State's nuanced policy in tribal conflict is a complication that leads to treachery

To Defeat ISIS, Arm the Syrian Kurds

Blinken is a former deputy Secretary of State under Obama and his nuanced thinking shows. The motives in the region are tribal, simple, where nuanced is not possible. Foremost the Kurds seek nationhood. They fight with their heart because of that end goal. Using Kurds as an imperial force to overtake Sunni Raqqa is a waste of the military power of an agent for peace and a rational politic in the region. Kurds have no interest in governing after the conquest a city that does not welcome them as their own. Secondly the idea that you can use Kurds and yet insist that Turkey's P.K. K. is not a part of it is a complication that leads to treachery.

Ash Carter entertained thought Russia would go for a unity government in Syria

Can't believe Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on NBC this morning thought that Russia would agree to remove Bashar al-Assad and replace with a moderate coalition government in Syria.  If one were to understand that Russia's only naval base in the Mediterranean is in al-Assad's Allawite home turf then you would think it was Ash Carter.  Its plain that Putin supports anyone who secures the base for Russia. A coalition government would not so that private negotiations where Russian negotiators appear to bend on the issue is just hot air. State and Defense should know it's not workable just on the Realpolitik face of it.
A realistic analysis of what could be done to bring peace in Syria is to let it partition into separate regions which would keep al-Assad in his Allawite enclave and Russia's base with a secure ally.

Failure to Assign lead to State is Root Cause of Chaos Middle East

Pentagon Muscles Out State Department is the genesis of our failure in the Middle East. ISIS uses our preference for military solutions which inflame to further inflame the region and to feed its propaganda, recruiting and funding. It is President Obama's failure to assign the lead to the State Department and not the War Department that is the root of the chaos we see in the region. For the region we require diplomacy that values pacifying, such as pulling apart from the fight the Sunni Arabs and Shiite sects and suggesting they live separately versus inflaming with our blood and treasure to police civil war.