PARIS -- President Nicolas Sarkozys visit to Damascus this month confirms the failure of his policy of isolating the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Diplomats in Europe and the United States who have been tackling the difficult issue of Iran and its nuclear ambitions have been jolted in recent days by two unexpected developments.

AMMAN -- Syria took international center stage Thursday as the isolated country stepped into the spotlight to host a major four-way summit that implicitly recognized the political weight of President Bashar Assad as a pivotal player in negotiations to establish peace and stability in the turbulent Middle East.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives in Damascus Wednesday on a long-awaited visit as Paris tries to fill the diplomatic vacuum created by Washingtons policy of exclusion.

AMMAN – French President Nicolas Sarkozys upcoming two-day visit to Syria -- the first Western head of state to go there in five years -- is expected to help redefine the shifting pivotal role that Damascus has in the region, as the "rogue" state seeks to come out of isolation and into the international fold.

AMMAN -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy has confirmed he will make a landmark visit to Syria on Sept. 3-4 in another step toward normalizing their ties and bringing Damascus back into the international fold by reversing a policy of exclusion that has in recent years alienated the country from the West.

The extraordinary European Union summit that French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for Monday looks likely to decide not simply Europes policy toward a resurgent and aggressive Russia which is talking of a new Cold War, but also the degree to which the worlds richest economy will in future seek to play a diplomatic role to match its wealth.

Spectacular Taliban successes in Afghanistan and Pakistan are forcing Western leaders to rethink their anti-terrorist strategy in both countries. In recent days, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Britains Prime Minister Gordon Brown have paid separate flying visits to Kabul to assess the situation. They, and other Western heads of government, are facing the painful possibility that NATO is losing the war in Afghanistan -- a war which has also destabilized neighboring Pakistan.

The exit of U.S. President George W. Bush from the White House is already anticipated in the Arab region with sighs of relief. But what is ahead under the next president: more of the same, regardless of who wins; or change?

Irans nuclear ambition is not only about national pride and confrontation with the West. First and foremost it is a race for power and influence between two generations and two competing trends within Iranian politics.