This, and the indirect negotiations with Israel that are now underway in Turkey – which Assad knows cannot produce major results, given Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s political weakness and Bush’s lame-duck status – have helped to open for Syria the gates of Europe, where he had also once been a pariah. Moreover, desperate to recover its relevance in Middle East politics, the US has now radically changed its attitude and agreed to a meeting between US Undersecretary of State for Near East Affairs David Welch and Riad Daoudi, Syria’s chief negotiator with Israel.
这，以及正在土耳其进行的与以色列的间接谈判——鉴于以色列总理埃胡德·奥尔默特的政治软弱和布什的跛脚鸭处境，阿萨德知道这次谈判不会取得重大成果——已经帮助叙利亚打开了欧洲的大门，而阿萨德也曾在欧洲是一个被排斥的人物。此外，因为美国急于恢复在中东政治中的影响力，它现在已经极大地改变了它的态度，并且同意主管近东事务的副国务卿大卫·韦尔奇（David Welch）和叙利亚对以色列的首席谈判代表里亚德·达乌迪(Riad Daoudi)进行会谈。