Obama's Olive Branch to Syria

The U.S. Dept. of Commerce has loosened sanctions on Syria (this too within the first two weeks of the Obama administration). Boeing is being allowed to do jetliner maintenance on Syrian aircraft.

Admittedly it's a small thing now, but what does it portend and how far will we go to "make friends"?

Claudia Rosett, writing at Forbes, is not optimistic:

There is talk that Obama will soon be sending an ambassador to Syria to fill the spot left empty since George W. Bush pulled out the previous ambassador in 2005.

The dream scenario is that with the Bush presidency out of the way and Obama flashing a smile, Syria's President Bashar Assad will break off his romance with Tehran and partner with Washington in bringing peace to the region.

The realistic scenario is that Obama, hand extended to Damascus, is setting himself up for a sucker punch--potentially at great cost not only to America and Israel but to other democratic states and any democratic dissidents inside Syria who have not yet vanished into the care of Assad's secret police.

...

The fundamental problem with Syria is the terror-based character of the Syrian regime. Assad runs a dynastic, tyrannical system, which has survived for decades not by making peace, but by making big trouble--punctuated by deals in which Syria practices its own variation on North Korea's rich repertoire of threats, talks and extortion.

We will "extend the hand of friendship" even before you unclench your fist?