Al-Qaeda tells Syria fighters to shun secularists in sign of deeper rebel rift
Top News: The United States and Russiareached an agreement Saturday under which Syria would declare and give up its stocks of chemical weapons, an accord that appears to have prevented the short-term prospect of a Western military intervention in Syria.
Under that agreement — announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva — Syria will have to declare its chemical weapons stocks this week and have them destroyed by mid-2014. While the Syrian government has already submitted the paperwork to join the Chemical Weapons Convention, the timeline presented by the U.S.-Russian agreement is enormously ambitious. Judging by previous efforts to eliminate chemical weapons stocks in Libya and Iraq, the Syria agreement aims to achieve in a year what took upwards of a decade in previous efforts.
10 Reasons U.S. Influence Has Fallen in the Middle East
By most assessments, U.S. influence in the Middle East has dramatically declined since the Arab uprisings began in January 2011. Critics have blamed this on inept diplomacy by the current administration, but this is only a partial explanation for America?s loss of authority in the region.
Journalism in Syria is fast becoming a one-way ticket to death
Journalists report the news- but who reports on their safety?
When an area becomes lined with conflict, internal strife and resonates with constant fire fights and bombings, the citizens flee, shops close and the area gets deserted. Even when the situations are so intense that the Red Cross or volunteers from similar organizations leave, there will still be journalists on the scene. They will still be covering the news for readers worldwide, including the hazard of interviewing various political or military leaders in conflict zones. We have seen great journalists like Robert Fisk, John Wiener, Peter Arnett etc who were able to do their jobs exceedingly well because of an unwritten gentleman?s agreement that during a conflict or a war, unarmed personnel not involved in the conflict shall not be harmed, least of all a deputed volunteer from organizations like theUN or a journalist. But lately, we have seen atrocities committed and injustice meted out at journalists in such areas. Syria has reigned top of the list since the crisis began.
Call for ‘strong’ UN text on Syria
Pity the people of Syria- and the principle of R2P
Though postponed, the US still threatens to attack Syria to punish the Assad government for the use of chemical weapons. But it would be illegal, and ineffective – helping neither the people of Syria, nor the principles of Responsibility to Protect (R2P).
U.S. Allies Give a Frosty Reception to Syrian Chemical Weapons Deal
BEIRUT, Lebanon ? At the end of the press conference unveiling their deal over Syria’s chemical weapons program, a smiling Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appeared to exchange a joke before walking off stage. Some of America’s allies in the fight against President Bashar al-Assad, however, weren’t laughing.
You cannot ignore religion in social policy-making in the Middle East
Governments and global development agencies will do well in the formulation of new social protection and social welfare policies, only if they take serious account of the experience of religious organisations in their provision.
The Paris chance for Turkey?s Syria policy revision
U.S .Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to brief his allies in the Syria conflict
Siding Russia?In his international bestseller ?The Post-American World and the Rise of the Rest?, the host of CNN?s flagship foreign affairs show ?GPS? Mr. Fareed Zakaria had pointed out a preliminary study over the world after the fall of American imperialism. The author had made clear that even if other world powers, like Russia or China, were to increase their geopolitical leverage worldwide, the United States would still remain ?the? global power that would define international developments, whether these could arise in politics, economics, trade, or warfare. Until the break-up of the Syrian civil war, his insights were still remaining plausible. But what about the new shift in global balances with the proposition of Russia to put Syria?s chemical weaponry under international surveillance?
Turkey warns against Syrian stalling tactics
Damascus to comply with UN on arms plan: Syrian minister
France, Britain, US want ‘strong’ UN Syria resolution
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