War with Isis: Syria's President Assad is overplaying a weak hand – he needs the West to keep militants from Damascus
Assad is the only force that can take on ISIS, but he needs the Americans to save him from the moderate rebels, who don't exist, but Assad has made a mistake by not conciliating with them. Assad tells lies, but everyone but Patrick Cockburn will be taken in by them. When will he collapse under the weight of his own contradictions? And his mate Cockburn too.