Syrian dictator Bashar Assad used to be an international outcast, Syria’s equivalent of Kim Jong Un. The Syrian dictator had few partners and even fewer friends. Shut out from the West, isolated from the international banking system, and ostracized from much of the Arab world, Assad was at the mercy of Iran, Russia, Lebanese Hezbollah, and what was left of the Syrian army to squash the armed opposition against his regime.

Things have gotten noticeably better for the war criminal. The United States and Europe still don’t want anything to do with the man who shot, starved, and gassed his people into submission, but Assad’s Arab neighbors don’t see things the same way. The Jordanian, Egyptian, and Emirati foreign ministers, all of whom represent countries that once armed or sheltered the insurgency against Assad, have traveled to the dictator’s capital to offer humanitarian assistance and improve bilateral relations.