With Syria descending into all out civil war, neighboring Lebanon finds itself in a precarious spot. The Lebanese government’s equivocal stance may prove impossible to continue.
Carsten Wieland offers a nuanced insight into the complex make-up of Syrian society before it descended into chaos. Such insights will be of enormous value in a post Assad era.
Relations with a post-Assad Syria remain uncertain. Should Islamic militants play a role in a new order, they would likely be suspicious of the West, and deeply resentful of US support for Israel.
Many progressives have unwittingly accepted the Arab Spring narrative in Syria. More scepticism is required because without this ‘intervention’ cannot ever be justified.
Great power responsibility to protect is actually bolstered when effective enforcement is unilaterally implemented despite divisions among major states.
Unipolarity is ending quicker than most imagined. If unipolarity was as prevalent now as it was in the 1990s, Russia would likely not challenge the United States over Syria.
Chinese officials appear consistent in supporting a peaceful transition and a political outlet in Syria. China may be passing the test of ascending to international leadership.
The claim that Al Qaeda is responsible for Syrian massacres is outlandish. Yet, terrorists were responsible, in the form of Shabiha militants, at the command of the Syrian regime.
The conflict in Syria has gone beyond the point of no return. The rules of the game are Hama Rules; the regime views the contest in terms of us or them.
Absent the circumstances that facilitated the transition to majority rule in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Iraq, the prospects in Syria appear to be extremely poor.
