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The Rescue
TweetIn the matter of Syria, the moral simplicity and clarity have been overwhelmed by overthinking the strategic complications – always the companion and the alibi for passivity. The Assad tyranny is...
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Let Arab Wealth Carry Its Own Burden
TweetHistory is not such a great mystery that its equations are beyond human reach. With regime change, what matters are the mathematics of pain and the mathematics of bullets. Pain is alleviated by...
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But Really—Is America Ready To See Assad Gone?
TweetNot in a million years would I ever imagine using that headline, “Turks are from Mars, Americans are from Venus” – but that was precisely the title of my column last week [in Milliyet] on Turkish...
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Taking Damascus, One, Two, Three
TweetAlthough Bashar al-Assad could still kill off the revolt against his tyranny, it seems increasingly unlikely. The rebellion today is far larger—geographically and numerically—than the rebellion of...
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Saudi Arabia Ponders Its Syrian Conundrum
TweetThe Arab awakenings and assertive international role of Russia and China at the expense of the United States have created a new strategic situation for the rulers of Riyadh. Seen from Saudi...
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Syria and Iran: Kindred Souls?
TweetStakes in Syria are high. Not only the prospects of democracy in the Muslim Middle East, but also the possible emergence of a new brotherhood of authoritarianism—with China and Russia as its Big...
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Western Inaction, Lebensraum For Jihad
TweetAt this point, almost a year into the Syrian revolt, we know this much: President Barack Obama is unwilling to tip the scales, with American heft, against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad....
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The Turkish Option
TweetThe cruel violence that the Assad regime is directing against the Syrian population has elicited words of condemnation across the world. Fleeing the wrath of the Syrian military, refugees have...
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Syria’s Future
TweetThe Assad regime is certainly a brutal and merciless regime when it comes to stifling any internal dissent or throwing its weight around neighboring countries. Few have forgotten the multipronged...
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Syria: Policy Challenges and Policy Options
TweetThe unfolding Syrian crisis presents the U.S with a manifold policy dilemma. Several issues and challenges are at stake: 1) The current impasse is likely to continue for some time and with it the...
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“Rattle The Turbans”– Defeating Iran in Syria
Tweet“What are the range of options open to the United States, and other powers, in the face of the large-scale violence that the Assad regime has unleashed on the Syrian people?” Reporters covering...
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What Can Be Done About Syria?
Tweet For the first Caravan symposium we take up the ordeal of Syria, now nearly a full year into a terrible struggle between a dictatorial regime and a rebellion determined to overthrow it. What can...
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Syria and the New World (Dis)order
Tweet Not since the early years of the Second World War has Planet Earth been as bereft of American leadership as it is now. What the killings fields of Syria have brought most sharply into focus is a...
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Syria and the Decline of the West
Tweet “Obama is a coward,” said Shifa, 29 years of age, in a government-held suburb of Damascus. She saw through the American leader: he hadn’t wanted to launch a military campaign to begin with and...
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The End of Syria?
Tweet Will there be a Syrian state in 2014 or 2015? Unfortunately, it is a legitimate and pertinent question. The Syrian civil war is well into its third year and there seems to be no resolution in...
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Not the Right Leader
Tweet US diplomacy has lost the latest round in the Syria showdown. Just as the Assad regime embraced the proposal to place its chemical weapons under international control, it restarted its bombing...
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On the Syria Crisis
Tweet Edward Snowden, now in Moscow as special assistant to President Putin, has given us a highly classified telegram, drafted by Russia’s chief diplomat for the Middle East Georgi Kennankov to...
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Not Really About Syria
Tweet The Geneva Syrian talks, like the President’s speech on Syria, have left out many things, but most importantly several inescapable truths about this conflict: (i) At least 70 percent...
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Letter from Istanbul: Where Have The Americans Gone? Who Invited The Russians...
Tweet It is hard to even describe the sense of double-betrayal Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan must be feeling towards the man he considered a friend, Barack Obama. First came the harsh...
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Barack Houdini: Making Syria Disappear
TweetThe online publication, Politico, put it well: Barack Obama tripped over Syria and fell on Iran. That remarkable Obama luck, the luck that saw him through his bid for the United States Senate,...
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