Weight of History – Following a backbench revolt in the German parliament Monday over the Greek bailout that’s left Angela Merkel’s coalition government weakened, Der Spiegel reports former Chancellor Helmut Kohl has stepped into …
Syria
Can Syria’s Assad Fight His Way to Political Survival?
Despite the death and destruction his security forces are raining down on opposition-held neighborhoods in Syria, President Bashar Assad is unlikely to succeed in crushing a year-old rebellion. International revulsion at the …
Must-Reads from Around the World: February 27, 2012
Syrian Support – After Sunday’s draft constitution vote in Syria, President Bashar Assad’s international allies seem emboldened. On Monday, the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece Global Times said in an editorial: “What the West …
Tragedy Strikes Our Tribe, Again
To conflict journalists, a tiny, tight-knit tribe, tragedy is practically an occupational requirement: our work requires us to seek it out, measure it, contextualize it, and chronicle it. It’s impossible to be totally …
The U.S. and Other ‘Friends of Syria’ Still Search for a Strategy to Oust Assad
“It is time we gave them the wherewithal to fight back and stop the slaughter,” said Senator John McCain on Monday, referring to Syria’s opposition amid the carnage being wrought by the Assad regime’s efforts to quash a year-old …
Must-Reads from Around the World: February 20, 2012
Changing China — The announcement that Foxconn, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of products for Apple, Dell, Hewlett Packard and others, will raise salaries from 16 to 25% at its Chinese factories signals a …
Anthony Shadid: The Best of Our Breed
I know how chefs feel about Ferran Adrià, musicians about Bruce Springsteen, economists about Amartya Sen. I felt that way about Anthony Shadid: total and utter awe. In an era blessed with more than its fair share of brilliant …
Peacekeepers for Syria? Not While There’s No Peace to Keep
As Arab and Western diplomats work to fashion tools to pressure the Syrian regime to end its military response to a year-old rebellion, an unrelenting artillery exacts a terrible daily toll on the residents of rebel-held Sunni …
Could Arming the Rebels Bring an End to Syria’s Suffering?
All Western interventions in messy civil wars on distant shores seem impossible until they become inevitable. Yet, not even the horrors being visited on an effectively defenseless civilian population by the Syrian regime’s …
Must-Reads from Around the World
Why Syrians Fight, and Why Their Civil War May be a Long One
The reason that there’s no plausible end-game in Syria anytime soon — and that thousands more Syrians may be fated to die before the conflict is ended — is that the Assad regime is fighting a very different war to the one …
Must-Reads from Around the World: Feb. 8, 2012
Iowa Beckons – Communist Party mouthpiece China Daily muses the impact of Vice-President Xi Jinping’s U.S. visit next week. While its news story quotes experts saying it “will help China-U.S. ties fly clear of U.S. election year …
Must Reads from Around the World: Feb. 7, 2012
Syrian Situation – Global Post reports on Syrian Christians’ reluctance to join the uprising against President Bashar Assad. “Syria’s Christians, a fellow minority, believe they need the ruling Assad regime for protection,” …