Remember how innocently the Syrian rebellion began? In March 2011, as part of the Arab Spring which started in Tunisia, Syrians engaged in mostly peaceful demonstrations, though they did demand the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad. Ironically, his heavy-handed...
President Obama announced in a speech to the nation on Tuesday night that he will delay a congressional vote on authorizing U.S. strikes on Syria. This comes in light of a Russian-brokered deal that has seen Syria commit to giving up its chemical weapons. “It’s too...
Suddenly it seems as if the United States is competing with Russia to find an alternative to attacking Syria. As we posted this morning: “The Syrian government has accepted a Russian proposal to put its chemical weapons under international control to avoid a possible...
“The Syrian government has accepted a Russian proposal to put its chemical weapons under international control to avoid a possible U.S. military strike, Interfax news agency quoted Syria's foreign minister as saying on Tuesday,” reports Reuters this morning. Russian...
The hypothesis that the Syrian chemical weapons attacks may not have been perpetrated by President Bashar al-Assad – or the opposition – has been graining traction. Reuters reports (Sept. 8): Syrian brigade and division commanders had been asking the Presidential...
With Syria, the United States has been judge, jury, and hopes to be the executioner. The trouble is that its idea of who the accused is remains ill-defined. The United States seeks to hold the Assad regime responsible, but, if it has any idea who ordered the attack –...
As many have noted, launching missile strikes against Syria might once again harden the arteries that, since Hassan Rouhani was elected president, has been transporting fresh blood to Iran’s relationship with the West. Unfortunately, turning the relationship toxic...
Cross-posted from the Colorado Progressive Jewish News. A few days ago, writing about the Obama decision to postpone a military strike against Syria, we speculated: At the least, it buys time to build opposition to such a reckless course. At the most, it is the...
Cross-posted from the Black Agenda Report. With the announcement by the Obama administration that it intends to launch an attack on Syria in response to the chemical attack alleged to have been carried out by the Syrian government, the U.S. Administration has again...
At the Atlantic, James Fallows presents a useful overview of Syria by long-time foreign-policy analyst William Polk. One passage – which can be filed under Unforeseen Side Effects – jumped out at us. Finally, if the missile attacks do succeed in “degrading” the Syrian...