Analysis & Commentary
“Ohne Hilfe von Außen Fließt noch Mehr Blut”
Herr Abdulhamid, in der syrischen Opposition wird der Ruf nach einer militärischen Intervention aus dem Ausland immer lauter. Glauben Sie tatsächlich, dass die Nato oder eine andere Staatenkoalition Baschar al-Assad aus dem Amt bomben sollte, nach dem Vorbild Libyens?
‘No substitute for US leadership on Syria’
Tony Badran – a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the Washington think tank that organized the event – said neither the Arab League nor Turkey wield the necessary military or diplomatic clout
‘The Truth’: A Simple Demand From the Lebanese and Oppressed People Everywhere
A friend was wondering the other day what frontiers are left to explore, now that scientists have pretty much mapped the planet. The answer, I'd suggest, lies less in the stars than along the frontiers of human freedom--which over the past few decades have been edging out dictatorships from Asia to Latin America to Eastern Europe. Today, sped along by President's Bush's bold move two years ago to break the despotic gridlock of the Middle East by overthrowing Saddam Hussein, that same push for freedom has arrived at the region's palace gates.
2012: It Could be a Year of Middle East Uncertainty
In addition, Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of research for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, agreed that the "Iranian nuclear crisis will be the number one security concern of 2012."
50 US Experts Implore Obama to Press Syria Harder
Around 50 US-based experts on Middle East policy and strategy signed an open letter to President Barack Obama this week imploring him to demonstrate greater leadership on the Syria crisis.
A Battle Plan to Stop Assad: Three Steps to Focus the Brutal Dictator’s Mind
Before Syrian President Bashar Assad's blood-soaked crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, Western capitals pampered the London-educated eye doctor with carrots rather than sticks.
A Call to Arm
But the fact remains that weapons are reaching opposition members, and some, including Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Jonathan Schanzer, believe that since Saudi Arabia is supplying arms
A General’s ‘Suicide’
The conclusion of United Nations investigators that Syria's leadership planned the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, and had their Lebanese agents-in-place carry out the murder, is having a deep impact in the region.
A Hezbollah Crack-up?
Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah, wants out. Things have gotten so tense for Hezbollah, says Lokman Slim, an independent Lebanese Shiite activist, that according to well-sourced accounts of a meeting two weeks ago, Nasrallah “complained he no longer wanted the job.”
A Looming Crisis In Lebanon?
On Sunday, June 7, the Lebanese held parliamentary elections and handed the incumbent coalition a decisive victory over the opposition, which is led by the Iranian-sponsored militant group Hezbollah.
A Major Flaw in New U.S. Diplomacy
It would be wonderful to feel warm and happy about the diplomacy now breaking out all over. Five years ago America was confronting the axis of evil. Today we are offering access to envoys. After years in the cold, North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan is on his way to New York for talks involving U.S. promises of aid and diplomatic normalization if Pyongyang just stops making nuclear bombs.
A Proper Welcome
To: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President Islamic Republic of Iran Tehran
A Puzzling Run for President in Lebanon
If you're lucky enough not to be obsessed with Middle East politics, you may be surprised to learn that the keynote speaker at Hezbollah's massive Beirut demonstration last week was not a Shiite Muslim but a Maronite Christian. Michel Aoun, the army general who was driven into exile by Syria in 1990 but has been oddly friendly with Syria and its local allies since his return to Lebanon last year, addressed an overwhelmingly Shiite crowd and called for the resignation of Sunni Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
A Real Syria Policy, Anyone?
Russia and China’s October 4 veto of a U.N. -Security Council resolution on Syria elicited a strong response from U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice.
A Still-Open Nuclear File
Syria's violations would be grave enough if al-Kibar reflected a Syrian attempt to build nuclear weapons for itself. They would be graver if Syria did it to share plutonium with Iran.
A Syria in Minor Key
The strategic vacuum the United States is leaving in the Middle East is creating a dangerously unstable situation, arguably similar to the one immediately preceding the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. This is characterized by a void in regional leadership and a disengaged Washington incapable of dictating regional dynamics.
A Syrian Resistance Leader’s Plea to the World
The Syrian revolution has taken place as a long-delayed response to the misery and helplessness visited upon the Syrian people by a narrow authoritarian clique that treated the country as its own private fiefdom.
A Talk with Samir Geagea, Head of the Lebanese Forces
Samir Geagea is reluctant to speak much of the attempt on his life last month. It was here, at his home in Maarab, a fortified villa high in the mountains, where one or more snipers allegedly took aim at the head of the Lebanese Forces, a Christian majority party.
A Thorn in the Lion’s Paw
The politics of the Druze in the Syrian revolution have witnessed serious developments over the last couple of months, as evidenced by the escalation in the rhetoric of Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.
Activists Ensure that the World Sees Syria’s Bloodbath
The United States should send a covert team into Syria to assess the rebels and what they need and start working on training, doctrine and building a chain of command, says Tony Badran, a researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
