USA Today (July 2)
“Any traveler to the Middle East today can feel the tidal wave sweeping the area. The Arab Awakening is now a distant memory, and the hopes for democracy have been replaced by the black flags of al-Qaeda,” except they are now known as ISIS. The threat is not limited to the Middle East. “If al-Qaeda, from its sanctuary in Afghanistan, could produce 9/11, imagine the threats ISIS can pose from the much larger area in Iraq and Syria.”
Tags: Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Arab Awakening, Democracy, Iraq, ISIS, Middle East, Syria, Threat, Traveler
Washington Post (June 20)
Iraq’s unraveling poses a “confounding” challenge for the U.S. “Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has put sectarian interests above national goals, so to join him in beating back the terrorist challenge might only widen the country’s divide. But… an al-Qaeda-style ‘caliphate’ stretching from Syria into Iraq would be too dangerous for the United States and its allies.” By sending aid and military advisers, President Obama’s modest steps toward engagement “represent a judicious start.”
Tags: Advisors, Aid, Al-Qaeda, Challenge, Engagement, Iraq, Judicious, Maliki, Obama, Sectarian, Syria, Terrorists, U.S.
Washington Post (January 17, 2014)
“Over the past few months, the Middle East has become an even more violent place than usual. Iraq is now once again home to one of the most bloody civil wars in the world, after Syria of course, which is the worst.” There is no quick fix that outsiders can provide. “In fact, the last thing the region needs is more U.S. intervention.” The Middle East’s deep-rooted tension is part of “a sectarian struggle, like those between Catholics and Protestants in Europe in the age of the Reformation. These tensions are rooted in history and politics and will not easily go away.”
Tags: Catholics, Civil war, Europe, History, Intervention, Iraq, Middle East, Politics, Protestants, Reformation, Struggle, Syria, Tensions, U.S., Violence
Washington Post (September 12)
“Whatever the twisted path, whether by design or accident, the Obama administration has ended up in a better place on Syria than looked possible even days ago. The president was wise to take up and begin to test the Russian offer to remove and possibly destroy Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons.”“Whatever the twisted path, whether by design or accident, the Obama administration has ended up in a better place on Syria than looked possible even days ago. The president was wise to take up and begin to test the Russian offer to remove and possibly destroy Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons.”
Tags: Chemical weapons, Obama, Russia, Syria, U.S.
Financial Times (September 10)
“The sheer triviality of the German election campaign is a tribute to the success of the country. Only a nation that is secure and prosperous could afford to have a political debate that is so focused on the little things of life.” The big debate in Germany is not intervention in Syria or safeguarding the future of Europe. “The moral issue that has divided Germans this election” is vegetarianism. A proposal from the Green party that public cafeterias quit serving meat, one day a week, “has stirred up an impassioned debate about whether politicians have the right to get between Germans and their sausages.”
Tags: Cafeterias, Campaign, Debate, Election, Europe, Germans, Green party, Meat, Politicians, Sausages, Syria, Vegetarianism
New York Times (September 8)
“For the International Olympic Committee, environmental concerns in Japan appeared less urgent than the Syrian war on Turkey’s border, a harsh crackdown against antigovernment protesters recently in Istanbul and Spain’s economic recession and high unemployment…. Amid such economic, political and human rights maelstroms, Tokyo was seen as a calm harbor. It won handily over Istanbul in the second round of voting, 60-36, in a secret ballot of Olympic delegates.”
Tags: Environmental concerns, Human rights, IOC, Istanbul, Japan, Olympics, Recession, Spain, Syria, Tokyo, Turkey, Unemployment
Washington Post (September 5)
Russian President Vladimir Putin “has been a stalwart backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war, but that does not give him license to ignore the facts and gloss over inconvenient truths,” especially since Syria’s chemical weapon stockpile has roots extending to the USSR. “The sarin gas attack near Damascus should not be so glibly dismissed as “ludicrous” by a Russian president. Instead of mocking the West, Mr. Putin should throw Russia’s support behind an investigation of this atrocity. A horrible crime was committed.”Russian President Vladimir Putin “has been a stalwart backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war, but that does not give him license to ignore the facts and gloss over inconvenient truths,” especially since Syria’s chemical weapon stockpile has roots extending to the USSR. “The sarin gas attack near Damascus should not be so glibly dismissed as “ludicrous” by a Russian president. Instead of mocking the West, Mr. Putin should throw Russia’s support behind an investigation of this atrocity. A horrible crime was committed.”
Tags: Atrocity, Chemical weapon, Crime, Damascus, Investigation, Putin, Russia, Sarin, Stockpile, Syria
The Economist (August 31)
Syria’s President Bashar Assad apparent use of chemical weapons to kill civilians has gone too far. The international community should “hit him hard.” But first the U.S. and other coalition countries must “present the proof and “deliver an ultimatum” that Assad hand over all remaining chemical stockpiles.
Tags: Bashar Assad, Chemical weapons, Civilian International community, Coalition, Kill, Proof, Stockpiles, Syria, U.S., Ultimatum
Financial Times (August 27)
There is a “moral case for intervention in Syria.” Bashar al-Assad’s “battle to hold on to power at any cost–including the lives of some 100,000 Syrians–is founded on the assumption the international community is too divided to act with conviction. He has exploited the divisions to take the war on his own people to terrifying extremes…. But this is a gamble he cannot be allowed to win.”
Tags: Bashar al-Assad, Conviction, Divided, International community, Intervention, Moral, Power, Syria, War
New York Times (June 4)
The U.S. has eased sanctions on Iran to allow the export of mobile phones, laptops, encryption software and related technology to individual Iranians. “This should improve the ability of Iranians to circumvent their government’s unrelenting crackdown on dissenting opinion and communicate with each other and the outside world without reprisal.” The move is overdue. “Tensions between Iran and the United States—over Syria and terrorism, as well as the nuclear program—will almost certainly get worse, barring some unexpected new policies in Tehran. But America will be in a stronger position if it is seen as standing with the Iranian people.”
Tags: Crackdown, Export, Iran, Nuclear program, Sanctions, Syria, Technology, Terrorism, U.S.
