Israel’s military strikes in Syria leave the interested observer with admiration over Jerusalem’s steadfastness, disgust over Washington’s continued dithering, and worry over the long-term global implications. To be sure, Syria is both a humanitarian horror and a geopolitical mess and, at this point, no one’s got a clean, easy, fool-proof way to stop the slaughter …
“Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to visit Turkey this week,” Reuters reported yesterday, “as part of a trip to Western Europe and Asia to consult allies on issues including Syria’s civil war.” Turkey? An “ally?” In United States foreign policy-making, perception often lags reality. Presidents George W. Bush and President Barack Obama assumed …
Surveying the Greater Middle East, where chaos reigns from Egypt to Syria and where chances of war among any number of players are rising, you can hardly blame the typical American for wanting to wish it away. But the 43 percent of U.S. voters who think that America is “too involved” in the Middle East, …
Continue reading “Tide of war not receding; dangers will mount as U.S. exits prematurely”
“And so it goes.” The phrase, from Kurt Vonnegut’s 1969 anti-war classic, Slaughterhouse-Five, is a literary shrug; a way to dismiss death and destruction; a device for turning the page rather than confronting humanitarian horror. Collectively, that’s where we are in Syria. The region looks for U.S. leadership, but a war-weary, economically fragile America has …
As Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad continues his slaughter, the issue is not whether more forceful U.S. action to stop him is risk-free. The issue, instead, is how the risks and potential rewards of more forceful U.S. action to stop Assad’s slaughter stack up against those of a continued U.S. reliance on sanctions and diplomacy that …
Continue reading “Bold action in Syria now will save U.S. tons of grief in the Mideast later”
While the United States and its allies dither over whether to materially support the Syrian opposition and, if so, how, Western leaders should recognize that the bloody conflict raises a larger question: Will the West defend freedom at a potential turning point in global history, or will it cede this and future battles to autocratic …
Continue reading “History itself demands action: Syria’s autocratic challenge to the West”