The grim prospect of a war on Syria has been forestalled for now. The US Congress and the British Parliament have given a red signal to the attack on Syria. Prof. Aijaz Ahmad, senior political analyst discussing the developments around Syria with Newsclick, says that the international isolation of the US in this entire exercise was extraordinary. It is for the first time since the World War II that an American President wanted to launch a war and was prevented. He says that this is a defeat for the Israeli lobby in the US Congress. Ahmad feels that these changes will have profound consequences in Central Asia in the balance of power, in that both Russia and China could possibly gain.