by Charles Davis When the Arab Spring came to Syria and people rose up to protest the rule of hereditary dictator Bashar al-Assad, their calls for reform were met with bullets. Liberal activists disappeared in regime prisons, their absence later… Continue Reading
by Aurélie Daher When protests began in Syria against Bashar al-Assad’s regime in 2011, the leadership of Lebanon’s Hezbollah did not play for time. It immediately and officially announced that it preferred the current regime but also encouraged both Assad… Continue Reading
by Peter Van Buren You know the joke? You describe something obviously heading for disaster — a friend crossing Death Valley with next to no gas in his car — and then add, “What could possibly go wrong?” Such is the… Continue Reading
by Wayne White Once again American observers are outbidding each other over how serious a threat the Islamic State (ISIS or IS) poses. Recent IS gains in Iraq heightened Washington’s concern, causing President Obama to huddle with coalition defense ministers.… Continue Reading
by Wayne White The outcome of the struggle now playing out over whether to smite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime militarily for its purported use of chemical weapons could define the future of the conflict within Syria more broadly. Much… Continue Reading