International Politics

[Nintex]

Does anyone actually believe that if the rebel groups win that Asad is going to be replaced by some sort of secular democratic government?

At this point we're going around in circles and with neither side winning this will take forever and a perfect secular democratic government is unlikely to emerge.
However if the war ends there is a chance that refugees can return to their homeland.

The Russians have lost their fucking minds and we can't work with them. So in my view we should just side with our 'allies' as the least bad option which in this case is Erdogan.

We can do business with the Turks. Although not on our level they have some human rights standards and they are our NATO allies.
Some kind of 'greater Turkey' is not the worst outcome. And a more liberal government is likely to emerge in Turkey (or Saudi Arabia) itself than in Syria or Iran.

I actually think that behind closed doors this decision has already been made by the NATO members.
This "allowing Christmas trees" type of tolerance we're seeing from the rebels is much like how it is in Instanbul.