By Matthew RJ Brodsky WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the Syrian uprising now past its one-year anniversary, it’s long past time to take stock of the carnage. More than 7,000 people have been killed to date by the Assad regime, as it has unleashed war on its own people. The spark that lit the fire was [...]
By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Wednesday morning, a day before Kofi Annan’s cease fire was scheduled to reach its final implementation in Syria, and a day after Syrian forces were supposed to withdraw from major population centers, I read on BBC’s Internet site that “Kofi Annan, says he has received assurances from Damascus that it [...]
By Peter Huessy WASHINGTON, D.C. — Striking a deal with Russia’s Vladimir Putin requires a certain amount of cunning, diplomacy and, more than anything else, a “correlation of forces” on your side. Unfortunately, the United States may not be in the strongest of positions to strike a cooperative deal with Russia on missile defense, and [...]
By Matthew RJ Brodsky WASHINGTON, D.C. — While Western and Arab countries struggle to find a way to assist the Syrian people, Moscow is continuing to do all it can to save the Assad regime of Syria. Speaking on a trip to Azerbaijan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the Syrian opposition wouldn’t be able [...]
By Matthew RJ Brodsky WASHINGTON–Asma Assad was heralded as the great white hope for reform in Syria. But that narrative was always false, and a lot of starry-eyed politicians, experts and reporters should have known better. From “A Rose in the Desert” to the target of European Union sanctions, what a difference a year has [...]
By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM– In the profound lack of certainty and the possibility of dire consequences concerned with Iran’s nuclear program, it is possible to conceive of a scenario that is less than perfect, but way short of catastrophic. Let’s start with some basics. In politics, it is generally impossible to achieve ideal solutions for [...]
By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta put the Israel-Iran issue back on the front burner, with comments indicating that Israel is likely to attack sometime in the period of April to June. His comments came in the shadow of a prominent address by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that described Israel [...]
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — Obama administration officials were absolutely venomous after the Russian (and Chinese) veto of the UN Security Council resolution draft on Syria. “Disgusting,” said U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. Secretary of State Clinton called it a “travesty.” Their revulsion was misplaced — the Russians did what they said they would do; [...]
By James Colbert WASHINGTON, D.C. –At the United Nations, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for an international response to the crisis in Syria, warning that if the UN fails to act it should consider itself complicit with the brutal regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. And there are certainly steps that the United States [...]
By Matthew RJ Brodsky WASHINGTON, D.C. — Conventional wisdom in Washington and in European capitals is that the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Asad is doomed. The protests that have spread across the country since March of 2011 and claimed the lives of more than 6,000 people appear to be progressing by their own inertia. Secure [...]
