Posted on Thu, September 12, 2013 at 16:42 pm CEST
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Russia-Iran Axis Gets Access

Has Obama’s Syria policy backfired?… Continue reading

Topics: Iran • Politics • Russian Federation • Security and Defense • Syria • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Thu, September 12, 2013 at 11:32 am CEST
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Syrian Diplomacy?

Since an attack is unlikely, what difference does that make?… Continue reading

Topics: Diplomacy • Iran • Russian Federation • Syria • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Thu, September 5, 2013 at 22:48 pm CEST
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Why a U.S.-Led Intervention in Syria Will Make Things Worse

Why is it a bad idea to strike Syria?… Continue reading

Topics: Crethi Plethi • Russian Federation • Security and Defense • Syria • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Wed, August 28, 2013 at 10:06 am CEST
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America’s Impending Defeat in Syria

Is America going to fight a full-scale war in Syria… Continue reading

Topics: Russian Federation • Security and Defense • Syria • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Sun, June 23, 2013 at 23:37 pm CEST
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The Price Hezbollah Pays for Supporting the Syrian Regime

Being drawn into the Syrian civil war forced Hezbollah to pay both a political price and a price to its image in the Arab-Muslim world… Continue reading

Topics: Hezbollah • Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center • Iran • Lebanon • Religion • Shi'ism • Sunni-Shia Conflict • Syria • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Sun, June 23, 2013 at 23:36 pm CEST
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Hezbollah Support for the Syrian Regime

Hezbollah supports the Syrian regime as the civil war drags on… Continue reading

Topics: Hezbollah • Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center • Iran • Lebanon • Religion • Shi'ism • Sunni-Shia Conflict • Syria • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Sun, June 23, 2013 at 23:36 pm CEST
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Hezbollah Involvement in the Syrian Civil War

For Iran and Hezbollah, the preservation of Bashar Assad’s regime is of supreme strategic importance… Continue reading

Topics: Hezbollah • Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center • Iran • Lebanon • Religion • Shi'ism • Sunni-Shia Conflict • Syria • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Tue, June 11, 2013 at 23:16 pm CEST
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Can Assad’s Syria Survive Revolution?

How the Assad regime has managed to survive the revolution, for the time being and in contrast to other recent upheavals in the Middle East… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • Arab Spring • Culture • Democracy • History • Politics • Security and Defense • Syria • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Sat, January 26, 2013 at 12:33 pm CET
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Anti-Islamism in an Islamic Civil War

The notion of a Sunni-Shi’ite conflict is not the only perceived dichotomy at play in the Syrian civil war… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • History • Religion • Shi'ism • Sunni-Shia Conflict • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Tue, January 22, 2013 at 21:40 pm CET
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Won’t Syria Be Obama’s Main Middle East Crisis in 2013?

The Syrian civil war will go on until one side wins and the other loses. And a lot more people are going to die… Continue reading

Topics: Diplomacy • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Mon, November 19, 2012 at 00:57 am CET
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Erdogan’s Way – Confrontation at Home and Abroad – May be Backfiring

Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party has been well served by the confrontational style of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan… Continue reading

Topics: Diplomacy • Kurdish People • Politics • Turkey 
Posted on Sun, November 4, 2012 at 16:11 pm CET
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Russia-Turkey Strains Deepen over Syria

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

Topics: Diplomacy • Economy • Energy • International Law • Politics • Russian Federation • Security and Defense • Syrian Revolution • Turkey 
Posted on Sat, October 27, 2012 at 16:24 pm CEST
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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

Topics: Kurdish People • Security and Defense • Syrian Kurdistan • Syrian Revolution • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Wed, August 8, 2012 at 20:41 pm CEST
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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

Topics: Politics • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Sun, July 29, 2012 at 20:19 pm CEST
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Lebanon: Fractured Past, Bleak Present

Bill Harris is one of the world’s leading authorities on Lebanon. In this interview he discusses politics there; the possibilities of war with Israel; how Western policy let down the moderates; and the dramatic effects of the Syrian civil war on that neighboring country… Continue reading

Topics: Culture • Hezbollah • History • Lebanon • Politics • Religion • Security and Defense 
Posted on Tue, July 17, 2012 at 19:05 pm CEST
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Will the Rebels Win Syria’s Civil War and What That Means

The tide seems to be turning in Syria… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • Security and Defense • Syrian Kurdistan • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Mon, July 2, 2012 at 19:37 pm CEST
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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

Topics: Alawis • PKK • Politics • Security and Defense • Syria • Syrian Revolution • Turkey 
Posted on Sun, June 17, 2012 at 18:35 pm CEST
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Clearest and Briefest Possible Summary of the Situation in Syria

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

Topics: Arab Spring • Politics • Security and Defense • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 19:26 pm CEST
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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

Topics: Politics • Russian Federation • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Sun, May 27, 2012 at 21:57 pm CEST
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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

Topics: Diplomacy • Iran • Security and Defense • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy • US-Israel Relations • Yemen 
Posted on Mon, April 9, 2012 at 20:49 pm CEST
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The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria

The Muslim Brotherhood was established in Syria in 1945 by disciples of Hassan al-Banna. At first it focused on educational and societal activities… Continue reading

Topics: Global Islam • Islamism • Jihadism • Muslim Brotherhood • Religion • Syria 
Posted on Wed, April 4, 2012 at 20:02 pm CEST
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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

Topics: Economy • Neo-Ottomanism • Politics • Security and Defense • Syria • Syrian Revolution • Turkey 
Posted on Tue, April 3, 2012 at 19:21 pm CEST
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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

Topics: Syria • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Sat, March 31, 2012 at 13:45 pm CEST
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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

Topics: Arab Spring • Arab World • Culture • Democracy • Syria • Syrian Revolution • Turkey 
Posted on Thu, March 29, 2012 at 20:51 pm CEST
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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

Topics: Islamism • Muslim Brotherhood • Religion • Security and Defense • Syrian Revolution