Failure to consider the potency of sectarian identities in Syria may produce the opposite effect intended for a strike, pushing parties further away from negotiations, and closer to the brink.
The only way to start a war against another country without UNSC authorization is in self-defense. The President needs to make the case that the Syrian government is an imminent threat to United States’ national security. He needs to make that case to the American public and Congress.
Does the West have any moral right to interfere with the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons when they facilitated the manufacture of them?
The United States's military preparations, and Israel's growing involvement, reveal the momentum to a dangerous escalation in the middle east.
Since July 2012, the death toll in Syria exploded from 19,000 deaths to over 100,000 casualties. These deaths are arguably the result of the rapid militarisation of the Syrian conflict, following the decision by western powers to arm the opposition.
Neither ending the bloodshed nor preventing the further use of weapons of mass destruction in Syria is served by military intervention. Amidst speculation over the US-UK special relationship, the Iranian reaction points a way forward.
Last Thursday's vote in the House of Commons means that Britain will not participate in military action against Syria. Conservative MP Rory Stewart explains why he thinks the use of chemical weapons should lead to cautious intervention and argues that an international campaign against chemical wea
Enoch Powell highlighted the differences between England's vision of itself and its reality, but has this led ideology to be chosen over pragmatism in the Commons rejection of the Syria vote?
While the region slips further into instability, the rejection of military action over Syria by the US Congress would be a huge stepping stone to undoing the US and western way of war since 9/11.
If the US decides to unilaterally attack Syria, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif’s recent observations on the subject will be fulfilled: "If any country attacks another when it wants, that is like the Middle Ages."
The best way to “punish” the Syrian regime is to enable the popular uprising to break it, not to bomb the country.
British MPs’ arguments and information were influenced by a strong public opinion against such a war, itself a product of a mass movement which didn’t stop a war ten years ago but has prevented a further one now.
