Syria
Will Peace Monitors Change Anything In Syria?
In recent days, international peace monitors have arrived in Syria to evaluate whether the violent government crackdown there has ended. The monitors’ tour began inauspiciously when one leader declared that he saw “nothing frightening” in Homs, a city which has suffered devastating violence throughout the uprising. Which factors limit the success of human rights monitoring? READ MORE >>
Danger Zone
At Least People Are Allowed to Speak in Jordan: Democracy in the Kingdom
Here is a televised debate about Syria on Jordanian television. People are allowed to say anything they want. And they do. The first inklings of real democracy in the kingdom. And who’s to blame for what’s going on in Syria? The Israelis, of course. Watch this, too. Martin Peretz is editor-in-chief emeritus of The New Republic. READ MORE >>
How to Explain the Arab League’s Shocking Decision on Syria?
In March 2009, the Arab League welcomed Sudanese President Omar Bashir at its summit in Qatar. Just weeks earlier, Bashir had been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC)—and a warrant issued for his arrest—for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the murder of nearly 500,000 civilians in Darfur. No matter. The Arab League rejected ICC jurisdiction as an illegal violation of Sudanese sovereignty. READ MORE >>
Saif Qaddafi’s Capture and the End of the Arab Spring
Forgive the corny metaphors. But it was not I who framed developments in the Arab world with the sequence of the seasons. Still, you need only glance at the papers to recognize that Arab Spring is now Arab Winter without really ever having passed through summer or fall. Spring is, as ever, a romantic memory. READ MORE >>
Why Syria’s Kurds Will Determine the Fate of the Revolution
Friended
In Praise of Robert Ford, the Saving Grace of America’s Syria Policy
Since the Syrian people began their uprising against the rule of Bashar al-Assad, Americans have been told repeatedly that there is little they can do about the situation. Experts in think tanks, universities, and the halls of U.S. government have been eager to remind us that the conditions in Syria—with its fractured opposition, brutal and loyal military forces, and fragile regional neighborhood—simply didn’t leave much room for Americans to make a difference. READ MORE >>
