[…] Those joining the sessions were top-level people. They have access to very strong intelligence. The Syrian briefing was given by Edward Djerejian, who served as the U.S. ambassador in Damascus until a short while ago. He is a diplomat who has spoken to Bashar Assad numerous times and written special reports to Washington. He believes it would not be easy to topple Assad. “He sits on such an ossified state structure, handed over to him from his father, the interests are so much intertwined with each other that [Assad] will not collapse so easily. … He will not stay in power forever, but his fall will take a long time,” he said. […]
For a reasonably open world
