by Hilal Khashan The media described the British Parliament’s negative vote on the principle of military action against the Syrian regime over its alleged use of chemical weapons as a blow to the country’s special relationship with the United States.[1] The seemingly unprecedented vote that “… was both shocking and shaming”[2] has actually given a…
Read MoreFree Syrian Army soldier in Aleppo, Syria. Photograph courtesy of Voice of America. by Hilal Khashan The Syrian regime continues to celebrate its recent achievement in al-Qusayr, which it describes as a game-changing twist that will eventually awe the opposition into submission. Officials in Damascus wasted no time in announcing the beginning of the Northern…
Read Moreby Hilal Khashan Dictators, be they benevolent or malevolent, are incapable of compromise. Because of their constitutional makeup, they see the world as black or white. The Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is not an exception to the rule. He is not receptive to engagement in serious political reforms to placate his country’s burgeoning protest movement,…
Read MoreAtlas from Turkey in Asia, by Frances Bowen, 1810 by Francis Ghilès Democratic imperialism has long been the favourite foreign policy vision of American neoconservatives: foreign powers had the moral obligation to impose democratic institutions on people who, subject to authoritarian rule were in no position to determine their fate. The U.S., and many in…
Read MoreTahrir Square, Cairo. Photography by Ramy Raoof From The Guardian: Is there much value in describing again the demonstrations, encampments and activist movements already covered, seemingly exhaustively, by the traditional and new media over the last two years? The quality of Mason’s observation and storytelling quickly dispels any such doubts. This is from Athens during…
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