"The United States and our partners are not seeking so-called regime change.”

John Kerry in Moscow, last night on the fate of Assad

WaPo:

Assad must go. Three short words — one protracted policy debate.
Back in the summer of 2011, those words, or their equivalent, became known among makers of U.S. Middle East policy as “the magic words” — words that President Obama, cautious about the consequences, had not yet decided to utter about Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
“The transition to democracy in Syria has begun and it’s time for Assad to get out of the way.” Obama simply issued a statement: “For the sake of the Syrian people,” he said, “the time has come for President Assad to step aside.” HRC

Currently Assad controls about 20% of Syria and maintains control of his armed forces via perks
IVAN, whether in the guise of the USSR or Russia treats its friends the same way.

We have, BY VOTE, BY THE CHOICE OF THE PEOPLE, become something quite different, and now are paying the price.
I’m surprised IVAN even bothered making time for Kerry to utter his surrender to the status quo ante bellum. Especially a status quo which has seen MULTIPLE wars become compulsory in every imaginable fashion, and clearly not just with Israel, but now a status quo which sees major Russian naval and air bases in Syria, guaranteeing some kind of major world level face offs in the future.
There IS another answer which suits BOTH our national interests, and the interests of freedom and self determination. It is an answer which kills ISIS, destroys or completely diminishes Assad, and gives us the NATURAL ally we need besides Israel. It is an answer which supports neither side of the Shia/Sunni split because it is a nationalist answer. It punishes the Islamism of the Turkish people, who by THEIR vote have essentially left NATO, as they have shown through more than a decade of elections. It harms the mullahs of Qom, the radicals of both strips of Iraq, and offers a NEW STABILITY from Hersin in Iran to the Mediterranean.
It would require a total commitment from the USA, certainly in terms of air, and advisers, and MAYBE MORE.
Maybe.
And IVAN can then keep his son of a bitch.

The USA is a revolutionary nation at heart.
JUST DO IT, and be seen to TAKE A SIDE and COMMIT ACTS which have a chance to reshape the unending mess.
Then let the Kurds do the rest.
Plant the flag, TRY to get 1 or 2 bases, and GO HOME.