Bob Bowker

Engaging Assad, while repugnant, is better than words of sound and fury delivered that makes little difference.

Unsolved political issues in the Middle East leave barren soil for economic and social green shoots.

The only response that will matter to Assad is that which comes from Moscow and Tehran.

Since the reversal in 1923 by its nationalist leader Mohamed Kemal Ataturk of an earlier western-backed scheme for Kurdish independence, Turkey has done anything it could — diplomatically, militarily and politically — to prevent Kurdish autonomy taking root in Syria.