Politics

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Iran seems to understand it cannot hang its entire strategy on the survival of Syrian President Bashar Assad (wearing sash next to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) and needs to build new alliances as contingencies. Iran has proposed a plan for elections in Syria for parliament and president. (Associated Press)

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Participants at a conference on Syria in November await the start of a session at the Esteghlal Hotel in Tehran. (Associated Press)

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Mathieu Ngudjolo (left), former leader of the National Integrationist Front, awaits the verdict in his war crimes trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Robin van Lonkhuijsen, Pool)

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Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, joined by the Republican leadership, speaks to reporters about the fiscal cliff negotiations with President Obama following a closed-door strategy session, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., second from right, walks to a Republican strategy session with Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, arrives for a closed-door meeting with House Republicans as he negotiates with President Obama to avert the fiscal cliff, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, right, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., left, pause before making remarks to reporters about the fiscal cliff negotiations after a Republican strategy session at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, joined at left by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., far left, as they speak to reporters about the fiscal cliff negotiations after a closed-door strategy session at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, center, attends a cabinet meeting sat between British Prime Minister David Cameron, left, and Foreign Secretary William Hague in 10 Downing St. in London, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Jeremy Selwyn, Pool)

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A mosaic of Hafez Al Assad is seen after being shot at by FSA soldiers after heavy clashes with government forces at a military academy besieged by the rebels in Tal Sheer, Syria, Sunday, Dec 16, 2012 (AP Photo / Manu Brabo)

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In this Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007 file photo, Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa talks to journalists during a joint press conference with Italian Premier Romano Prodi at Chigi palace, in Rome. Syria's longtime vice president said the army cannot defeat the rebels fighting to topple the regime, the first admission by a top government official that a victory by President Bashar Assad is unlikely. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

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Free Syrian Army fighter looks at the body of a Syrian Army soldier after heavy clashes with government forces at a military academy besieged by the rebels in Tal Sheer, Syria, Sunday, Dec 16, 2012. (AP Photo / Manu Brabo)

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Machine gun rounds are seen near to a Syrian Army trench after heavy clashes with government forces at a military academy besieged by the rebels in Tal Sheer, Syria, Sunday, Dec 16, 2012. (AP Photo / Manu Brabo)