Geneva-1 was a meeting called by the Peace Envoy Lakdar Brahimi, 14 foreign ministers and heads of intergovernmental organizations attended. At the conclusion of that meeting, they issued a statement, which was then used as the basis for Geneva-2, which brought together, for the fist time, representatives of the Syrian government and representatives of one Read more
Continue Readingby Ahmed E. Souaiaia* ISIS fighters executing a civilian On November 14, 2013, Abd al-Kader al-Saleh, commander of the powerful Tawhid Brigades, died. He was injured in an earlier airstrike that killed several of his group’s top leaders. In a matter of days, al-Tawhid Brigades—one of the armed wings of the Muslim Read more
Continue Readingby Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Future of Syria: not bringing this crisis under control now could divide Syria along ethnic and sectarian fault lines. Since 2012, many observers and scholars familiar with the Syrian crisis have advised against arming Syrian rebels and warned about the risks of turning that country into a powder keg, Read more
Continue ReadingThe Umayyad Syndrome by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* For more than seventy years, Saudi Arabia has cultivated the image of a state run by level-headed, moderate, wise, deliberate, and cool-headed leaders. Publicly, its diplomats gave the impression that the Kingdom would chose dialogue over confrontation, moderation over extremism, and reconciliation over antagonism. Wikileaks unveiled the Read more
Continue Readingby Jacob S. Havel Khamenei and Rouhani The recent phone call between President Barack Obama and President Hassan Rouhani has historical implications. It was the first direct talk between presidents of the U.S. and Iran in thirty years. Nonetheless, the phone call, which lasted a brief fifteen minutes, represents the start of new diplomatic Read more
Continue Readingby Vicken Cheterian* Saleh Muslim Mohammad is the head of the Partiya Yekitiya Demokrat (Democratic Union Party / PYD) and the most powerful politician among the Syrian Kurds. The party – founded in 2003, and closely linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a longstanding armed campaign in the Kurdish-majority regions of Read more
Continue Readingby Ahmed E. Souaiaia* UNSC Answering a reporter’s question if bombing Syria is needed in order to preserve his credibility since he was the one who set a red line, President Obama replied: “First of all, I didn’t set a red line. The world set a red line. The world set a red line when Read more
Continue Readingby Rozh Ahmad* Kurdish civilians escaping for their lives in Syria The al-Qaeda linked “Jabhat al-Nusra” (al-Nusra Front) in Syria, has been held responsible for having instigated a sectarian racist war against civilian Kurds in Syria’s northern Kurdish region, the outcomes of which recently led to the massacre of hundreds of Kurdish women and Read more
Continue Readingby Henelito A. Sevilla, Jr.* Recent gas attack to a civilian population in the suburbs of Syria that led to the death of hundreds of Syrian was undeniably a crime against humanity and merits an international intervention. The attack was the “largest mass killing of the Syrian Civil War” and the “most deadliest chemical weapons Read more
Continue ReadingA fragile alliance: how the crisis in Egypt caused a rift within the anti-Syrian government block by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirate (UAE), Turkey, and the West condemned in unison the Syrian government for its harsh treatment of Syrians from the first day of the uprising in that country. Many observers Read more
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