Don't expect help from the opposition.
Britain's prime minister, David Cameron, who has pushed hard for help for the Syrian opposition but has not agreed to help arm them, is leading the talks, which are taking place in a golfing resort in Northern Ireland.
Now, with this rivalry concealed under a power-sharing arrangement, and with the prospect of the Kurds getting new weapons from America, Turkey's fears of Kurdish strength are inflamed.American help for the non-Kurdish opposition groups is no less problematical.
On Wednesday the jihadist front pledged allegiance to the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, raising the question whether offering help for the anti-Assad opposition risks creating a new type of monster in Syria?
But the roots of the defeat can be traced to a variety of other factors: timing, convoluted Senate rules that allow minority opponents great influence, and an ultimately counterproductive alliance between Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, which inadvertently helped the groundwork for the opposition.
The liberal campaign organization "Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera" ("God helps those who help themselves") coordinated the opposition's preparations for the elections of 1827, which brought a sharp resurgence of liberal and moderate strength and led to Villèle's downfall.
A State Department spokeswoman said on Monday that the US would "continue to look for ways to help the opposition and increase aid.
The help for unarmed opposition members will include medical supplies and radio and satellite equipment.
It has, therefore, not been necessary for anybody to help the opposition to stay divided.
This, for better or worse, tends to help the opposition party, whatever it may be.
