The rapid downfall of Syrian leader Bashar Assad has touched off a new round of delicate geopolitical maneuvering between Russia's Vladimir Putin and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan. With the dust still settling from the stunning events in Damascus, the outcome for now seems to be favoring Ankara, which backed the victorious rebels, while Moscow suffered a bruising blow to its international clout. “In the game of Czars vs. Sultans, this is Sultans 1 and Czars 0,” said Soner Cagaptay, director of