with elements of senator mccain s proposal. once we lay out this kind of a vision that we want to protect the allowites once they agreed to a peace deal, build a new syria and implement it, once we do that we should help the insurgents win. again, senator mccain i think was right today to say the prospects for peace right now are very low. the idea assad or the russians or anyone affiliated with them is going to try to do a deal right now is a remote prospect because they feel like they re winning. they may be winning at least more recently. so i think you re going to have to change the battlefield momentum before you can expect any help from anybody close to assad. right. now, as you know, there s a conference planned for later this month. what expectations do you have for that conference? well, again, they re very low. i think that conference, you should view it as jim dobbins, the scholar and now working on afghanistan/pakistan for president obama. as he s often said, these peac