will be revealed over time.

We need to stop thinking and acting by impulse (which we continue to do not only in the security/diplomatic arena, but with every other thing in this country) and start drafting drafts for a long and painful battle of the minds.

This is, in part, the first fires of a new cold war with a new terror balance and we should start acting accordingly and start thinking a bit more to the future than 10 minutes.

I think that the first steps is to “fall” into the Syrian trap and start negotiating. Unfortunately they acted first and we don’t have the luxury of not following on. While it may legitimize to some extent Syria’s continued support in terror, we can (or should I say “might”) call the bluff on this one (as we should).

At this point in time I do fear the war is an inevitable step towards a better middle-east. There are too many participants with too many interests and it seems that post-war middle east will probably be a cleaner slate to start drafting upon a better future.