why is my dictionary not recognized as such

[zatlas1]

I must admit that Python comparisons and matches begin to drive me nuts:

       self.driver_id = supported_drivers[self.driver] if self.driver in supported_drivers else None
        print (self.driver, "\n", supported_drivers)

        print (self.driver, "  ", self.dbengine, "  ", self.driver_id, "\n\n")
        if 'Sybase' == self.driver:
            print ('Sybase', ' is equal ', self.driver)
            if self.dbengine == 'ASE':
                self.driver_id = 4
            elif self.dbengine == 'IQ':
                self.driver_id = 5
            elif self.dbengine != '':
                print(self.driver, "\n\n")
                sys.exit(self.dbengine)
        else:
            print ('Sybase', ' is not equal ', self.driver)

results:

'Sybase'
{'SQLite': 1, 'Sybase': 3, 'SybaseASE': 4, 'SybaseIQ': 5, 'SQLserver': 7, 'Oracle': 8, 'MongoDB': 10, 'DynamoDB': 11}
'Sybase' 'BLA' None


Sybase is not equal 'Sybase'

-------
as you see, self.driver is 'Sybase' and it is IN supported_drivers, yet Python says it is NOT.
And then it is NOT EQUAL to 'Sybase'...
What the heck is going here?

Now I do compare strings unless you tell me that in Python a string is also not a string under certain circumstances

Thank you
ZA