Recent pressures on Damascus has shifted the balance of power inside the regime and led to further crackdown on Syrian dissidents and controversial spillovers in Lebanon and Iraq.

Part of the Syrian problem with the international community is the foreign policy of the U.S. White House, although the Syrian regime's attitude toward the world has been overtly hostile since the death of his father, former Syrian President Hafez Assad.

This rapprochement with Damascus was inevitable and has been a work in progress for a while. The regional concerns of the Syrian regime could be legitimate in the Arab world where the United States has almost full geostrategic control, except pockets of power in the Levant.

The emerging ruler of Syria enjoyed international consent on ascension, but the Syrian regime began to falter when underestimating the reaction of Washington to its aloof position on Iraq and bellicose policy in Lebanon.

Furthermore, Assad was already fumbling to manage the Syrian ruling machinery with all the contrasts between its moderates and conservatives.

The premise of Syrian policy since the 1990s was to embrace a regional custody agreement over Lebanon that provides relevance and trump cards for the calculating Syrian foreign policy, warranted by the auspices of the United States.

For the Syrian regime to revert to the more reasonable behavior of that period and loosen its strategic alliance with Tehran, the next U.S. administration will need to find a formula to engage with Damascus but maintain the basic premise of Lebanon's policy since 2005.

While debating at the Elysee, make no mistake, Bashar's eye will be always on the White House.

Even CNN reporter, Cal Perry, was welcomed as a hero by the Syrian military last week for a counter-terror certificate tour on Iraq's border. Overwhelmed by meals and courtesy, Perry was flown in an old Russian aircraft to make a plea for the United States to end its embargo on Syria and provide military equipment.

Nonetheless, the ongoing deal between Sarkozy and Assad is for Damascus to facilitate regional solutions which Paris would help with in return to open the doors of Europe.

This soft bargain should be welcomed and nurtured. Syria must not slip away again to introspective attitudes that lean toward radical policies. Instead it must be engaged in trade and cultural exchanges for the sake of stability and prosperity in the region and for the Syrian people. And the European Union must keep in mind the mere need of just easing pressure on Syrian dissidents.

Just last week, Badi' Dek al-Bab, a member of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, was sentenced to six months for writing an article with a simple apolitical message critical of the slogan of the Culture Ministry last May: "For Damascus to be the capital of Arab culture means to be the capital of Arab pride."

The activist, who already spent six years in jail, asserted that for this to be true, Syrian officials must stop random harassment and detention of those who hold diverging political views, and added: "you must empty Damascus' prisons, which means all of Syria's prisons, completely from any political prisoner and for the trials to be indeed fair."

Arab authoritarianism is a fashion not only of Damascus but even of many Arab allies of the United States. Syrian society is a vibrant one that could indeed seize any open window of reform, but it is also a responsible and patriotic one that would never invite foreign influence to inspire a false change.

Flashes of this local opposition are overwhelmingly resourceless and inefficient. The Syrian regime must match the same outward openness with inward flexibility in approaching local dissidents.

After civilians in Assad's circle of power took control of foreign policy in a tangible effort to restore Syria's image in international affairs, less confrontational figures need to be at the forefront of domestic politics, including the long awaited shake-up of the government.

Cosmetic public gestures, at least, could reflect the strength of the regime and give it free bonus points in a time of transition.

Last week, an uprising took place in Saydaneya prison where many political prisoners are held. Islamists took many security guards as hostages. More than 25 died, but no clear reports have emerged so far about the events there. Assad has yet to step in and demand an investigation.

The dawn of political reforms in Syria must start within secular public institutions and local civil spaces, not in the abyss of obscure prisons.