Category: Blogs

Would Bashar use chemical weapons against a NATO military intervention?

By Bruce Riedel, BBC

From Bruce Riedel, BBC:  Syria’s embattled President Bashar al-Assad is sitting on a powder keg of angry citizens who want his brutal regime to end.

Clinton: ‘I don’t think any country believes that it should act unilaterally’ in Syria

By CBS News

From CBS News:  Excerpts from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton interview with Margaret Brennan

Politics Has Destroyed the State of Law in Egypt / السياسة تهدم دولة القانون في مصر

By Haitham Tabei

Egypt is caught in the midst of a tense standoff between two factions – with politics on one side, and the law on the other. The struggle is being played out in the legislative space, as legal experts and politicians attempt to interpret the courts’ decisions and the provisions of the law. Skirmishes have included […]

Top News: Morsi Welcomes Ramadan with Release of 572 Detained by Military

By Tarek Radwan

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Thursday evening ordered the release of 572 Egyptian citizens who had been detained by military authorities since last year’s Tahrir Square uprising, Al-Ahram’s Arabic-language news website has reported. Those to be released include 530 detainees who had already been convicted by military courts and 42 that had been awaiting military […]

Before taking on Syria, U.S. should heed lesson of the past

By Kiron K. Skinner

On June 6, 1982, Israel, seeking to relieve pressure on its northern borders by dismantling the Palestine Liberation Organization’s base of operation, invaded Lebanon, a country beset by civil war and Syrian occupation. Soon thereafter, France, Italy and the United States formed a multinational force to help stabilize the country — as differing factions of […]

Euro-Realism: Why We Need a New European Security Strategy

By Julian Lindley-French

I am a Euro-realist, neither a Euro-sceptic, nor a Euro-fanatic. My motivation is to drive through the fathoms of political fantasy and folly pouring forth from the current crisis, much of its cascading down from on high as a generation of failed political leaders try to hide behind a rhetorical deluge.

Confrontation in the Med? EU to enforce arms embargo against Syria

By Slobodan Lekic, the AP

Taking the Cyberattack Threat Seriously

By Barack Obama, the Wall Street Journal

From Barack Obama, the Wall Street Journal:  [T]he cyber threat to our nation is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face.

The ‘pivot to Asia’ strategy takes a pounding

By Chris Carroll, Stars and Stripes

Five Lessons We Should Have Learned in Afghanistan

By Joshua Foust

As the war in Afghanistan reaches its 2014 transition, when the major combat mission ends and U.S. troops take on a more sedate training role, we should take the chance to look back on what lessons we’ve learned there. With the war shifting from outright combat to maintaining the Afghan government and security forces; can […]