Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Bashar al-Assad”
When Russian President Vladimir Putin had a substantive meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry last week, it was an extremely rare departure from normal protocol. There was some political logic to the meeting, however, because Putin and Kerry have clearly been the primary drivers of their respective governments’ policies toward Syria, and their negotiations have already led to …
The apparent sudden Russian military withdrawal from Syria, starting on March 15 left political commentators puzzled. Few of the analyses offered should be taken seriously. There is little solid information as of why the Russian leader decided to end his country’s military push in Syria. The intervention, which began last September, was enough to change the direction of the war …
A crucial problem in news media coverage of the Syrian civil war has been how to characterize the relationship between the so-called “moderate” opposition forces armed by the CIA, on one hand, and the Al Qaeda franchise Al Nusra Front (and its close ally Ahrar al Sham), on the other. But it is a politically sensitive issue for U.S. policy, …
Many, if not most, of our regulatory agencies have a long history of protecting industry interests over public and environmental health. Most recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has come under increasing scrutiny following mounting charges of harassment and censorship. In the first week of November 2015, Jonathan Lundgren, who spent the last 11 years working as an entomologist …
The New Year’s Eve release of over 3,000 new Hillary Clinton emails from the State Department has CNN abuzz over gossipy text messages, the “who gets to ride with Hillary” selection process set up by her staff, and how a “cute” Hillary photo fared on Facebook. But historians of the 2011 NATO war in Libya will be sure to notice a few …
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s abrupt announcement that Russia would begin “the withdrawal of the main part” (????? ???????? ?????) of its military “contingent” (???????????) from Syria has been widely seen not only as a welcome surprise, but also as a hopeful fillip to serious negotiations to end the carnage in what is left of that beleaguered country. As always, a …
As Hillary Clinton emerges as the front-runner for the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, she is receiving increased scrutiny for her years as Secretary of State. Many are criticizing her hawkish foreign policy, which is the best indication of what President Hillary’s foreign policy would be, with many focusing on her long relationship with Saudi Arabia. On Christmas Eve in 2011, Hillary …
Yasmin Mulbocus clutches her hijab as she sees images on TV of young women returning home from Syria. She hears them talk about how they escaped from the clutches of ISIS. Mulbocus sees herself in them—her former self. This 40-year-old mother of three with piercing black eyes, who speaks at what seems like a thousand words a minute, who elicits …
The New York Times has a two part piece about the U.S. war on Libya and especially Hillary Clinton’s role as the then Secretary of State in it. Adhering to the NYT’s editorial line, the overall picture of Clinton is painted in sympathetic colors even when it describes the disaster she created. Overall it is a whitewash of history based on the lies …
Whether or not the cessation of hostilities in Syria holds, it is a major turning point in the revolution and civil war that began in 2011. As of Saturday morning in Syria, the major fronts between the regime and the Muslim Brotherhood factions were quiet. There continued to be some fighting between the Syrian Arab Army of dictator Bashar al-Assad …
