Syrian warplanes took off from an air base which was hit by US cruise missiles on Friday, and carried out air strikes on rebel-held areas in the eastern Homs countryside, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. (Reuters, April 7, 2017) Only God knows what “message” Trump thought he was sending with his pinprick strikes.… Read more.
Bashir al-Assad
Truth about Viral Image of (Another) Syrian Boy
A boy, covered in blood and in obvious shock, became the “image of the war” in Syria last week. It “sent shock waves around the world,” evoking conscience-stricken calls for the international community to “act now” to prevent a recurrence. The media abandoned all pretense of objectivity as it validated this reaction. On Monday’s edition of… Read more.
Putin’s Bush-lite Declaration of ‘Mission Accomplished’ in Syria
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has abruptly declared that he is withdrawing the majority of Russian troops from Syria, saying the six-month military intervention had largely achieved its objective… Western diplomatic sources were both sceptical and startled by Putin’s unexpected and mercurial move… Putin and US President Barack Obama spoke on the phone on Monday,… Read more.
PSA: Media, Stop Making Celebrities of Mass Murderers!
No doubt you too have become nauseated by ad-nauseam reports on the co-pilot who deliberately crashed that Germanwings plane in the Alps eight days ago. After all, the “breaking news” reporters are still trumpeting, every hour on the hour, amounts to little more than rehashing old news about the crash or propagating new tidbits about… Read more.
Turkey’s Erdogan No Different from Syria’s Assad…?
The overthrow of Arab regimes [has] not worked in the interest of freedom, democracy or ending social injustice as much as it helped create chaos. (BBC, September 21, 2012) Given that unrelenting chaos has followed the overthrow of Arab regimes everywhere from Afghanistan to Libya, there’s simply no gainsaying this observation. And that none other than… Read more.
Libya, but not Syria?!
Much is being said about the reputational damage the political game of chicken over raising its debt ceiling has caused the United States in the international arena. But far too little is being said about the reputational damage its double standards for humanitarian intervention have caused. Recall the categorical imperative President Obama cited when he… Read more.