Syria: Friday ‘Guardians of the Homeland’ Protests
Syrian demonstrators filled the streets of Syrian cities across the country in another Friday of coordinated protests against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Eight deaths have been reported overall so far as Syrian military opened fire on protesters in ...
POMED Notes: “Arab Spring: Is America Getting It Right?”
On Tuesday, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a debate to be aired on BBC's The World Debate on U.S. foreign policy in response to the uprisings in the Middle East. Matt Frei, anchor for BBC's World News America moderated the event and introduced the following panelists: Marwan Muasher, Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment; Tamara Wittes, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of Near Eastern ...
European Nations Submit Draft Resolution on Syria to UN
On Thursday, Britain, France, Germany and Portugal submitted a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council, condemning "the systematic violation of human rights, including the killings, arbitrary detentions, disappearances, and torture of peaceful demonstrators, human rights defenders and journalists by the Syrian authorities." The resolution calls for Damascus to comply with a UN Human Rights Council inquiry and to launch an independent and credible investigation into ...
POMED Notes: Nomination Hearing for William J. Burns
On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a nomination hearing for William J. Burns to become Deputy Secretary of State. The hearing was presided over by Committee Chairman Senator John Kerry (D-MA) with Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Jib Webb (D-VA), Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-PA), Richard Lugar (R-IN), and Marco Rubio (R-FL) in attendance. William J. Burns is a career foreign service officer and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia and ...
Syria: Protester Beaten in Hama (Video)
A protester reportedly beaten to death by security forces in Hama on Friday.
McCain Outlines Strategic Objectives for the Middle East
Last week, following President Barack Obama's address on the Middle East, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) delivered the Dean Acheson Lecture at the United States Institute of Peace where he discussed the Arab Spring. McCain opened by noting that the uprisings in the Middle East represent a repudiation of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda and stated that Arab Spring should be "a clarifying event for the United States" which presents an ...
Steve Coll Discusses “The Syrian Problem”
Steve Coll, writing in The New Yorker, discusses the complexities associated with current U.S. policy towards Syria, in light of the recent uprisings. Coll begins by noting that while many had hoped that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would be a reformer when he came to power, his actions over the years have proven otherwise and states that "American policy toward Syria presents mainly a record of failure." U.S. pressure and ...
Syria: At Least 21 Killed in Friday Protests
Security forces opened fire on demonstrators in protests across Syria on Friday. Thousands of Syrians gathered in the cities of Banias, Homs, Aleppo, and the Damascus suburb of Daraya. At least six people were killed in Homs with other ...
5 Reasons Why There Won’t Be War in Syria
Moisés Naím, writing for the Carnegie Endowment, discusses why the United States and Europe are attacking Libya with bombs and Syria with words. He first dismisses arguments that the justification for war in Libya is oil, arguing that it would be easier for U.S. oil companies to have security under Gadhafi rather than under the chaos that has ensued. He states that there are five reasons why the same response ...
Congressional Reactions to Obama’s Middle East Speech
On Thursday, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) stated that while she was pleased that President Barack Obama expressed U.S. support for democracy and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa, the President's goals and objectives for the region remain unclear. She criticized Obama's failure to call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ouster, enforce sanctions on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei. She also criticized the President ...
Sec. Clinton Interviewed About Mid East Policy
On Thursday, following President Obama's address on U.S. policy in regards to the changing Middle East, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sat down with Katie Couric to discuss some specifics of the speech and U.S. policy in the region. ...
State Department Releases Fact Sheets on U.S. Democracy Efforts in Syria and Iran
On Thursday, the State Department released a fact sheet of U.S. policy towards Syria in which it "reject the Syrian government's justification of its tactics to maintain "stability" and noted that additional sanctions have been imposed on Syrian officials, including President Bashar al-Assad, to target the human rights abuses committed against protesters. The statement also discussed coordination with European allies and on-going considerations for "additional bilateral options for increasing pressure ...
President Obama Delivers Major Address on Middle East Policy
On Thursday, President Barack Obama addressed the nation to discuss U.S. policy towards the Middle East and North Africa. He noted that over the past six months, the people in the region "have risen up to demand their basic ...
Geopolitics and the Arab Spring
Writing in the Cairo Review of Global Affairs, Trita Parsi and Reza Marashi discuss the regional uprisings affect on the regional power-balance. The others note Saudi Arabia and Israel's disapproval of the Arab Spring given the strategic and political implications for their own countries. Parsi and Marashi state that while Saudi leaders understood there was little they could do to prevent U.S. supported revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, they moved ...
WINEP Policy Brief of Syrian Regime Change
Robert Satloff and Amos Yadlin of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy argue that while the Obama administration's mixed approach to the Arab Spring mostly falls al0ng the traditional realist-idealist divide, such tension does not exist in Syria which is against American values and interests. Hence, they classify the debate over Syria as between the devil you know and the one you don't. The administration's recent decision to extend ...
Congressional Reactions to Sanctions on Assad
On Wednesday, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) applauded the new Executive Order which imposes sanctions on Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. She called on the administration to fully implement existing sanctions laws on the Syrian regime, recall the U.S. ambassador to Iran, and support Congressional efforts targeting the regime such as a new bipartisan legislation she will soon introduce that "would strengthen and increase sanctions to deny the Syrian regime the resources to threaten ...
Syria: FIDH Confirms Mass Grave Find in Deraa
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) confirmed on Tuesday the finding of a mass grave in the city of Deraa. The remains of thirteen people were confirmed found including women and children. Eight bodies have been identified as members of the Abazied and al-Mahmaed families. Time of death has not yet been ascertained although FIDH and the Damascus Center for Human Rights (DCHRS) indicate the grave is possibly the ...
Syria: U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Assad
The United States imposed new sanctions on top Syrian officials including Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday. According to the executive order given by President Barack Obama, the sanctions were put in place in response to the escalating violence by Syrian ...
Syria: Assad Blames ‘Poorly Trained’ Security Services for Violence
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad admitted some government mistakes in handling anti-government protests that have been taking place since March; but he mostly blamed "poorly trained" members of the security services. Assad stated that little experience with the current situation in the country, which would normally be dealt with by regular police, was a cause of the shortcomings of security services' handling of protests. He also said the security services would ...