Posts About Syria
The Next Fight: Who'll Rebuild Lebanon?
Somalia/United Arab Emirates - With the cessation of hostilities and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the south, the role of Hezbollah has been greatly diminished. The future of the group, however, hinges not on its arms, but on its capacity to use aid to win the hearts and minds of the Lebanese people....
Syria Holds the Key to Peace
Somalia/United Arab Emirates - In the Arab psyche, every defeat is converted into a victory. Hezbollah is already seen as victorious, having achieved what regular Arab armies could not in more than fifty years of war with Israel....
Quiet Diplomacy Needed
United Arab Emirates/Somalia - Dr. Rice should first stop her exhausted sound bites and second, engage in quiet diplomacy instead, keeping her agenda for the region to herself until she sits down at the negotiating table....
Kingdoms More Stable Than Republics
With the way the Arab world has gone, a stable, serious and relatively open monarchy is more favorable than a supposed republic. Powerful positions are granted to leaders' sons in Syria, Egypt and Libya while the Kingdoms of Jordan, Bahrain and Morocco enjoy the most serious democratization in the region.
Protect Migrant Labor in Arab Nations
At a time when many Arab immigrants in Europe and America protest against discrimination, we must address the terrible treatment of migrants on our own soil.
If Leave, Regional War and "Shiastan"
Four years ago, George W. Bush opened Pandora’s Box. And now there is no realistic way to put the lid back on. The Iraq war was a mistake, but leaving now would be far more costly than staying. There would certainly be regional war.
U.N. Boots and U.N. Ideas
Mexico City, Mexico -- Granted, a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon might be the best available option to persuade Hezbollah to disarm and de-escalate the Israeli military response. Still, as experience undoubtedly has proved, little can be achieved if U.N. boots are not tied to U.N. ideas or other aggressive diplomatic efforts....
Hezbollah, Syria and Iran Will Emerge Stronger
New Delhi, India - Sand shifts fast in the Middle East so discussing the region's future isn't easy. But the increasing strength of Hezbollah and importance of Syria are safe bets....
Symmetrical Balance And Intransigence
Egypt - U.S. policy has weakened its alliances with democratic and moderate Arab regimes in the Middle East. The U.S. is completely ignoring their concerns, and most importantly U.S. pro-Israeli bias is compromising Arab defensive strategic policies....
Don't Put them in Harm's Way
Cairo, Egypt -- Unless Tony Blair and the European leaders are contemplating sending a military force comparable to the one that the UN sent into Korea at the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 with several full scale divisions with supporting equipment and air power, then such military forces would be definitively sent into harms way....
In a Fragile Situation, Engage Hamas
This Middle East crisis is different from many before. Israel's decision to engage Lebanon's fragile state and carry out strikes deep within the country is serious. A good first step to defusing what could otherwise be a climactic showdown between regional powers is to talk to the Palestinian leadership, Hamas.
Being a Bargaining Chip May Mean Survival
Western reporters long ago lost their "white flag" of neutrality. My own concern, however, is as much for local reporters in crisis countries, whose fates rarely get written up. While captured Western journalists are valued prizes to be bartered for political gain, local reporters lack such value and are quickly killed.
Syria's Demands, Hezbollah's Mistakes
Beirut, Lebanon - Minister Pierre Gemayel assassination in Lebanon must be understood in the context of the ongoing effort by Syria to undermine the tribunal currently being set up to try those accused of killing late prime minister, Rafiq Hariri.
Break the Shiites Away from Hezbollah
Beirut, Lebanon - Secretary Rice should ensure that any future peace plan offers an route for the quick return of Shiite refugees to the areas which Israeli bombs forced them from while leaving open the possibility of Lebanese constitutional reform in the Shiites' favor. She should also open lines to Iran, even if it means pinching her nose in disgust....
Olmert's Last-Chance Dance
What Ehud Olmert should – but probably won’t - tell George Bush on Wednesday in the White House.
U.S. Agrees to Meeting with Iran and Syria
The Bush administration has agreed to sit around a negotiating table with Iran and Syria next month -- as part of a planned regional conference in Baghdad to discuss ways to stabilize Iraq.
Regional Powers Cannot Achieve Victory
Paris, France - The war is making the world more dangerous because no protagonist will achieve any of its goals. Moreover, each might be tempted, at worst, to extend the war or at best to achieve a temporary peace agreement in order to prepare for future battles....
Shortsighted Strategies
Paris, France -- The problem is that none of the present actors in the Middle East have a coherent, long-term and positive strategy for achieving peace. Determination to use or resist violence is a motto, not a political program....
PostGlobal Bloggers
M. J. Akbar, New Delhi, India Mubashar Jawed Akbar is a leading Indian journalist and author. He's the founder and editor-in-chief of The Asian Age, a daily multi-edition Indian newspaper with a global perspective and editor-in-chief of The Deccan Chronicle, a news daily based in Hyderabad. He has written books including Blood Brothers, Nehru: The Making of India, Kashmir: Behind the Vale, Riot After Riot, The Shade of Swords, and India: The Siege Within. Kyoko Altman, Hong Kong, China Kyoko Altman is a writer based in Hong Kong. She has worked as a correspondent and anchor for CNN and...
Wanted: Inspiring Syrian Heroes
Young Syrians want leaders who attract investment and jobs, not those who preach revolution.
Syria's Misguided Optimism
Young nations—like young people—sometimes do crazy things. The Syrian Republic was 28 years old when the Golan Heights were occupied in 1967. Young, passionate, spirited—and foolish—it dragged itself, and everybody around it, into a imbalanced war with Israel. The rest is history. Six days later, Israel occupied the Golan Heights, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, and Jerusalem. Today, 41 years later, the scar and its permanent distortion of the Arab psyche remain strongly imprinted in the Syrian, Jordanian, and Egyptian mindsets. The Syrians did go to war in 1948 or 1967 for the Golan Heights. They went to war...
Damascus Needs Lovers
Syria’s capital has few good role models for how to love.
Good Christians, and Orientalists to the Bone
Christmas celebrations in Syria don’t mean westernization – after all, Christmas came from the East.
Sexual Repression in Syria
Many in the Arab World are sexually deprived. Outlawing prostitution only makes it flourish in the underground. Syria once legalized prostitution, and should do so again.
Confront Real Obstacle: Genocidal Jihad
The first thing Tony Blair should do is rethink the whole concept of a "Mideast envoy." What the job needs most now is not a mediator but a truth-teller. The struggle for peace is no longer between Israelis and Palestinians. It is against the jihadi axis (Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, Syria and Iran) that wants to block peace at all cost.
World Community Must Pressure Siniora Harder
Jerusalem, Israel - As Mahmoud Sabit notes, because of the way the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 is constructed the government of Lebanon needs to ask UNIFIL to help it with the two key demands: disarming Hezbollah and preventing its rearmament. But while the UN force takes its cues from Lebanon, Lebanon is taking its cues from Hezbollah itself....
Stick to Basics: Arab-Israeli Coexistence
Given his role in taking Britain into war in Iraq and Afghanistan, it will be a tough job for Tony Blair to play the role of a peacemaker in the Middle East. However, he should lose no time trying to mediate the current factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah. He can't do this himself, and will need to get the Arab states more involved.
Hezbollah: the Mideast Vietcong
Seoul, South Korea - Israel's destruction of Lebanon has created a second Palestine. Now the militants have a new symbol to unite behind and moderates will be pushed out....
Talk to the Devil
Germany - My memo to Secretary Rice: a. get invested in Lebanon's future, b. start talking to the bad guys while thinking about incentives to get Syria to cooperate....
U.S. Reaches its Global Limits
Johannesburg, South Africa- The Iraq Study Group's damning report points to the waning influence of U.S. power in the Middle East, and around the globe.
Lose-Lose Situation, Start Cutting Deals
In Iraq, the U.S. faces a choice between bad and worse. It would be a mistake to stay for long, but leaving could devastate the region's delicate political composition. To stabilize the situation, the U.S. needs the help of Syria and Iran. There's no alternative to talking.
