With the attacks on Syrian civilians seemingly getting worse by the day, the United Nations Security Council took up a resolution that would back efforts by the Arab League to bring an end to the crackdown, an effort that collapsed in failure as both Russia and China exercised their veto power: UNITED NATIONS — A [...]

Time Magazine has chosen “The Protester” as its Person Of The Year. Let the outrage ensue.

Syria’s leader Bashar Assad is in full denial mode: PARIS — A defiant President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, speaking in a rare television interview broadcast on Wednesday, denied ordering the bloody crackdown that has convulsed his land for the past nine months and disputed a United Nations estimate that 4,000 people had been killed as [...]

No doubt eager to shore up some semblance of foreign policy credibility, Rick Perry sat down with Charles Krauthammer and a few other Fox commentators yesterday and went further than any other Republican candidate when it comes to the uprising in Syria: In an appearance on Fox News Monday evening, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said [...]

The Russian Government is reportedly not on board with the calls from Western governments for Syrian leader Bashar Assad to step aside: Russia opposes U.S. and European leaders’ calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to resign, Interfax news agency reported Friday, saying that the leader should get more time to implement reforms. The move by [...]

The U.S. and its allies are calling on Bashar Assad to step down, but there’s little we can do when he says no.

Iraq has become so dependent on Iran for its survival that it is endorsing the brutal tactics of Bashar Assad.

Earlier today, the Saudi King made his first public comments on the situation in Syria and used it as an opportunity to increase diplomatic pressure on the Assad regime: Syria came under new pressure on Monday from a widening clamor of criticism by Gulf Arab states over its brutal crackdown on a five-month-old antigovernment uprising, [...]

International options with respect to Syria are limited and likely to have little impact on the governments treatment of civilians.

The world is starting to denounce the crackdown in Syria, but the reaction seems unlikely to go much beyond strongly worded statements.

Nearly thirty years ago, the Syrian city of Hama was witness to the massacre of tens of thousands of people by the forces of Hafezal-Assad. Today, his son sent the Syrian Army into Hama and other Syrian cities and it was another bloody day: BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian military and security forces stormed Hama and [...]

The U.S. and French Embassies came under attack by a pro-government mob earlier today: Syrian government supporters smashed windows at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus on Monday, raised a Syrian flag and scrawled graffiti calling the American ambassador a “dog” in anger over the envoy’s visit last week to an opposition stronghold, witnesses said. French [...]

Ousting evil dictators is harder than it looks.

With American forces committed in various ways in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, and Iraq, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham thinks it might be a good idea if we intervened in Syria as well: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that it’s time to consider international intervention in Syria to avoid the further “slaughter” of people [...]

This is hardly surprising news given the close relationship between Syria and the Islamic Republic, but it now seems clear that Iran is providing Bashar Assad’s regime with assistance in the crackdown on anti-government protesters: U.S. officials say Iran is dispatching increasing numbers of trainers and advisers — including members of its elite Quds Force [...]

One day after President Obama said that he had the choice of leading a transition to democracy or getting out of the way, Syrian President Bashar Assad’s security forces gunned down 17 protesters who had taken to the streets in defiance of a government order: BEIRUT, Lebanon — Thousands of Syrians defied a ferocious crackdown [...]

Once again, an American President thinks he can bring peace to the Middle East.

Events in Syria, and the world’s response to them, are revealing the moral bankruptcy of the justification for the war in Libya.

The rhetorical legerdemain that members of the Obama Administration have been using to justify the nation’s intervention in Libya was on full display this morning when Hillary Clinton dismissed the idea of a Libya-like intervention in Syria using some of the most tortured logic ever: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. won’t enter [...]

Senator Joe Lieberman said today that we should intervene in Syria using the same rationale we did for Libya. Because, you know, what’s the big deal about a fourth war?

While the world pays attention to Libya and Japan, tensions have flared in yet another Arab country: DAMASCUS, Syria — Protesters set fire to the ruling Baath Party’s headquarters and other government buildings in the southern city of Dara’a on Sunday, as protesters rallied and clashed with the police for a third straight day, witnesses [...]

They’re calling Tal al-Mallouhi a spy, but it’s fairly clear that she was targeted for blogging about political reform in one of the Arab world’s most repressive states: DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A Syrian court on Monday sentenced a 19-year-old blogger to five years in prison on charges of spying for a foreign country. The [...]

A possible sign that the Middle East populist uprisings are spreading: Syrians are organising campaigns on Facebook and Twitter which call for a “day of rage” in the capital Damascus this week, taking inspiration from Egypt and Tunisia in using social networking sites to rally their followers for sweeping political reforms. Like Egypt and Tunisia, [...]

The Obama administration has announced that citizens traveling to the United States from 14 countries will undergo more intensive airport security screening.   Eric Lipton for NYT: Citizens of 14 nations, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, who are flying to the United States will be subjected indefinitely to the intense screening at airports worldwide that [...]

Are you a terrorist who would like to blow up an airliner but confused about how best to elude screening?  Well, luckily for you, the Transportation Security Administration has published a How To manual to answer all your questions. In a massive security breach, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inadvertently posted online its airport screening [...]

There’s a fascinating article in Spiegel Online (in English) on “Operation Orchard”, the operation in September 2007 in Syria in which the Israeli air force destroyed what many have termed a “nuclear plant”, what the article calls “Syria’s Al Kibar nuclear reactor”, and the Syrians have characterized as a conventional military facility. Spiegel has interviewed [...]

Ever since the Israeli attacks on Gaza began, some of the more hawkish elements among the punditry, such as Robert Kagan, have been claiming that Israel is not attacking Hamas so much as it is attacking Iran. Kagan states: Israel has just embarked on a land invasion of the Gaza Strip after a week of [...]

In an op-ed in the Washington Post this morning, former ambassador from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States Turk al-Faisal proposed an approach to achieving peace in the Middle East with five action items for the incoming Obama Administration: Call for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Shebaa Farms in Lebanon. [...]

Dave Schuler’s arguments and his responses to my cross-examination questions highlight three critical failings in his argument. These flaws are his preference for inertia over strategic assessment, overweighing ambiguous evidence that marginally supports his case while ignoring compelling evidence that refutes it, and a failure to account for what might be called “conditions on the [...]

On January 23, 1980 President Jimmy Carter enunciated what became known as the Carter Doctrine. He stated, “An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by [...]

In my latest for New Atlanticist, “Preconditions, Preparations, and Posturing,” I argue that Matt Yglesias, Kevin Drum, and perhaps even Nicholas Burns are misreading the now 16-month-old debate over Barack Obama’s pledge to meet “without precondition, during the first year of [his] administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, [...]

U. S. government sources have confirmed last week’s raid into Syrian territory by American special forces against terrorist havens across the Iraqi border: A U.S. military official in Washington confirmed that special forces had conducted a raid in Syria that targeted the network of al Qaeda-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq. The Syrian [...]

Al Qaeda in Iraq [AQI] is all but defeated, Marie Colvin reports for The Sunday Times. A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.  Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured [...]

The news over the past 48 hours or so about movement in solving the nuclear arms standoff with North Korean has been stunning. Not only is President Bush taking the DPRK off the “state sponsors of terrorism” list but the Kim government has taken major steps to dismantle their program and provide with stringent verification [...]

Matt Yglesias and Charles Krauthammer don’t agree about much but they are in convergence over the origin of Barack Obama’s foreign policy: a gaffe at last August’s YouTube debates wherein he avowed that, if elected president, he would indeed meet, “without precondition … with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea.” In [...]

As part of a retrospective commemorating the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, Christopher Hitchens admits to having been right all along. He does, however, reject the premise of the question. Anyone with even a glancing acquaintance with Iraq would have to know that a heavy U.S. involvement in the affairs of that country began [...]

In recognition of the fifth anniversary of the U. S.-led and mostly U. S.-conducted invasion of Iraq and removal of the regime of Saddam Hussein, there have been a number of articles in the New York Times and elsewhere that have an odd sort of synergy to them. For example, there’s this interview from the [...]

The Danish Muslim cartoons that sparked worldwide rioting, mayhem, and murder two years ago are back. Newspapers across Europe Wednesday reprinted the controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed that sparked worldwide protests two years ago. The move came one day after Danish authorities arrested three people allegedly plotting a “terror-related assassination” of Kurt Westergaard, the [...]

Imad Mughniyeh, the man behind the the 1983 attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut and the TWA Flight 847 hijacking, has been killed. A senior Hezbollah commander suspected in some of the highest-profile international terrorist attacks of the last 25 years has died in an explosion in Syria, Hezbollah TV said Wednesday. Imad Mughniyeh [...]

Jim Henley and Mark Steyn, two of my favorite political columnists, have a set-to that, with an assist from Little Green Footballs, has clogged the former’s comment section with a swarm of repetitive and mostly inane comments. The short version: Henley terms the arguments advanced by Steyn about the dangers of unassimilated Muslims into European [...]

In a piece entitled “New Data and New Methods Lead to Revised View on Iran,” NYT reporter Mark Mazzetti sheds some light on how reforms in the intelligence community led to a 180 degree change in the consensus on Iran’s nuclear weapons program in only two years. Current and former intelligence officials insist that much [...]

Like most analysts, Peter Brookes sees little chance that the Annapolis Conference will solve the longstanding Arab-Israeli crisis. He does think, however, that it is already a resounding success. The bulk of his column is devoted to the obstacles that will almost surely prevent much substantive change. Several major players have an interest in keeping [...]

Lebanon’s president stepped down at midnight, as required by law, with no successor in place, leaving the country in constitutional crisis. Reuters reports a power vacuum: Lebanon stepped into uncharted territory on Saturday when time ran out on attempts to find a new president before President Emile Lahoud’s mandate expired. Lahoud, a pro-Syrian retired general [...]

Most of the foreign fighters in Iraq come from “allies” Saudi Arabia and Libya — but foreign fighters make up an incredibly tiny percentage of the insurgency, U.S. military intelligence reports. Saudi Arabia and Libya, both considered allies by the United States in its fight against terrorism, were the source of about 60 percent of [...]

I really wish that there were new information in the New York Times report on Israel’s air attack on a Syrian facility early in September. It looks to me as though the same info continues to be chewed over and presented in different ways: WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 — Israel’s air attack on Syria last month [...]

Talk about burying your lede: This comes at the end of a long, dry report about the debate within the Bush administration about Israeli intelligence on Syria’s nuclear program and what to do about it: “You can’t just make these decisions using the top of your spinal cord, you have to use the whole brain,” [...]

All signs point to France rejoining NATO’s military structure more than forty years after declaring its independence and kicking the alliance headquarters out of Paris. Norman Polmar provides some background: France is expected to soon rejoin NATO’s military command after a 40-year absence. The French government withdrew from the NATO military structure in 1966 (although [...]

More details have been reported on the raid conducted by the Israeli Air Force on a base in Syria on September 6: Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and [...]

Review: ‘The Kingdom’ Watching the trailers for ‘The Kingdom’ over the past several months, I was curious about how the film would portray Saudi Arabia and Saudis. I had personal experience with terrorist bombings of residential compounds in Riyadh and wanted to see how accurate the film might be. The film could have taken the [...]

Blake Hounshell transcribes Secretary of Defense Bob Gates’ comments about U.S. plans vis-a-vis Iran and Syria on yesterday’s “Fox News Sunday.” While Gates was “cagey” in his reply, using the required disclaimer that “All options are on the table,” it’s quite clear that military intervention is simply not in the cards for either set of [...]