The air crash might prod the US and its allies to seek a political accommodation with Russia on Syria, and a grand coalition might emerge against the IS. But, even such a coalition will take long to dismantle the IS, assuming it were doable.

The Vienna Conference was far from a gathering of powers with common goals. The key powers involved have yet to reach the conclusion that it is in their interest to end the multiple wars raging in Syria.

It is now abundantly clear that Russia has emerged as the most important player in Syria. With the US on the defensive, the coalition that Russia is forging with Iran and Iraq is likely to get stronger.

Will the action of Russia make it easier to find a negotiated political agreement on transition among Syrians? Most unlikely.

There is a sudden and dramatic change in Turkey’s policy towards the Islamic State. What explains this change and what might be Turkey’s calculations?

There are distressing signals that the EU led by Germany is going in the wrong direction, moving away from the vision of its founders who aspired to build a Europe of democracies based on solidarity among Europeans.

Will Europe sleepwalk into a Grexit and the attendant collapse of Euro and the European Union as it did in World War I about a hundred years ago? The answer depends mainly on Chancellor Merkel.

Do the successors of Monnet have the moral strength to move in the right direction rather than act like petty minded accountants who want to balance the books at any cost?

Iran has lent some support to the Houthis, but its support is not a decisive factor. The Saudis have for exaggerated Iran’s role and have in the process made it difficult for themselves to see the reality.

It is difficult to figure out the basic motivation of US policy. It might be sheer inability to decide or it might be the desire to lend support to the progressive realization of the 1982 Yinon plan.