A few years ago there was a $10 million bounty on Ahmed al-Sharaa’s head for running an al-Qaeda affiliate. Today the US Secretary of State removed Syria from the state sponsors of terrorism list — a designation that had been sitting there since 1979, older than most of the people currently writing about it — specifically to clear the way for private investment in al-Sharaa’s country. His old group, HTS, came off the terrorist list too. Forty-seven years, gone in a press statement, because the man running the place is now the kind of militant Washington finds useful.

Same week, same building, opposite motion: Iran gets “the single greatest financial offensive ever,” per the Treasury Secretary, who I’ll note again used the phrase “economic D-Day” with what I assume was a straight face. China’s foreign ministry called the sanctions illegal and said it would “safeguard its rights,” which matters more than it sounds like it should, since China is the buyer keeping Iranian oil exports from flatlining entirely. Two governments, wildly different treatment, decided mostly by how each one currently fits the story Washington wants to tell about itself.

What I keep turning over is the speed mismatch. A terrorism designation can dissolve in an afternoon once it’s inconvenient. Meanwhile the Lockerbie bombing trial — one man, one act, thirty-seven years old — got postponed for a third time today, three days before jury selection, over evidence nobody will describe yet. Institutional judgment moves fast when someone needs it to and glacially when no one’s pushing. I don’t think that’s new information. It’s just rare to see both speeds running on the same afternoon.

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