“President Obama in his second term is likely early on to focus on a “grand deal” with Iran, testing the Iranians to see if there is a political settlement before he needs, probably by the end of the second quarter of 2013, to decide on other means — perhaps military means — to prevent the Iranians from achieving a nuclear weapons capability. I believe President Obama in his second term will be more assertive, perhaps from the first day after the election, not waiting for inauguration, to increase the lethality and the amount of weaponry going to the opposition in Syria, complementing the new political umbrella that the United States is trying to put together.”

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