The agency is being forced to play catch-up in a complex situation of which it has limited knowledge. Turkey’s cooperation may be vital
Turkey
Why the U.S. Won’t Give Up on Kofi Annan’s Syria Plan
Senator John McCain may be cranking up the political heat on the Obama Administration over Syria amid reports of a new massacre at Hama, but don’t expect Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to berate Kofi Annan over the failure …
Syria: Is This an Arab Spring or a Balkan Winter?
Special envoy Kofi Annan told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that his struggling peace plan is the last hope to prevent Syria from plunging into an all-out civil war. But the reason his cease-fire and political-dialogue …
May Day Protests Around the Globe
Thousands around the world are marching through city streets in observance of May Day, the international workers’ holiday, shouting demands for greater equality and an end to government-imposed austerity measures.
Power Struggles in Baghdad and Beyond Mean Opportunities for Iraq’s Kurds
The thriving Kurdish mini-state in northern Iraq is a monument to the ability of the nationalist Kurdish-Iraqi leadership to parlay the conflict between more powerful geopolitical forces around them to maximum advantage. And the …
Syria: As His Adversaries Scramble for a Strategy, Assad Sets His Terms
That which has not been achieved on the battlefield can rarely be achieved at the negotiation table, and the harsh reality facing Syria’s opposition is that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has not been defeated, nor is it …
Iran Talks: Amid Ticking Clocks and Closing Windows, What Would Success Look Like?
The clock is ticking and the window is closing for a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear standoff, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Saturday, ahead of talks scheduled for April 13 in Istanbul. “We are determined to …
Why Syria’s Peace Process is a Continuation of War By Other Means
Skepticism by Syrian opposition groups and their foreign supporters over the Kofi Annan peace plan ostensibly accepted by President Bashar al-Assad is hardly surprising: The plan specifies no timetable or sequence for its …
As Assad ‘Accepts’ Peace Plan, Can Syria Reset its Rebellion?
Three sets of meetings in different capitals on Tuesday offer a bleak reminder that Syria’s uprising against President Bashar al-Assad faces something of a do-over. Syrian opposition figures are gathered in Istanbul at the behest …
Why a U.N. Syria Peace Plan Poses a Challenge to Rebels
The Kofi Annan peace plan unanimously endorsed Wednesday by the U.N. Security Council may pose an even greater dilemma for the Syrian opposition than it does for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. That’s because while it …
How Sarkozy’s Petulance on a Proposed Law Illustrates a Bigger Political Problem: Himself
The decision Tuesday by France’s constitutional watch-dog striking down a pending law criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide by Ottoman Turks produced reactions one might have anticipated: applause from Turkey, …
Hamas Signals Break with Iran, But Is That Good for Israel?
A popular Washington illusion once held that the right combination of incentives and punishments might “peel off” Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad from Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” but nobody would have predicted that the weak …
Fetih 1453: Blockbuster Turkish Epic Revels in Ottoman Past
With Turkey’s geo-political star in the ascendant, it’s fitting that the country’s biggest ever film, released in theaters there Feb. 16, celebrates what is perhaps the Mediterranean world’s most defining historical moment. Fetih 1453 (or “Conquest 1453″) is a $17 million, chain metal-clad, scimitar-waving retelling of the 15th …