with rex tillerson there in the region, what pressure can the u.s. put on the russian government. how much leverage do they have right now. >> i have to say this is a problem that is all very well to say russia is an island. russia is isolated. we are talking about the syrian war in which the key and most effective players are russia's assad forces, iran, and the lebanese militia that followed. i do understand what shaup spear is saying in those terms, but the fact is that this is the coalition. that is winning the war in syria and russia will be disinclined to drop assad who is winning that war. he took aleppo and had control of all the major cities.