This blog has been saying for years, as regular readers will confirm, that there will be no settlement in Syria without the help of Russia and Iran. The blinkered and often naive attitude of the West and its fixation with Assad has undoubtedly not only prolonged the war but caused immense suffering. The flight of millions now engulfing Europe is a direct consequence. So the UN resolution and the determination on all sides to work towards a political settlement is a great moment of hope. It is of course still true that the view of what that settlement should look like has many variations, not one of which will be fully met. There will have to be compromise, but all sides are now reconciled to that. As I have said so many times before, the unsophisticated antipathy of Western diplomacy towards Russia is both costly and inhibiting. Perhaps that lesson has now been learned. Let us hope so.