Bringing the Middle East Back Home
The American Orientalist Class attempts to paint a fantasy Middle Eastern landscape on the American canvas
Robert Ford
Obama Tries to Pin his Syria Policy on Trump
Talking to reporters in Germany on Thursday, President Barack Obama expressed the ho...
Op-eds
The CIA’s Syria Program and the Perils of Proxies
Almost every aspect of the Obama administration’s policy toward Syria has been scrutinized, lambasted or praised in recent months, but one of the most significant facets, the CIA’s co...
Op-eds
Iran On A Nuclear Roll
“America cannot do a damn thing.” A banner displaying that slogan adorned the stage of an elegant mausoleum in Tehran where ...
Op-eds
Collision Course
President Obama is on a collision course with his allies on Syria. As Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, France, and Britain call for more aggressive steps to topple Bashar al-Assad, the US president t...
Op-eds
Diplomatic Theater
If you’ve been following Syria news over the past week, you’d be forgiven for thinking that feverish, Moscow-centered diplomatic activity was on the cusp of producing an agreement for...
Op-eds
Intervention in Syria
In the run up to the elections, America’s Middle East allies were convinced that President Obama was too consumed with domestic politics to pursue a more muscular approach to Syria. O...
Op-eds
Sitting Out the Syria Game
In the run-up to the US presidential election, Washington’s regional allies were...
Op-eds
Passivity and Incoherence on Syria
Has the Obama administration abandoned its previously stated policy of regime change in Syria? Following the trajectory of Washington’s diplomatic choices, now culminating in the enthusiast...
Op-eds
Standing Up to Assad
Washington persists in the belief that Russia can be swayed to withdraw its support for the Assad regime in Syria, thereby falling in line with US policy. The White House has called for Assad to...
Op-eds
What Syria Policy?
The threat against the life of the American ambassador to Syria comes during a bad streak for the Obama administration. First was the Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United State...
Op-eds
Not Total Recall
The Obama administration is having a hard time explaining why the US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, has returned to Washington. Despite the apparent threat against Ford’s life, the admin...
Op-eds
A Pattern of Appeasement and Retreat
Take two headlines, one about Iraq, the other about Afghanistan. The Iraqis told us to honor our signed agreement, and pull out all our troops by year’s end. Over in Kabul,...
Op-eds
A Real Syria Policy, Anyone?
Russia and China’s October 4 veto of a U.N. -Security Council resolution on Syria elicited a strong response from U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice. “The United States is outrage...
Op-eds
Obama Abandoning Interest in Syria
With the Syrian revolution on the verge of...
Op-eds
Loner
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is only the latest American to join the chorus of government officials and opinion-makers suggesting that the Arab Spring has left Israel more...
Op-eds
Responding to Syria: The King’s Statement, the President’s Hesitation
The floodgates of Arab diplomatic restraint on Syria have finally been breached. In the past few days, both the Gulf Cooperation Council and Arab League issued their first official statements on...
Op-eds
Congress Should Consider Syrian Energy Sanctions
The Assad regime’s ruthlessness is on vivid display as the Syrian security forces, with Iranian assistance, continue their bloody campaign to crush a four-month long democracy uprising....
Op-eds
The Great Alawite Hope
Belief in Bashar al-Assad was always misplaced. Now it’s time for change.
Op-eds
The Syrian Challenge
The administration’s policy toward Syria is shaping up to be the greatest missed opportunity of Barack Obama’s presidency. His failure of vision and nerve, paired with an acute Republ...