How Obama has supported Assads gas murder always

Linux Beach: How Obama has supported Assads gas murder always.

It is hard to dispute the claims made here, namely that Obama’s calculus on Syria is deliberate and methodical and meant simply to use the conflict in Syria to achieve certain policy goals that do not include regime change or ending genocide. With the deal struck with Iran, one policy goal is now clear. One more thing is clear as well: Obama is not only an amoral bastard but a moron as well. What has been achiever with Iran and what could still be achieved does not justify the cost incurred in terms of human lives lost, hopes for freedom dashed, and not only in Syria, America’s standing in the world compromised even more than it was under the former administration, and global order shattered.

The New Yorker Festival 2013: Obama & the World Panel

A panel with the Syrian activist Ammar Abdulhamid, The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins, the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation’s Andranik Migranyan, and the New America Foundation’s Anne-Marie Slaughter took place on October 6 as part of The New Yorker Festival 2013. The panel was moderated by Steve Coll, the New Yorker staff writer and the dean of the Columbia School of Journalism, and was attended by around 200 participants. The photos were just released.

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Lebanon and the Long Reach of Syria’s Conflict

Lebanon and the Long Reach of Syria’s Conflict : The New Yorker.

Actually the long reach of the Syria conflict will be felt in Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia and beyond soon. As to what is happening now in Lebanon, well, it’s simply an extension of the selfsame conflict that the inaction of the Obama Administration has allowed to unfold – a conflict that will engulf the region and change her boundaries forever.

The Secret History of Hezbollah

The Secret History of Hezbollah | The Weekly Standard.

Indeed, Tony Badran. Iran’s policies and strategies have little to do with Israel and America and more to do with the usual competition/struggle involving Arabs, Persians and Kurds, or Sunnis and Shia, and the usual power politics inside each country and region. In other words, it’s an extension of our indigenous historical processes that have been going for centuries, if not millennia. Israel’s presence and US policies (not mention Europe’s, Russia’s and China’s, etc.) in the region are complicating factors at best, but the dynamics themselves are fueled by internal needs and interests. It’s about time we reexamined the modern history of our region from this perspective, and countered the ideological interpretations prevalent all around us, because they distort facts and detract our attention from focusing on the real nature of our problems, and suggesting more practical policies for handling them.