- Obama took one on the chin and temporarily looked inept, but in the long run, no one will remember the war he didn't start, and both parties get to forget about that awkward time they were forced to advocate for positions opposite of traditional party lines.
- Russia lost a the ability to prevent any action against its increasingly isolated stoolpidgeon, but got some much needed diplomacy cred, and a distraction from its very public human rights issues.
- Assad doesn't risk provoking a multilateral military action against his government, but also gains a pretext to prevent proliferation of weapons that have become a huge liability, and some much needed legitimacy as the "grownup" in Syria.
I'm not a new world order guy, but I do absolutely think that there are times when unfriendly nations work through the backchannels to prevent things that are just awful for everyone.
I remember thinking, as it was all unfolding, that it all seemed planned out well in advance and that the way everything happened was just a bit too "convenient" (not sure if that's the right word I want to use).
[1] Wherein Kerry facetiously offered the supposedly-unacceptable path to avoiding conflict, allowing Putin to 'call' that bluff by actually agreeing to it.