Syria crisis: US and Russia embark on diplomatic track
The challenge and usefulness of R2P in the Syrian context
Syria shows the difficulty of translating Responsibility to Protect (R2P) into action, but we must if R2P is to be more than a fancy acronym. But any military intervention must be linked to dialogue towards a political solution, and if such action proceeds without UN authorization it risks further eroding support for R2P.
Whodunnit in Syria
The Obama administration?s public case for attacking Syria is full of inconsistencies and hinges mainly on circumstantial evidence, While a punitive strike against Bashar Assad?s regime is ready to start immediatelly the public reasons for attack are losing ground every day while the risks about escalation of conflict are rising simultaneously. In my opinion the U.S address of missile-strike might not be the right one so before any actions it would be wise to spend some time to clarify ? whodunnit.
Al-Assad?s crafty moves take a new turn
Russia offers four step plan for Syria arms handover: Report
Turkish PM Erdoğan says Assad buying time on chemical weapons
Kerry set to test Russia on Syria weapons
A Russian Lesson on the Anthropology of International Relations
At the end of a long statement, coming as the response to the last question in a press conference in Moscow on August 26, 2013, Russia?s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov (above), delivered what might be useful to understand as an anthropological statement on international relations, specifically on the treatment of people(s).
,Free Syrian Army rebels reject Russian chemical arms plan
The rebel Free Syrian Army categorically rejected Sept.12 Russian proposal for Syria’s chemical arms
Putin issues plea to US over Syria
Vladimir Putin appeals to the American people over Syria, hours before US-Russia talks on Damascus’s chemical weapons.
Libya offers no model to end Syria crisis
Contrast between Libyan and Syrian paths on weapons of mass destruction suggests huge gap between west?s and Damascus?s expectations
Syria exposes the decline of US diplomacy
In recent decades the impulse in Washington has been to bomb, not engage. But this was not always the case, writes Kishore Mahbubani
The eleventh-hour U-turn on America’s push for military strikes against Syria has come against a backdrop of intensifying diplomatic pressure from the international community to avoid escalation of the violence in Syria. And that outcome is not possible without Iran.
The West is failing the Syrian people
Why would Bashar al-Assad, stuck in a war he and his clan regard as existential, voluntarily surrender his chemical weapons?
What to Do Now? Iran Torn on Syria
Iran has a strategic interest in opposing chemical weapons due to its own horrific experience during the 1980?1988 war with Iraq. But it also has compelling reasons to continue supporting Damascus. The Syrian regime is Iran’s closest ally in the Middle East and the geographic link to its Hezbollah partners in Lebanon.
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