What happened to America?
President Obama’s legacy is on the line. He must either rise to meet the challenge by taking courageous and decisive military measures; or continue his... Read More
Oil Jihad – a strategic weapon against low prices?
For terrorist outfits like Al Qaeda and ISIS, low oil prices are counter-productive. These organizations, much like Venezuela, depend mostly on oil for their revenues... Read More
From Pristina to Damascus – understanding Kosovo’s fighters in Syria
A more holistic policy that examines the stagnation of EU integration efforts and addresses Kosovar identity as it relates to empathy with Syrians is necessary to... Read More
How do we defeat Islamo-Nihilism?
To fully rescue Islam from the nihilistic violence of today will mean championing an Islam that is radical in its embrace of the excluded other,... Read More
The crumbling Islamic State – its desperate violations of humanitarian law
These grave violations by ISIS must be protested by as wide a coalition of concerned voices as possible. There is a real danger that, as... Read More
Deradicalization in refugee camps and beyond
Host countries cannot be long on talking and short on funding. Any government committed to deradicalizing young men and women must invest, along with private... Read More
How Syria was swept by the merchants of death
The unimaginable sacrifices that the Syrian people have made should not be in vain. The international order, civility, and morality are at stake. If the... Read More
Security Council Resolution 2286 highlights a foundation of World Law
On 3 May 2016, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2286 calling for greater protection for health care institutions and personnel. We must support... Read More
Why Daesh cannot be bombed away
While pacifism is naïve, the Don’t Bomb Syria campaign may have a point when it comes to how best to defeat Daesh – Daesh cannot... Read More
The global crisis of leadership
Yes, leaders are a reflection of their time, and people the world over might have finally reached the breaking point. Their cry for trusting, caring, and... Read More
Out of nowhere – the Kurds of Syria in peace and war
TransConflict is pleased to present a review of Michael M. Gunter’s “Out of Nowhere. The Kurds of Syria in Peace and War” (London: Hurst and Co., 2014,... Read More
Turkish democracy – an unfortunate casualty of Erdogan’s ambitions in Syria and Turkey?
What is more tragic is Europe’s ambivalent response to Turkey’s ongoing crackdown on political freedoms, as Brussels struggles to find a solution to its own... Read More
Mistakes were made – part II
The US is now in the process of choosing its next president. Everyone – in America and beyond – should insist that all the candidates... Read More
International Community urged to protect education from attack in Syria
Children cannot wait for the conflict to end before there is adequate investment in their education; but the opportunity to experience the safe, quality education... Read More
The inevitable conflict – empowerment of terrorism through appeasement
There is a need to unravel the many intertwined factors that affects governments’ decisions to negotiate or not with terrorist groups as part of their negotiating strategy... Read More
Why bombing Syria is the right decision, but not enough
The decision to intervene in Syria and to more actively fight the so-called Islamic State was right. Something needs to happen now to prevent this... Read More
Conflict and intervention – the role of multilateralism
There are five good reasons for the major powers – especially the US – to commit themselves to consensus decisions on multilateral intervention achieved through... Read More
Syria – conflict resolution?
For the moment, military options seem to be “the order of the day”. Therefore we must work for formal negotiations among governments with interests in... Read More
Broken states never heal themselves
Broken states never heal themselves and can only be put back together with the prolonged involvement of outsiders working together to end the violence, impose... Read More
America’s default setting – part two
Berlin and Brussels should be spearheading efforts to pull together a diplomatic approach – to accompany US/Russian military actions – to gaining some level of... Read More
The refugee crisis – demilitarising masculinities
Photos emerging from the borders of Europe weave a new narrative around what it means to be vulnerable, to be a man, to say no... Read More
Cold War-style hostility in Syria?
Russia has a very clear goal in Syria – to back Assad and keep him in power. Unlike the West – which clearly said that... Read More
Palmyra – ISIS-wanton destruction
Syria and Iraq are home to some of the world’s first cities, a complex and unique meeting of states, empires, and faiths. Leadership must come... Read More
Putin takes a gamble
The free-for-all in Syria has become a proxy war between Russia and the United States, even though Washington refuses to fight it. The problem for... Read More
Before and beyond the Syrian calamity
No solution to the Syrian calamity can be found without first establishing the historical perspective and the root causes that gave rise to this catastrophe.... Read More