Facing mounting pressure, the Arab League called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to immediately cease the brutal hostilities against his people. By a near-unanimous vote, the Arab League expressed its hard-line position against Damascus through the threat of economic and political sanctions if the ultimatum is not responded to by Wednesday. This decision demonstrates the urgency of the regional states to resolve this conflict through peaceful means. And the latest attempt to isolate Damascus is a belated affirmation by the Arab League that such disregard for human rights will not …
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi visited Turkey over the weekend and met with Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davuto?lu. On a very broad agenda—which included a formal retraction from Davuto?lu stating that he did, in fact, take seriously U.S. claims that Iran was involved in a plot to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington—was the issue of missile defense. As a NATO member and U.S. ally, Turkey has agreed to host an early warning radar as part of a joint U.S.–NATO missile defense system. However, Iran has repeatedly criticized Turkey’s …
Bahrain and Syria are countries ruled by sectarian minorities. Bahrain’s Sunni royal family rules over a Shia majority whereas the Assad regime, which rules over a Sunni majority, belongs to the tiny Alawite sect. While this division has exacerbated both of the uprisings, the similarities end here. Bahrain’s royal family has reacted to the protests through a combination of force and negotiation, whereas Assad, who lacks the same degree of popular legitimacy, has sought the brutal repression of the opposition movement. Bahrain. Despite attempts by Bahrain’s monarchy to engage the …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. Ambrose: Federal law will get you even if you watch out – Jay Ambrose, Scripps Howard News Service Issa: Postal Service Must Cut Workers – Newsmax Wires Russia Pledges to Resist Western-Led Regime Change After Syria Veto in UN – Henry Meyer, Bloomberg Lure overseas cash back into the US – Scot Lehigh, Boston Globe The ‘magic button’ of economics doesn’t work – Jay Bookman, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Palestinian Authority …
The Obama Administration, which has been tragically slow to condemn President Bashar al-Assad’s violent repression of peaceful demonstrators and call for his resignation, finally took action to do so yesterday. After muting its criticism of Assad’s serial mass murders of his own people for five months, the White House released a statement that ratcheted up sanctions on Syria’s dictatorship and called for Assad to step down. Since protests erupted in March, the Assad regime has killed more than 1,800 Syrians and jailed more than 10,000 in a brutal crackdown against …
Turkey finds its “zero problems with neighbors” foreign policy severely compromised by upheaval in the Arab world. Relations with its closest friends, such as Syria, appear to be irrevocably damaged. On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held marathon talks in Damascus, calling President Bashar Assad and his socialist-nationalist Alawi minority regime to stop bloodshed. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Davutoglu are facing a complex regional and international environment. Their nine-year investment in friendship with the Assad regime is backfiring. In 2009, Turkey and Syria signed a strategic partnership …
Monday’s attack on the U.S. Embassy in Damascus—by a mob orchestrated by the Syrian government—underscores the abject failure of the Obama Administration’s strategy of engaging the brutal Bashar al-Assad regime. The Administration naively sought to upgrade diplomatic contacts with the Syrian dictatorship after abandoning the Bush Administration’s policy of mobilizing international pressure on Syria to halt its support of terrorist groups that murdered civilians in Lebanon, Israel, and Iraq, as well as U.S. troops in Iraq. It reversed the Bush Administration’s 2005 withdrawal of the U.S. ambassador to Syria following …
Hundreds of thousands of protesters poured into the streets of Syrian cities on Friday to call for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad in one of the largest outpourings of opposition since protests began over three months ago. At least 12 protesters were killed by Assad’s internal security forces. More than 1,400 Syrians, most of them peaceful protesters, have been massacred in a series of violent crackdowns by the embattled regime in Damascus. The Assad regime, which has ruled Syria with an iron hand since seizing power in a military …
Nuclear proliferation is one of the most serious challenges facing America today. It is only a matter of time before Iran achieves nuclear capabilities. Despite international sanctions aimed at forcing the Islamic Republic to abandon its proliferation activities, Iran has tested various essential components for a nuclear warhead. A nuclear-armed Iran would jeopardize international security and stability. The direct threat posed by Iran’s acquisition of a nuclear weapon is amplified by the indirect threat posed by a destabilizing multipolar nuclear arms race in the Middle East as countries follow suit …
President Obama today delivered a lengthy speech on U.S. policy in the Middle East that promised continued American support for democratic transitions in the countries influenced by the “Arab Spring.” He outlined an overly optimistic vision of what an Israeli–Palestinian peace settlement would look like. But he missed an opportunity to express strong U.S. support for democratic opposition movements brutally repressed by two dictatorships that stand as the chief barriers to realizing American goals in the Middle East: Iran and Syria. The President reviewed the “extraordinary change” that has recently …
