Angela Merkel's deputy accuses Saudi Arabia of sponsoring extremism

I am shocked. I never imagined all these nations would end up slaughtering each other, is like they are committing collective suicide. Islam is self-destroying, it is collapsing it is their end of the times.

Russia has made clear to Western nations that it has no objection to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stepping down as part of a peace process, in a softening of its publicly stated staunch backing of Assad ahead of talks in New York, diplomats said.

Russia, like Iran, has been a firm ally of Assad and is intervening militarily on his behalf against anti-government forces in the five-year civil war that has claimed more than a quarter million lives. Both Russia and Iran have long insisted Assad's fate should be decided in a nationwide vote.

Western powers, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and others reluctantly agreed to allow Assad to remain in place during a transition period, a compromise that has opened the door to a shift on the part of Russia, Western diplomats said.
"What you've got is a move that will end up with Assad going," a senior Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

"And the Russians have got to the point privately where they accept that Assad will have gone by the end of this transition, they're just not prepared to say that publicly," he added.
Several other Western officials confirmed the diplomat's remarks.
The United States, Russia along with Iran, Saudi Arabia and major European and Arab powers have agreed on a road map for a nationwide ceasefire, to have six months of talks between Assad's government and the opposition on forming a unity government to begin in January, and to have elections within 18 months.

Cobra posted:

Russia has made clear to Western nations that it has no objection to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stepping down as part of a peace process, in a softening of its publicly stated staunch backing of Assad ahead of talks in New York, diplomats said.

Russia has made it clear all along that it has no objections to Assad stepping down. What it Russia is not willing to permit is for Assad to be deposed by a band of foreign powers. How would those powers feel if foreign nations came to demand that their leader be deposed?