In The News

BBC News: G7 Seeks United Front on Assad, Russia and Syria War

April 10, 2017
G7 leaders want to unite around a strategy for ending civil war in Syria while convincing Russia to abandon support for President Bashar al-Assad. “Allies will also be seeking clarity from the US on its Syria policy, after some apparently mixed messages,” notes a BBC report. US officials continue to offer divided assessments on Assad’s future, even after air strikes on an air base in retaliation...

Washington Post: Trump and “America First” Philosophy

Greg Jaffe April 6, 2017
Citizens around the world expect to international leaders to speak out against wartime atrocities and offer policies that promote moral values including justice and concern for human rights. “President Trump has vowed to follow a radically new approach to foreign policy that jettisons the costly mantle of moral leadership in favor of America’s most immediate economic and security interests,”...

The New York Times: Worst Chemical Attack in Years in Syria; US Blames Assad

Anne Barnard and Michael R. Gordon April 5, 2017
A few days after the United States announced that it would not seek removal of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, a chemical weapon attack was launched against a rebel stronghold in Idlib Province, killing dozens and injuring more than 250. A nerve agent is suspected with images of people shaking or paralyzed, gasping for air, transmitted by global media. “A senior State Department official said the attack...

The Washington Post: Syria Fires Missiles at Israeli Warplanes on Bombing Run

William Booth March 17, 2017
For the most part Israel has been restrained about intervening in the Syrian civil war since 2011, other than attacking weapon transports to Hezbollah, a political party and militant group that along with Iran and Russia has sided with the Syrian government. “In a rare communique, in which Israel took responsibility for the usually clandestine airstrikes, the Israeli Air Force confirmed that its...

Brookings: How the Syrian Refugee Crisis Affected Transboundary Freshwater

Steven Gorelick, Marc F. Muller and Jim Yoon February 27, 2017
Researchers from Stanford University have demonstrated that the massive flow of people into Jordan due to the Syrian civil war has resulted in an increased flow of water as well. The Yarmouk River, which begins in Syria and terminates at the Jordanian border, has experienced an “unexpected, rapid increase in flow” since 2013, reports Brookings. Upstream Syrian refugees abandoning irrigated...

Financial Times: Trump Shifts Stance on Two-State Solution to Israel-Palestine Conflict

John Reed February 17, 2017
In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump supported “really a great peace deal” and was noncommittal about the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. “The two-state solution, under which a Palestinian state would be formed alongside Israel in the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, has been a touchstone of US policy in the region...

Caixin: Chinese Drone Maker to Supply Dubai with Self-Flying Taxis

Coco Feng February 17, 2017
Dubai, with a population of 2.7 million, is the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, and traffic congestion is a major complaint. The Dubai Roads and Transportation Authority is planning to allow remote-controlled drones work as taxis, and Chinese drone maker EHang Inc. announced “it will supply passenger-carrying drones to Dubai, which is aiming to become in July the world’s first city to...