If Sunnis had been attacking Western targets in large numbers instead of Shia Muslims, it might be a different story.
U.S. Still Friends With Gulf States Despite Sunni Slaughter of Shia
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Syria
Is Assad Really a Master Strategist?
Did Syria President Bashar al-Assad really anticipate that atrocities would prevent rather than prompt intervention by the West?
Bluster and Blowback in Beirut
Although Hezbollah looks increasingly likely to weather Syria’s civil war, blowback from hardline Sunnis at home may prove a longer-term challenge.
From Syria to Bosnia: Memoirs of a Mujahid in Limbo
A Syrian national who fought in Bosnia and now languishes in an immigration detention center reflects on the Bosnian war, his predicament, and the civil war in Syria.
Mother Agnes-Mariam Warns That Islamic Extremists Undermine Peace Prospects in Syria
Mother Agnes-Mariam’s analysis of conditions on the ground in Syria is far more nuanced than those of the mainstream media in the United States.
Running Off to War
As in the 1940s in Palestine, some opposition recruits have gone to Syria motivated by extremist ideologies and with the intention to commit acts of terrorism. But most have more prosaic reasons for fighting.
Foreign Policy Thin-Sliced (10/17)
Not Enough Stock Dividends From a Peace Dividend In 2001, military spending, as a function of the over-all American economy, was, at six per cent, the lowest it had been since the Second World War. … In much the same way that the peace dividend expected with the...
The Nobel Committee’s Rebuke to Washington’s Unilateralism
The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), one of the most effective instruments for international arms control, sends an important message to those who have insisted that unilateral military action is the...
Foreign Policy Thin-Sliced (10/9)
Sanctions Represent a Failure of Imagination Why pass new sanctions that will drain Iran’s moderates of domestic political capital, slam shut the window for what may be the last best chance to constrain Iran’s nuclear program through diplomacy, and risk shattering...
Breaking the Cycle of Counterinsurgency
This September marked a potential turning point in America’s long and seemingly bottomless appetite for war. The Obama administration made a pitch for U.S. military intervention against Syria, and the American public didn’t buy it. Across the country, people...