Irrespective of what will be discussed there, what differences need to be worked out and what compromises will be reached, what is important is that this meeting will be conducted without any input from the West, in other words, no US interference. The three leaders are going to the table with a positive attitude and a wish to resolve the Syrian issue, unless….Erdogan intends to do another U-turn and go against both Putin and Assad and their other allies that will not be present at these talks.

There have been theories put forth lately that Russia is about to hand Syria over to the “moderates” and what’s more these theories are being suggested by Syrians. Personally, I see no merit in these theories whatsoever. Why would Russia, that has devoted the better part of a year in fighting these “moderates”, sacrificing the valuable lives of some of its finest, suddenly change direction and hand victory over to the US and its cronies? Especially at a time when victory for the democratic forces in Syria, that Moscow has steadfastly supported from the very beginning, seems to be in their grasp.

What I expect will happen in Moscow in that meeting, is that Erdogan will do his best to convince the justifiably cautious Assad that his intentions are honourable, that his forces will withdraw behind their own borders once their “agreed upon” objective has been achieved.

Erdogan has, to all intends and purposes, written off the US and NATO cronies as “allies”; the trust is no longer there and although Russia is not prepared to take on the role of “protector” it does offer an honest partnership of equals. Erdogan may be crazy, but he’s no fool; he knows that he cannot stand alone against US bullying, no matter how much he tries to convince his people that Turkey is a force to be reckoned with. That may apply in his own neighbourhood with weaker countries, but it is nowhere near powerful enough to go against the big boys.