The insoluble Syrian problem: only wrong answers?

After four and a half years of war in Syria and 250,000 deaths, there is no path to peace in sight. Peace will not come to Syria because Russia has joined the fight, or because the rest of the world has given up trying to remove Assad; it will come when all the combatants are dead or tired of war. Meanwhile, if Europe is unwilling to bribe or coerce the parties to the negotiating table, its best course is to concentrate on helping their victims.