Syria
The Crisis of Humanitarian Intervention (Revisited)

The Crisis of Humanitarian Intervention (Revisited)

Supporters of the impending U.S. strike on Syria claim that it is necessary to punish the Assad regime for using chemical weapons on its citizens and to prevent it from further employing them.  The situation, says Washington, calls for “humanitarian intervention.” ...

read more
On the Fence about Syria? Read This!

On the Fence about Syria? Read This!

Some progressives remain conflicted about how the United States should respond to Syria's increasingly violent civil war. This internal division has only deepened as the Obama administration considers launching a military strike on Bashar al-Assad for an alleged...

read more
Table the Red Line

Table the Red Line

One year after President Obama declared that Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons would cross a “red line,” Syria stands accused of carrying out a cruel sarin gas attack against opposition groups and activists, killing hundreds of people in rebel-held East and...

read more
In Kurdish Syria, a Different War

In Kurdish Syria, a Different War

On August 15, a car bomb ripped through a Beirut suburb, killing 21 people. The explosion was but the latest in a wave of attacks across Lebanon throughout 2012 and 2013 that were linked to events inside Syria. The ease with which violence in Iraq and Syria has...

read more
President Obama’s Bush Moment?

President Obama’s Bush Moment?

President Obama has really put himself in a bind with this red line on Syria. As his call to action escalates following President Bashar al-Assad’s probable use of chemical weapons against thousands of his own people last week, it seems likely that the U.S. will make...

read more
The Suffering Grasses: Remembering the Other Syria

The Suffering Grasses: Remembering the Other Syria

By the time you read this, we may already be at war. Syrian forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad now stand accused of deploying chemical weapons against Syrian civilians in a Damascus suburb. Though they have long clamored for U.S. intervention in the conflict,...

read more
Moral Obscenities in Syria

Moral Obscenities in Syria

The threat of a reckless, dangerous, and illegal US or US-led assault on Syria is looking closer than ever. The US government has been divided over the Syria crisis since it began. Some, especially in the Pentagon and some of the intelligence agencies, said direct...

read more