Post Pic

Syria: Spillover into Iraq?

Is the resurgent of Al-Qaida in Iraq a result from the growing civil war in Syria… Continue reading

Post Pic

Russia-Turkey Strains Deepen over Syria

The Syrian crisis is a good test of the strength of the Russia-Turkish detente… Continue reading

Post Pic

The Pro-Islamist Obama Administration: A Case Study in Syria

It is obvious that the Syrian National Council was a Muslim Brotherhood front group, yet the Obama Administration backed it any way… Continue reading

Post Pic

What Does Turkey Hope to Achieve with Its War Threats Against Syria?

The Turkish government appears to hope to deter the continued Syrian – and Iranian – deployment of the Kurdish card against Turkey… Continue reading

Post Pic

Getting Priorities Wrong in Egypt and Syria: Three Media Case Studies

Focus is everything — knowing what the central problem is, and dealing with it… Continue reading

Post Pic

Which Way for Syria? Listen to the Sermons

The closer one gets to ground level in the Middle East, the crazier things become… Continue reading

Post Pic

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly About the Syrian Civil War

Ammar Abdulhamid may know more about Syria’s civil war than anyone else in the world. That’s no exaggeration. Barry Rubin interviewed Abdulhamid on the latest developments and trends… Continue reading

Post Pic

Will the Rebels Win Syria’s Civil War and What That Means

The tide seems to be turning in Syria… Continue reading

Post Pic

Turkey and Syria: An Undeclared State of War

After Syria’s downing of a Turkish aircraft over the eastern Mediterranean, the question is not so much why Syria shot it down as why the two neighbors have become embroiled in a confrontation in the first place… Continue reading

Post Pic

Why Should Obama Help Bring America’s Second-Worst Enemies to Power?

Here’s still another of a series of self-serving leaks from the Obama Administration. In this case, it reveals something very important about policy… Continue reading

Post Pic

Clearest and Briefest Possible Summary of the Situation in Syria

There are three possible outcomes to the Syrian civil war… Continue reading

Post Pic

Syria is the Spanish Civil War of our Time

Spain 1936. An army revolt against the democratically elected government sets off a civil war. Syria 2012. The people revolt against the dictatorship setting off a civil war… Continue reading

Post Pic

How Can Obama’s Middle East Policy Possibly Get Worse? Answer: Look at Syria

Some of my readers are unhappy that I keep criticizing President Barack Obama and his government. The problem is that this administration keeps doing terrible things in the Middle East… Continue reading

Post Pic

The Al Houla atrocity: The outcome of nuclear diplomacy with Iran

Bashar Assad and his army chiefs can safely carry on with their “unspeakable crimes” for the next six months under the Iranian-Russian umbrella… Continue reading

Post Pic

Two Obama Administration Scandals on Syria?

When a delegation of Syrian Kurdish rebels recently visited Washington DC, the State Department met them to ask for a favor. What was it?… Continue reading

Post Pic

U.S. Syrian Policy: A Massacre in Progress; A Disgrace in the Making

U.S. policy toward Syria is turning into a scandal on both strategic and humanitarian grounds… Continue reading

Post Pic

An Islamist Nazi Collaborator is Transformed into a Moderate

Suppose you read in the Washington Post about a democratic politician who was a refugee from persecution by a dictatorship. Would you be surprised to learn that he was in fact a vicious antisemite… Continue reading

Post Pic

The Syrian Uprising: Turkish-Syrian Relations Go Downhill

As Syria sinks deeper and deeper into the throes of civil war, the decade-long honeymoon between Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party and Bashar al-Assad’s regime has all but ended… Continue reading

Post Pic

Does the West Have to Be So Weak on Syria … and Everywhere Else?

America has started to leave our region and there will be no ally left to you… Continue reading

Post Pic

The Syrian Uprising: Syria’s Struggling Civil Society

Authoritarian regimes have traditionally been disinclined to accept any political or social opposition and have been hostile to the development of an independent civil society that could form a counterweight to state power… Continue reading

Post Pic

The Syrian Uprising: The Muslim Brotherhood Reborn

As Syrian president Bashar al-Assad struggles to contend with a massive popular uprising, the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood is poised to dominate whatever coalition of forces manages to unseat the Baathist regime… Continue reading

Post Pic

The Obama Administration’s Pro-Islamist Syrian Opposition “Leadership” is Collapsing

Five months ago, I wrote how the U.S. government collaborated in creating an anti-American, Islamist-dominated leadership for the Syrian revolution. This leadership group failed immediately. Now it is collapsing openly… Continue reading

Post Pic

Let Us Compare Al-Assad to Israel

Tariq Alhomayed wrote a column about the Arab hypocrisy in dealing with the ongoing slaughter in Syria by dictator Bashar al-Assad… Continue reading

Post Pic

Ankara and Washington Ponder Next Moves in Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has just completed a well-timed visit to Washington… Continue reading

Post Pic

Debate in the Mainstream Arabic-Speaking Universe: Only One Flavor Available

Westerners tend to believe that the debate in the Arabic-speaking universe is sort of like debate in the West… Continue reading