On Wednesday, June 10 -- The two bases are what is left of Russia's global military footprint outside the former Soviet Union. For eighteen months after Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow, both hung in the balance - the Khmeimim air base in Latakia and the Tartus naval facility on the Syrian coast, hemmed in by a new government that had every reason to distrust the country that had spent a decade propping up its predecessor.

"including amid a possible reformatting of the Russian military facility." She was careful to add that the details "fall under the purview of our security apparatus, the Defense Ministry." What she did not say was how far along those discussions have gone, or what terms the new Syrian government has extracted in exchange...