damascus. she seemed to be saying that the u.s. supports some kind of outcome of a larger process with assad no longer there. i think that goes back to the question you asked ann about what leverage rex tillerson has going into this meeting. you know, we can try to sort of name and shame the russians and embarrass them and say do you really want to be associated with this thug, but, you know, my sense is that the russians are not discriminating about who they sort of hang out with, so to speak, or consort with, and they want to be with the winner and unless the u.s. continues to intervene militarily and weaken assad s forces, he is on track to be the winner in syria and i think that s probably what matters most to vladimir putin and so that would be the leverage, the real leverage, tillerson could have. by the way, that john kerry always wanted in dealing with the russians was more credible american threat of force or even covert action or use of force to say to the russians we re