let's bring in the panel, fareed zakaria, mark hertling and c and clarissa ward. have you seen or heard talk of a shift in the balance of power or any kind of change on perceptions of the balance of power? >> well, i think, anderson, you are not going to see a shift on the battlefield in terms of this is unlikely to really reign in the winning streak that the regime of assad has been on. but where you might see a bit of shift in balance is in this larger proxy war. for a long time now, the u.s. has essentially been sitting on the sidelines kind of ringing its hands over what to do and who if anyone to support while russia has sort of emerged as the dominant force in the syrian conflict. i do think that for better or