Syria

A Plea for Caution From Russia

By Vladimir Putin, New York Times

No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage.

Germany is a Vegetarian in a World Full of Carnivores

By Gideon Rachman, Financial Times

While the US, Britain and France are agonising about intervention in Syria, there is no agonising in Germany. A large majority of the electorate wants to stay out of the conflict – and all of the big political parties agree.

Syria: To Melt the Iceberg

By Fred Hof

For President Barack Obama and his national security team, the challenge of ending or mitigating the grave threat posed by a dying Syria to regional and global security will involve more than holstering, surrendering, and destroying an enormous chemical arsenal.

Obama’s Goldilocks Syria Plan

By James Joyner

In a speech to the nation, President Obama warned that if the United States does not launch a punitive strike against Syria, Iran will pursue nuclear weapons, Al Qaeda will try to kill Americans, and bad men will do bad things.

Obama Administration Debated Trading Missile Defense and NATO Enlargement for Russia to Cut Support to Assad

By Adam Entous, Greg White, and Peter Nicholas, Wall Street Journal

President Barack Obama’s 15 seconds of face time with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, while American and Russian warships patrolled the eastern Mediterranean, spoke to a deep chill that has created one of the biggest complications to the U.S.’s plan to strike Syria.

US Gulf Allies Out on a Limb As Prospect of US Use of Force in Syria Recedes

By Richard LeBaron

Foreign ministers of the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were likely shaking their heads in amazement, disappointment, and perhaps even disgust as they met in private in during their meeting in Jeddah on September 10.

Hariri Center Experts React to President Obama’s Speech on Syria

By MENASource

President Barack Obama presented his case regarding US policy in Syria the evening of September 10, 2013. In it, he outlined his awareness of American war weariness in looking back on a decade of wartime engagement in the region, but warned against the strategic and moral dangers of doing nothing in the face of Syrian […]

Initial Reactions from Council Experts on President Obama’s Remarks on Syria

After watching President Obama’s speech Tuesday night, some of the Atlantic Council’s experts weighed in with initial reactions.