For better or for worse President Obama has not acted decisively with Western allies in an effort to end the horrific civil war in Syria. The tragic loss of nearly 150,000 Syrians, nine million internally displaced persons and refugees, and the massive destruction would still pale in comparison to the near-complete devastation of the nation…

Imagine the face of a little boy walking while holding his father’s hand, when suddenly the father plunges onto the ground with a bullet in his head. “Oh my God,” the boy screams, “God, please Baba don’t leave me, no, no please, please don’t leave me this way.” Another bullet shatters the boy’s head; he…

It is hard to imagine that representatives of the 30 countries that assembled in Geneva actually believed that they could find a political solution to the Syrian civil war. Given the differing strategic interests in Syria of the powers within and outside the region, reaching a consensus to end the crisis at this juncture is…

When Basil Assad, oldest son and heir apparent to the late President Hafez Assad, was killed in a car accident in 1994, the father turned to his inexperienced son Bashar to groom him for the presidency. Whereas Basil was trained in military and political affairs and the workings of the state, Bashar was studying ophthalmology…

My previous article entitled “Obama’s Syria Debacle” elicited wide-spread positive feedback and just as much criticism about the rationale behind my argument that President Obama must punish President Assad for his use of chemical weapons against his people. I further argued that should President Obama avoid striking Syria, it would severely undermine America’s regional influence…

I am not a war monger; I know the meaning of war, the death toll, the suffering, and the destruction of property along with the spirit of innocent men, women and children. That said, regardless of how appalling the use of force is to achieve any objective, there is a time when force must be…

The question often raised by many is, does the Obama administration have a cohesive strategy toward the Middle East that addresses the developments of events in the context of that strategy? The overwhelming response to this question by top officials, the academic community and ordinary people in the region is that the Obama administration simply…

Whereas former President Bush and President Obama are ideologically a world apart, their policies toward Middle Eastern conflicts produced the same damning reaction. Bush’s misguided war in Iraq and its consequences, and Obama’s diffidence toward the slaughter in Syria and his excessively misplaced caution over US involvement in another Arab country, evoked similar waves of…

America’s friends and allies in the Middle East depend on the US’ strategic vision, clarity and resolve to deal with the multiple crises that surround them. They feel unsure, however, about the Obama administration’s policy which from their perspective appears to be timid and unworthy of the US’ unique stature and responsibility. The difficulty in…