Yes, they are continuously scheming. Just recently Trump met with Putin and they discussed Syria.. so we have to see what comes out of that talk. Daesh is almost entirely defeated in Syria and Iraq but the concern is now the Kurdish militias that the US supports. The Syrian government is focused on maintaining Syrias soverignty and unity.. will the Kurds make demands and face a similar fate to what took place recently in Iraq after Barzani's Kurdish referendum? Or will they agree to terms within the framework of the Syrian constitution? We know that the US has used them in the past as pawns and has dropped them when they were no longer useful, but it seems they keep allowing themselves to be put in that position while expecting a different result. Lots of different moving pieces. You've also got the big House of Saud purge/debacle, threats to Lebanon.. the US's obsession with "poking the bear" so to speak in Iran. I think what it comes down to is Putin's ability to keep Trump from taking any drastic measures that could cause more conflict and turmoil in the Middle East. When the world is run by evil inhuman psychopaths which I completely agree with you on.. it really becomes difficult to anticipate or predict how things will go.. we need to just take it one day at a time.