One week ago, there was a sense of cautious optimism about an upcoming breakthrough in the Syrian crisis. Many were speculating about a US-Russian agreement on Syria based on the Geneva Plan of 2011, which outlines a political roadmap for the transition.

President Bashar al-Assad’s Jan. 6 speech at the Damascus Opera House outlined the limits of far he was willing to go in pursuing a political settlement. His ceiling, by all accounts, was very low.

First, he called for a mutual ceasefire, along with a halt to the flow of arms to Syrian rebels. He said that a national dialogue would then start, from which a new constitution and new cabinet might emerge. He completely bypassed any talk of presidential elections or a transition period as explicitly outlined at Geneva.

Rather than sound conciliatory, as some had wrongly expected, he delivered a fiery battle speech, which signaled that this was not a man preparing to step down anytime soon. As rebels make advances around the capital city of Damascus, where does all of this fit into a possible political solution to the Syrian crisis?