• US watched #ISIS rise in Syria and hoped to ‘manage’ it — Kerry on leaked tape -
    http://mondoweiss.net/2017/01/watched-manage-leaked

    “The reason Russia came in is because ISIL was getting stronger, Daesh was threatening the possibility of going to Damascus and so forth. And that’s why Russia went in. Because they didn’t want a Daesh government and they supported Assad.

    “And we know that this was growing. We were watching. We saw that Daesh was growing in strength, and we thought Assad was threatened. We thought, however, we could probably manage, that Assad would then negotiate. Instead of negotiating, he got Putin to support him.”

    Via angryarab