In his testimony on Capitol Hill Tuesday, former CIA director (ret.) General David Petraeus argued that the Obama administration can and should be doing more in Syria. Petraeus proposed “the establishment of enclaves in Syria protected by coalition air power where a moderate Sunni force could be supported and where additional forces could be trained, internally displaced persons could find refuge and the Syrian opposition could organize.”

Presumably the plan Petraeus sketched is similar to what he advocated before resigning from his CIA post in November 2012. The difference nearly three years on is that Russia has escalated its military presence in order to defend Assad, which makes any American military action—like firing cruise missiles at Assad’s air force, as Petraeus suggested—highly unlikely. Petraeus knows that if President Obama didn’t want to back the Syrian rebels previously, Russia’s incursion simply gives the White House another excuse not to move against Assad and his allies.