Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
In an interview with the Associated Press and his state TV on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated for the first time that he is not averse to backing U.S. strikes to punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for using chemical weapons. Although, perhaps this was just his way of trying to soften up Obama before… Read more.
Members of both the U.S. Congress and UK Parliament deemed debate over military strikes against Syria so important that they interrupted summer vacations to participate. I felt obliged to do the same. Here’s my question for every member of Congress and every member of the global community: What message will we send if a dictator… Read more.
In a rare show of unity, the United States and Russia are calling on the United Nations to investigate claims that the Syrian government used chemical weapons on Wednesday to kill over 1000 people, including women and children. All indications are that the United States is trying to enlist a coalition of nations willing to… Read more.
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.
For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside. One can be forgiven for thinking that, with those words, President Obama sealed Assad’s fate as surely as, with a thumb down, a Roman emperor sealed that of a gladiator. After all, as leader of the world’s only… Read more.
I had a profound sense of déjà vu yesterday listening to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton threaten intervention by the United States if the Syrian government uses weapons of mass destruction against its own people. Concerns are that a besieged President Bashar al-Assad will deploy WMDs to finally exterminate the popular uprising that has been… Read more.
Yesterday virtually all major newspapers around the world featured one of two stories about Russia – both of which suggest that the recent restoration of Vladimir Putin as president marked the beginning of political repression at home and cold-war aggression abroad that are eerily reminiscent of Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror. In other words, where… Read more.
Related commentaries: Assad continues to massacre with impunity Read more.
Reports over the weekend on the massacre (door to door, execution style) of over 100 men, women, and children in the Houla region of Syria by forces still loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had the international community recoiling in horror. I have come to Syria at a critical moment in this crisis… I am personally shocked… Read more.
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.
