for a transition government to be created with a mutual consent of the current regime and the opposition and that transition government will establish the rules of the road for the syrian people to choose their new government. there is no way possible that by mutual consent, assad is going to be part of that future. the russians have agreed that that is, in fact, geneva 1 and the purpose of the geneva 2 meeting is to implement geneva 1. now it's complicated, obviously. how do you get there? and that's part of the struggle. but the president is convinced that as the support to the opposition increases, there is much greater likelihood that you will wind up ultimately with a negotiated settlement. the alternative is, that you stand back and do nothing and syria in fact implodes, becomes an enclave state. there are huge ungovernored