Tag Archives: Obama

Syria – myth and argument about non-intervention

Posted on September 7, 2016 | 8 comments

Last week an article in the Washington Post stirred what seemed like quite a Twitter buzz, lamenting the effects of “the disastrous nonintervention in Syria“. The article is angry and vivid about the misery and destruction wrought by war in Syria. It blames the war’s continuation largely on the US deciding not to intervene in the war. It is an argument that could become influential so it’s worth examining. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace, The Middle East, Uncategorized

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European security. Crisis? What crisis?

Posted on February 18, 2016 | 1 comment

The tone of this year’s Munich Security Conference – the Davos of global security – was captured by the Munich Security Report’s theme: ‘Boundless chaos, reckless spoilers, helpless guardians.’ The front page headline on The Security Times, a conference special edition from the stable of Die Zeit, featured a box of matches and urged an appropriate response: ‘Don’t do stupid stuff.’ Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace

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Extremism, prevention, global inequality, ISIS and migration

Posted on February 20, 2015 | 1 comment

Events in the Middle East continue to horrify and escalate in equal measure. Last week Jordan vowed all manner of action against ISIS in Syria for burning a pilot alive, this week Egypt bombed ISIS in Libya for beheading 21 Coptic Christians. At the same time, President Obama convened an international meeting on extremism with the emphasis on prevention and the idea took hold that ISIS would infiltrate people-trafficking boats in the Mediterranean. Arise TV in London were good enough to invite me to hold forth for a few minutes on both Obama and ISIS. We covered a fair amount of ground in 6 minutes:

 

Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace, Middle East & North Africa

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The US-Iranian-Syrian diplomatic dance

Posted on October 9, 2013 | 3 comments

The destruction of Syrian chemical weapons (CW) has started. In a breakthrough moment in Iran-US relations, the two Presidents talked on the phone and the foreign ministers sat down to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme. Though the connection has received little comment in the western news media, these two welcome developments are deeply linked and close to inter-dependent. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace

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Vladimir Putin saves West from its hubris

Posted on September 24, 2013 | 2 comments

That is a headline I never thought I’d write, a sentiment I never expected to utter. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace, Uncategorized

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Syria – what role for diplomacy?

Posted on June 21, 2013 | 3 comments

In the course of little more than a week, the idea that diplomacy could achieve anything to prevent the war in Syria escalating yet further fell off the international agenda as arms supplies became the dominant theme and returned to head it following the G8 summit at Enniskillen’s Lough Erne resort in Northern Ireland. Here’s my quick take on what seems to be going on. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace

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Libya: the (next) moment of decision is approaching

Posted on July 6, 2011 | 1 comment

When intervention in Libya was being discussed in Britain a few months back, the key ethical argument was the dual claim of the urgency of doing something and impossibility of standing by and doing nothing. After the first 2-3 weeks, it became clear even to passionate advocates of intervention that the issue was more complicated than that. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace

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