At that time, successive rounds of negotiations failed, owing to an all-or-nothing mentality, based largely on the mistaken assumption that Assad, like Tunisia's Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, would be ousted relatively quickly. But de Mistura has made it clear that he aims neither to build a lasting peace with Assad nor to establish Assad's departure from power as a precondition for peace.