Sometimes there are international issues just too complicated to explain or unravel and which leave policymakers completely baffled. The current situation in Syria is a good example. It is becoming ever harder to work out who is on whose side, who should be backing whom, and to what end.
A few examples of the impossible di lemmas:
The Western allies have taken a poor view of President Bashar Assad all along, regarding him as an oppressive tyrant who gasses his own citizens and ought to be ejected if Syria is ever to settle down again. But the murderous Islamic State movement (IS) has been an even bigger threat to order, human values and international peace and stability, and Assad, along with his allies, has been a major force against IS. He is also seen as the protector of the Christian minority in Syria against more violent Islamic hostility and oppression.