Bashar al-Assad

• October 28, 2019

SOCHI, Russia — As the Turkish presidential plane carried President Recep Tayyip Erdogan across the Black Sea from Sochi, Russia, back to Ankara last week, dozens of African heads of state arrived in this resort city for the inaugural Russia-Africa Summit the next morning. During two days at a convention center in the Olympic …

Africa, Geopolitics, Security Council, US Foreign Relations

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BOOKS

An Eloquent Homage to Syria’s Past, in Case It Has No Future

Irwin Arieff

• June 16, 2018

As one of the world’s oldest areas of human settlement, Syria has seen it all: glory and irrelevance, conflict and calm, dynamism and stagnation, tyranny and tolerance. While it has gone through long periods of international obscurity — pretty much ignored by the Roman and Ottoman Empires, for example — it has at times …

BOOKS

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WORLDVIEWS

Why Syria Will Need a UN Peacekeeping Force (Called Unshams)

Andrew McIndoe

• May 3, 2018

After seven years of horrific fighting, it appears that the Syrian civil war is inching toward a conclusion. In the wake of recent alleged chemical attacks unleashed in Eastern Ghouta, Bashar al-Assad’s regime is squeezing remaining rebel forces, largely herding them — and thousands of civilians — into the northwest in Idlib Province, where …

Peace and Security, UN Peacekeeping, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

The Syrian War and the Refugee Crisis: Spawning the Rise of the Far Right

Irwin Arieff

• December 21, 2016

The butterfly effect teaches us that seemingly insignificant actions can have enormous future consequences. A tiny pair of fluttering wings can disturb the air in a way that helps trigger a hurricane halfway around the world. Witness Syria, where the Arab Spring made its debut in 2011 in the form of a tame wave …

Middle East, Peace and Security, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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Ban Ki-moon’s Turbulent UN Years, in His Own Words

Barbara Crossette

• September 21, 2016

With a cease-fire in Syria collapsing around him and bombs destroying precious relief supplies intended for the hungry, traumatized survivors of relentless government attacks on the once grand city of Aleppo, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon used his last speech to open a UN General Assembly debating season to lash out at the government …

General Assembly, SDGs, Secretary-General, Security Council

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WORLDVIEWS

International Tactics to Counter Terrorism and Violent Extremism Miss the Real Problem

Ann Phillips

• May 4, 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Terrorism and violent extremism are the most dramatic threats in the 21st century to state monopoly on the use of force, a cornerstone of the international system. In recent years, the failure of early counterterrorism efforts to stop the multiplication and geographic expansion of terrorist groups has shifted attention to countering violent …

WORLDVIEWS

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There Is No Military Solution for Syria

Barbara Crossette

• March 20, 2016

Only close cooperation between the United States and Russia can end the “terrible tragedy” in Syria, says Lakhdar Brahimi, the highly respected international mediator in the Middle East for more than two decades. Brahimi, who led United Nations missions in Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq before becoming the special joint envoy of the Arab League …

Middle East

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BOOKS

Falling Flat in Syria: How Not to Fight Jihad

Irwin Arieff

• February 20, 2016

Sun Tzu’s classic work on the art of war advises would-be warriors to “know your enemy.” What were Western powers and the United Nations thinking when they first pondered ways to stop Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from beating, torturing, bombing and even gassing his own people after the first hesitant protests against his rigid …

BOOKS

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As Syrian Peace Talks Take Shape, How Will Women Take Part?

Dulcie Leimbach

• December 26, 2015

When the United Nations Security Council recently approved timelines to begin peace talks and institute a national cease-fire in Syria, the language in the resolution gave no hint of the magnitude of such undertakings, nor did the congratulatory speeches afterward by diplomats delve into the details. That means the nitty-gritty work is left to …

Gender Violence, Middle East, Peace and Security, Security Council, Women

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More Refugees Destined for Europe, Further Testing Its Ability to Respond

Barbara Crossette

• October 4, 2015

With an astounding 12 million people in Syria displaced from their homes in a population that numbered about 23 million before its civil war began in full fledge in 2012, the questions that inevitably arise are: Why isn’t the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees more actively involved on the ground in Europe, the …

Middle East, Migration, Refugees

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Europe Pushes Ahead for More Aid to Syrians and to Disrupt Human Smuggling

Dulcie Leimbach

• September 29, 2015

Seizing a chance to respond more coherently to the deadly situation in Syria, the European Union and Jordan are proposing a “resilience plan” to alleviate the humanitarian emergency while pushing for a political course to stop the Syrian government from killing what’s left of its people. The European Union is also moving ahead in …

Human Trafficking, Libya, Middle East, Refugees

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How Do Early-Modern Christian Conflicts Differ From Muslim Ones Now?

John Torpey

• December 3, 2014

Is the conflict in the contemporary Muslim world so unusual, given that Christians were doing similar things 400 to 500 years ago? Is it really a phenomenon that involves “Muslims,” or is it more a matter of conflicts peculiar to a particular region? To what extent are the stakes in the conflict “religious,” as …

WORLDVIEWS

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The OPCW Should Recommend Sanctions Against Syria for Missing Deadline

Kate Campbell and W.E. DaCruz

• June 13, 2014

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has removed more than 80 percent of the world’s declared stockpile of chemical weapons through its oversight of the Chemical Weapons Convention, but the Syrian case has posed a serious challenge to the organization’s effectiveness on compliance and enforcement. Since Syria will most likely not complete …

WORLDVIEWS

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GOINGS-ON

Lakhdar Brahimi, UN Special Envoy for Syria, Quits in Despair

PassBlue

• May 13, 2014

Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations-Arab League special envoy on the Syrian crisis, has resigned as of May 31, ending many months of speculation on his leaving, particularly after the peace talks held this winter in Geneva between the Syrian government and the opposition failed. At that point, Brahimi blamed the collapse on the Syrian …

GOINGS-ON

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UN Security Council Votes a Surprising ‘Yes’ on Syria

Dulcie Leimbach

• February 22, 2014

The United Nations Security Council approved a breakthrough resolution to demand humanitarian-aid access in Syria, after debating the language of the text for at least a week, as Russia lobbied hard for changes to soften wording or delete passages as well as tried to postpone the vote while the Olympics are taking place in …