In The News

Everyone Says the Libya Intervention Was a Failure: They’re Wrong

Shadi Hamid April 15, 2016
US President Obama suggested that one of his biggest regrets failure to plan for Libya after the 2011 NATO intervention. Libya is a failed state, but that does not mean intervention was wrong, argues Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, for Vox. “The goal was to protect civilians and prevent a massacre,” he notes. “In fact, the civil war had already started before the...

As Routes to Europe Close, Refugees Consider a Deadly Crossing

Mirren Gidda April 13, 2016
As nations like Macedonia, Turkey, Hungary and Greece block refugees from crossing their borders, a wave of people fleeing conflict, terrorism and retribution in Syria and elsewhere has shifted direction to a more treacherous route. UN refugee officials estimate that the number of refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya in 2016 has nearly doubled from the same period in 2015....

Yemen Conflict: Clashes Rattle Shaky Truce

April 11, 2016
A UN ceasefire is holding in Yemen as parties plan peace talks to end the 13-month civil war that has displaced more than 2 million. Yemen has a population of 27 million. “More than 6,000 people have been killed since a Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign to defeat the rebels and restore the exiled government,” reports the BBC News. “”The UN says most of those killed have been civilians...

Putin Withdrawing Russian Forces from Syria

Max Fisher March 15, 2016
Russia’s president surprised the world by announcing a withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria. Analysts are taking a wait-and-see approach after Russia’s previous announcement that it was tackling extremist groups in Syria and instead aided the Syrian government with attacks on US-backed rebel groups. Russia is expected to withdraw enough troops to pressure the al-Bassad regime into entering a...

Russia: Only Tactical Success in the Middle East

Thomas Graham March 1, 2016
Despite an economic downturn and depressed oil prices, Russia wrested control in eastern Ukraine and Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking a gamble “that Europe would eventually seize an offer of cooperation in Syria to constrict the migrant flow and contain the terrorist threat and that such cooperation would sap Europe’s aversion to Russian behavior in Ukraine, leading to a decision...

The War of Western Failures: Hopes for Syria Fall with Aleppo

February 29, 2016
Russian strikes in Syria’s civil war support the government against Sunni majority rebels with bombs targeting civilian population centers, schools and hospitals. “Once upon a time Aleppo was the largest city in Syria, an economic powerhouse with a city center listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site,” notes Spiegel Online. The city lacks adequate supplies in food, fuel, medical aid and water. “In...

Turkey: The Eastern Question Is Back

Jonathan Marcus February 26, 2016
The Middle East and Europe have a long history of shifting boundaries and periods of destabilization. Europe viewed Turkey as a bulwark against Russian influence, explains Jonathan Marcus, diplomatic correspondent for BBC News. He points to the Crimean War of the 1850s, with France and Great Britain battling Russian influence in Turkey: “Times change - but geography doesn't, and strategic...