US Opinion and Commentary

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Turkey, Russia Use Syria Refugees to Blackmail E.U.

Posted March 9th, 2016 at 10:33 am (UTC-4)
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By Barbara Slavin As the European Union struggles to find a way to reduce the inflow of Syrian refugees to manageable proportions, it is under pressure to downplay human rights violations by Turkey and Russia. Turkey, which has lost much of its democratic luster in recent years because of a crackdown on political opposition by […]

The Islamic State Is Degraded but Far from Being Destroyed

Posted March 9th, 2016 at 8:20 am (UTC-4)
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The Pentagon’s top priority in the campaign against the Islamic State remains disrupting external operations against potential targets in the United States and elsewhere….To gain better intelligence, the United States is seeking to capture Islamic State leaders.

ISIS Is Losing its Capital

Posted February 25th, 2016 at 12:32 pm (UTC-4)
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ISIS appears to have calculated that it would rather take on Syrian Army ground forces, backed by Russian airstrikes, than Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led forces, defense officials and watchers of the conflict have concluded.

Closing Guantanamo

Posted February 23rd, 2016 at 5:17 pm (UTC-4)
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While campaigning for president in 2008, Barack Obama said he would close the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On January 22, 2009, his second day in office, President Obama ordered Guantanamo closed within a year. Tuesday, with 613 days left in his presidency, Obama sent to Congress a plan to close Guantanamo. While campaigning for president in 2008, Barack Obama said he would close the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On January 22, 2009, his second day in office, President Obama ordered Guantanamo closed within a year. Tuesday, with 613 days left in his presidency, Obama sent to Congress a plan to close Guantanamo. There are several reasons for Obama’s inability to fulfill his promise: the slow grind of the U.S military justice system; difficulty finding nations willing to accept detainees once their risk is suitably assessed; congressional legislation that blocks any detainee from being transferred to U.S. soil. Nearly 800 detainees have been held at Guantanamo since President George W. Bush opened it in 2002, following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. According to a detailed study by The New York Times, 242 detainees were in the facility when Obama was inaugurated and 91 remain as of today. If the reaction from many in Congress and Republicans running for President are an indication, it’s unlikely closing Guantanamo will be part of the Obama legacy.

Fight or Flight

Posted February 22nd, 2016 at 2:00 pm (UTC-4)
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If the next U.S. president is unwilling to commit to stepping up to stabilize the Middle East, the only real alternative is to step back from it…civil wars do not lend themselves to anything but the right strategy with the right resources, trying the wrong one means throwing U.S. resources away on a lost cause.

How the Kurds Became Syria’s New Power Broker

Posted February 19th, 2016 at 11:59 am (UTC-4)
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The Kurds are skillfully playing the Russians and Americans off each other to extract as much influence as possible. Kurdish threats to defect squarely to the Russian camp propelled Brett McGurk, (U.S.) special envoy for the anti-(ISIS) coalition, to speed up a long-mulled visit to Kobani.

Bystanders to Genocide

Posted February 18th, 2016 at 11:55 am (UTC-4)
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Just five years ago next month, President Obama proclaimed a “responsibility to act” when American “interests and values are at stake”…Within days, a no-fly zone was established over Libya…Why didn’t Mr. Obama apply the “responsibility to act” to end the Assad regime’s threat to “our common humanity and our common security”?

More War Than Peace

Posted February 17th, 2016 at 3:29 pm (UTC-4)
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Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz two centuries ago gave the pithiest answer to the question of why we resort to violence: War is an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will.” But can force alone compel the submission of the Islamic State and the demise of jihadist extremism in the Muslim world?  

Testing ‘Russian Seriousness’ in Syria

Posted February 17th, 2016 at 2:46 pm (UTC-4)
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On Friday, a cessation of hostilities brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry last week in Munich is set to go into effect. Part of the agreement includes the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid to besieged areas. That part of the deal has begun. The other part? Not so much.Kerry explained the Obama administration’s position on Syria earlier this month in an interview with The Washington Post: “What we’re doing is testing [Russian and Iranian] seriousness,” he said. “And if they’re not serious, then there has to be consideration of a Plan B…. You can’t just sit there.” Russia’s intentions are of particular concern to the United States. Backed by the Russian military, the government has nearly surrounded Aleppo, the rebels’ most important base. The campaign has been bloody, forcing a new wave of Syrians to flee. With no appetite to send in U.S.ground troops, calls for a safe zone in Syria are getting louder. So far, the U.S. has said no. But with so few options left – and fears of Putin’s growing influence – Kerry’s hint may be a revised U.S. policy

Saudi Arabia’s Master Plan Against ISIS, Assad and Iran in Syria

Posted February 16th, 2016 at 4:42 pm (UTC-4)
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While the world might be fixated on ISIS, the Saudis…know that much of the violence plaguing the Middle East is rooted in Assad and the Iranian-created Shia militias. If they decide to go after these terror nurseries, it will be time for the White House to finally decide exactly whose side it is on.

On Presidents Day, Let’s Remember What Thomas Jefferson Knew About Extremists

Posted February 15th, 2016 at 9:26 pm (UTC-4)
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President Obama still hasn’t learned the key lesson that Jefferson and other presidents (most recently George W. Bush) learned about the Middle East: You can’t crush an outlaw Islamist regime from the air. The more we delay putting boots on the ground against ISIS … the more power and prestige ISIS will gain for surviving our attacks.

The Situation in Syria Cannot Be Solved

Posted February 12th, 2016 at 3:25 pm (UTC-4)
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Things have gotten to the point now that we’re likely to soon see prominent Western officials making the argument that it would be strategically wise and even more humane to let the Syrian government win rather than prolong the agonizing war with piecemeal support to the rebels. There’s some brutal realist logic to this…

Setting the Record Straight on Benghazi

Posted February 12th, 2016 at 12:24 pm (UTC-4)
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A closer look at Islamist politics in Libya reveals that this singular event was part of a larger plan to create an Islamic State within Libya after the fall of former leader Muammar al Qaddafi.

A Chance to End the Brutality in Syria

Posted February 12th, 2016 at 9:24 am (UTC-4)
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Until now, Mr. Putin has been fully engaged in the destruction of Syria and its people….Whatever his reasons, he now appears to be showing some sympathy for the terrible plight of ordinary Syrians, many without food, shelter and medical supplies.

A Glimmer of Hope in Syria

Posted February 11th, 2016 at 4:28 pm (UTC-4)
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Cautious optimism may be the best way to term the agreement reached Thursday in Munich for a cessation of hostilities in Syria. The Turkish Foreign Minister called it “an important step,” while the U.N. chairman of the Munich meeting said it “could be the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for.” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who came to Munich to make an “all or nothing” effort, was soberly realistic, saying implementing a nationwide cessation of hostilities within a week “is ambitious.” The agreement, which would allow delivery of much needed food, water and medical supplies to Syrian civilians, is not being called a cease-fire, which Kerry described as a more permanent step. However, it is somewhat encouraging that the U.S., Russia and others at the table can agree to take this first step.