What happens when you are an autonomous entity who happens to be in the middle of prime infrastructure and oil deals? What if there were no checks and balances or a system that ensures public funds land where they should?…
Tag: assad
The Syrian Agony
Negotiations are the Only Way to End the Conflict From peaceful demonstrations in March 2011 inspired by the atmosphere of hope that swept through northern Africa, to bitter, brutal conflict, war, the human disease is rampaging through Syria. Destroying the…
Alawistan
Bashar al-Assad may be gearing up to create an Alawite statelet along Syria’s coastal mountains. And he has the means to do it How long will President Bashar al-Assad remain in Damascus? His regime appears to be reeling: A bombing…
Syria and the Dogs of War
Diplomacy is the Only Way to Preserve What’s Left of Syria “Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial” – Julius Caesar, Act 3, scene…
Five Reasons Not to Intervene in Syria
Neocons to the Front Last Friday (9/28), neocon military historian and columnist Max Boot teamed up with one-time academic and Bush administration defense official Michael Doran to publish an op-ed in the New York Times “Five Reasons to Intervene in…
fighting intensified over syrian largest city
Fighting over Syria’s largest city intensified last Friday, with the most widespread battles reported there in two months as rebel forces launched a new offensive to rout President Bashar Assad’s forces from Aleppo, activists said Some of the heaviest fighting…
Children killed in Syria as violence rages: NGO
Syrian warplanes targeted several residential districts of the northern city of Aleppo today, killing at least five people including three children from one family, a rights watchdog said The five were killed and others were wounded in the central district…
Brahimi has ‘no illusions’ about ‘toughest yet’ Syria mission
One of the UN’s most experienced troubleshooters, Lakhdar Brahimi, has embarked on one of the world’s toughest jobs with a bleak warning it may be “nearly impossible” for him to succeed in ending the violence in Syria But the 78-year-old…
Bashar’s Cult of Personality
Last week, the daily Al-Joumhouria published the transcripts of the surveillance tapes in the case of former minister Michel Samaha, who was recently arrested and charged for plotting a campaign of terrorist bombings in northern Lebanon. Samaha was caught red-handed,…
Last Chance for Peace in Syria
In Syria, our worst fears are becoming a reality. Over the past few months, the conflict has descended into an ever more violent civil war, fueled increasingly by foreign-supported Sunni Islamists on the one hand, and by ruthless pro-regime militia…