RE: Re:

curious, how you view putins argument that the u s helping the syrina rebels is illegal, and russia that will back a legal govt has a stronger moral position

Legally, he has a strong case. Morally, support for the legal government is criminal. As for support for the rebels, that's a complex story. US allies Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have been supporting the worst of them, including IS, and probably still are despite denials. US NATO ally Turkey is supporting the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra front, ideologically the same as IS though there's a turf battle. The US spent hundreds of millions of dollars for several years of training of "moderate" rebels. The Pentagon sent all 50 of them into Syria and they were instantly wiped out (or defected) to the al-Nusra front, apparently with collusion of Turkish intelligence. The Pentagon now says it has about 4 or 5 trained "moderates."

If it wasn't so horrible, it would be comical.

his argument that the US is now backing a rebel group to fight an elected leader. ? and also fighting others that have the same short term goal of deposing assaad. thoughts

The elections were a complete farce. It's a dictatorship, and a brutal and vicious one. It's true however that technically it's the "legitimate government."

US policy, as I mentioned, is completely incoherent. It's opposed to Assad, and to those who are fighting Assad — all of whom are awful. There was a decent opposition in the early stages, but the normal dynamics of military conflict took over, leaving only the most brutal and vicious elements. The one exception is the Kurdish regions of Syria, which seem to have developed a pretty reasonable society, given the circumstances. They've been mostly left alone by the Assad regime, but are the targets of the jihadi groups, and also of Turkey, because of concern over its own Kurdish population. The ground forces fighting IS have often been Kurds — who are on the US "terrorist list" or closely allied to those who are on the list.