Russian President Vladimir Putin has made no secret of the fact that he would like some kind of political settlement with the West. The German magazine Der Spiegel has just published a leaked official Russian memo outlining a proposed grand bargain in which Putin eases out its close ally, Syrian President Assad, in favor of a still pro-Russian regime that at least stops killing its own people. In return the West acknowledges what has been an open secret for several decades--that Syria is Russia's sphere of influence in the Arab world.
Then the U.S., Russia, Iran, and the rest of the grand coalition can get on with the urgent business of eliminating or at least drastically weakening ISIS. Greater progress on getting rid of Assad was raised at a strategy conference on Syria held in Vienna earlier this week that included senior diplomats from the U.S., Russia, Iraq and several other nations. No grand bargain was reached but the idea will surely be raised again at the G-20 Summit now under way in Turkey.
Until the Paris attacks, there was little enthusiasm in the West for this approach. Putin, after all, is a thug and he has put Russia on an expansionist course. On the other hand, maybe a grand bargain with Putin against ISIS is not so crazy.
As part of the deal, the U.S. and Russia would have to reach some understanding about how to stabilize the situation in Ukraine, probably acknowledging a Russian sphere of influence in the eastern, Russian-speaking part of the country. That is not pretty either.