it was always about containing russia and china. it's not a shift in policy so much as the launch of a new objective. once assad is removed from power, the americans will have control over all of the former soviet allies in the region (iraq, libya, syria). i think they're going to stop with syria, though. i don't think invading iran is possible....or at least it isn't at the moment....

the next stage is africa, and it's going to be more violent as the proxies are more developed. the americans will want to contain the conflict. how long before china figures out that their better strategy is escalation?

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/19349-old-game-new-obsession-new-enemy-now-its-china