your comments on this, vijay prashad?> i think this is a very important point that putin is making. if you look at the history of regime change, take the case not only of iraq and libya, but afghanistan as well, when you destroy the state, it is very hard to re-create it just in a few years, maybe even in a decade as far as iraq is concerned. so what putin is saying, given this recent history of regime change and the destruction of states, perhaps one has to because this in syria that, yes, there will be some kind of transition, that the absolute destruction of the current syrian state is going to create chaos-like conditions as one saw in iraq and one saw in libya. it is very important to see here that putin is saying there's something that needs to be ansidered in terms of political transition. he is not actually saying fully that assad must be defended to the end. that is not what i hear in his comments will stop what i hear in his comments is that it would be a great error to destroy the syrian state, instead, 30's to