The United States should not get involved in a civil war with unknown and dangerous ramifications for the region. It should not get involved in supporting an opposition that is ready to inflict a bloodbath on Syrian minorities, and it should not abet the rise of extremist al-Qaeda-affiliated groups.
Significant segments of the U.S. public are not falling for this ploy.
Iran’s June 14 presidential election results, announced the day after voting was held, were nothing less than a political earthquake.
Before the election, Rohani’s words to the West were conciliatory.
To caring citizens of the world, the helplessness of watching a people suffer is a form of torture.
Will this election be contested, too?
As Iran’s presidential election approaches with the speed of an out-of-control train, its passengers are certainly curious about who’s going to be the next conductor. Yet as they take in the political infighting that so consumes the country’s ruling classes, ordinary Iranians understand that one of the most salient facts of life in Iran—the international sanctions regime—will not be on the ballot.
Kurdistan has enjoyed an unprecedented level of political and economic stability since the end of the first Gulf War in 1991. Yet not all is well in Kurdistan, due in part to the dominant presence of one ruling family. Descended from a political dynasty that has built a power base over centuries of fighting, regional president Massoud Barzani has blossomed into an authoritarian ruler not unlike many whose regimes are now crumbling from the internal pressures of the Arab Spring.
Emphasis, as always, added.
All of us practice a partial vision some extent.