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Russia
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 …
U.S.-North Korea Talks Yield a “Bit of Progress,” but Little Hope for Refugees
A U.S. envoy said two days of meetings in Beijing with North Korean representatives, the first since the death of dictator Kim Jong Il in December, have yielded “a little bit of progress.” But any optimism about resuming talks on …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Russia and China Challenge the West on Syria: What Implications for Iran?
The breach among the Permanent Five members of the U.N. Security Council in Saturday’s vote on Syria’s increasingly bloody power struggle could have profound implications for Syria’s immediate future. But it may also signal …
How a Regional ‘Great Game’ Reinforces Syria’s Deadlock
Syria itself was the product of a “Great Game” among rival empires. The nation-state we know as Syria today was invented by France and Britain, which carved it out of the old Ottoman province of Syria (which back then included …
Global Briefing, Jan. 24, 2012: POTUS, Problems and Progressive Politics
POTUS Probs — Hot on the heels of Fareed Zakaria’s TIME cover analysis of the U.S. president’s international agenda, Foreign Policy‘s Rosa Brooks delves into whether there’s an emerging Obama doctrine. The conclusion: “President …
Why the World Should Ignore the Presidential Campaign Foreign Policy Debates
As Republican presidential contenders prepare for yet another televised primary debate in South Carolina on Thursday, much of the world may be wondering who’ll be the next victim of some ignorant insult. Already, the GOP primary …
This Is What a Captured Drone Looks Like
Iranian state media showed off images of what is reportedly a captured RQ-170 U.S. stealth drone that had been operating deep in Iranian territory. According to reports, Russia, China and other nations have requested to inspect the craft.
Despite Downed U.S. Drone Claims, Iran War Talk May Be Overblown
Anyone cut off from all news media for the six months before December 2011 could be forgiven for imagining we’re in the opening stages of a war between the West and Iran. Sunday’s headline was Iran’s claim to have captured a …
The Real Lessons of Sri Lanka’s War: A Global Power Shift and the End of Human Rights
The grandly named “Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission” submitted its final report to Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday. The document is meant to account for the failure of a 2002 ceasefire and the events leading up to the end of the country’s 26-year-long war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil …