Ahmad Jarba: A Moment of Truth Looms for Syria

Ahmad Jarba: A Moment of Truth Looms for Syria – WSJ.com.

Jarba makes one lame point after another, and misses the chance to frame the debate in a manner that reminds people, not shyly but starkly, of what the Assads regime has been doing for close to three years now: perpetrating genocide and in the process encouraging the emergence of terrorist networks and threatening the stability of the region. He should have also reminded leaders of the international community, especially the U.S., Russia and Iran, of their negative impact on this process due to their passivity and/or duplicity. He should have been shaming and blaming even as he shows willingness to attend Geneva 2. Russians must love Jarba. He’s been “reasonable” and the negotiations haven’t even started. Who’s his media adviser? Whoever he is, he should be fired.

“Bashar Al-Assad is a refined cannibal like Hannibal Lecter”

SOFIA LORENA IN GAZIANTEP | 03/11/2013 – 00:00

Below is a rough English translation made using Google. The Portuguese original can be found here: http://www.publico.pt/j1752052

Ammar Abdulhamid is a Syrian dissident living far away from Damascus since 2005. He says that no one anticipated how violent a response the Assad regime will employ against his opponents, and explains that “the first mistake was thinking that Bashar would not be allowed to go this far.” Continue reading ““Bashar Al-Assad is a refined cannibal like Hannibal Lecter”” →

Die verschenkten Chancen einer kriegsmüden Nation

A coverage in Zeit Online of my participation on October 6 in the Panel on “Obama and the World,” organized as part of the New Yorker Festival 2013.

Obamas Syrien-Politik fällt beim “New Yorker”-Forum durch. Inzwischen fehlen die Verbündeten für einen Regimewechsel – und eine tragfähige Vision für die gesamte Region. VON EVA C. SCHWEITZER

7. Oktober 2013 11:54 Uhr

Was ist das größte Problem der US-Außenpolitik? Das amerikanische Volk interessiert sich nicht dafür, trotz des Einsatzes zahlreicher Experten, Thinktank-Wissenschaftlern und professionellen Exilanten. Die meisten Amerikaner sind einmischungsmüde, und US-Präsident Barack Obama weiß das. Er sagte vergangene Woche eine lang geplante Asienreise ab, weil es ihm wichtiger war, in Washington den Kampf mit den Republikanern um die Krankenversicherung und das Budget zu führen, obwohl er wusste, dass er damit China das Feld überlassen würde. Continue reading “Die verschenkten Chancen einer kriegsmüden Nation” →

The U.S.-Russian chemical weapons deal is a win-win-win for everyone except the Syrians.

The U.S.-Russian chemical weapons deal is a win-win-win for everyone except the Syrians..

You can try to sugarcoat death and defeat, but that will not change what they are. This deal is a diplomatic and a strategic loss even to the US, because sometimes “how we got there” is far more important than what has been achieved. The how in this case informs the what and seals its fate. We are here, because Obama is apathetic, Kerry a bungler , and Putin and Assad megalomaniac butchers. No deal reached between this four can prove lasting or good. Today, the Syrians will lose, even the pro-Assad fools, but as tomorrow will soon reveal, the fate of many other peoples is at stake as well, and it won’t be pretty.