Kosovo, Ukraine, Syria and Iraq
The struggles by ethnic and religious groups left behind by empire cannot be resolved by outsiders. These competing groups need to find their own way... Read More
Whose peace are we building?
There is a reason why military and foreign intervention doesn’t work. These interventions thrust “solutions” onto the people of the country intervened in. These “solutions”... Read More
Time to do a deal with Assad?
The military options for the West vis-a-vis Iraq and the IS are limited without some ability to operate permissively in Syria. This would require movement... Read More
Syria and the ICC
There are arguments that to prosecute is to interfere with the right of self-determination of the Syrian people. However, when there is evidence of mass... Read More
Winners and losers in the Balkans wars – lessons for Ukraine and the Levant
Absent genuine geopolitical interest in another country’s conflicts, the West should stay out of others’ civil wars lest it risks exacerbating them and contributing to... Read More
Stop making war business
Peace journalism is key for ensuring that conflict is accurately and appropriately reported, with its genesis and circumstances fully explained, and that local peacebuilding ideas and solutions... Read More
Negotiating the Syrian crisis – a compromise remains far off
The trajectory of the Geneva II negotiations – either towards convergence (resolution) or divergence (non-resolution) – will affect the outcome of one of the most... Read More
For Syrian refugees child marriage is a necessity
Research by women’s right organizations purports that the prevalence of child marriage is not due to lack of awareness about the concerns of the practice,... Read More
Local pressure for peace mounts in Syria’s civil war
In the chaos of Syria’s civil war local peacebuilders are finding ways to bring respite for tired civilians from suffering and danger.
Temperance in the Arab Spring – averting catastrophe through great power politics
The world’s most politically volatile region, the Middle East, has been stabilised through the collective common sense of three Great Powers – the United States,... Read More
Syria – women, peacework, and the lesson from Bosnia
Below the radar of the forthcoming Geneva-2 peace talks, Bosnian and Syrian women are holding meetings to discuss the lessons that must be learnt from... Read More
A waiting game – Syria through the lens of conflict transformation
Looking at Syria through the lenses of a few selected Principles of Conflict Transformation can offer new suggestions for peaceful actions as the fatigue of violence... Read More
Palestine (and Syria) and Kosova
Regarding existential, zero-sum struggles it matters which side has more options.
Syria – no deal, really
That Syria has been on a downward spiral since 2011 is not news. Any solution for Syria must not be limited in scope. Tackling chemical... Read More
Syria and a possible UN approach to chemical weapons
The UN would likely play a key role in verifying and overseeing an effort to put Syria’s weapons under international control. But the UN Security... Read More
Chemical weapons in Syria provide an opportunity for making peace
Aiming to “transform conflict” would inject new energy into the diplomatic process around Syria, by finding new common interests between adversaries.
What I saw in the war
Reporter Janine di Giovanni has been to the worst places on Earth to bring back stories from Bosnia, Sierra Leone and most recently Syria. She... Read More
What should the US do on Syria?
For the US to act as part of the international community and through the UN, it must commit itself in this particular case – and... Read More
Syrian military intervention – Washington’s “well-oiled” operation
The United States has only to gain from the likely military intervention which will give it unrestricted access to Syria’s oil reserves, with a larger... Read More
R2P and International Law
The responsibility to protect is an international responsibility and not the exclusive burden of any one country, not even the US. But the use of... Read More
Changing the justifications, intentions and limits of military action against Syria
Since the August 21 chemical attack in Syria the international community has refocused its attention on the Syrian quagmire, with the three key western protagonists,... Read More
Syria – to intervene or not to intervene?
In the two years since the conflict began, civilian deaths have unfolded in unimaginable numbers, yet the international community did not act. With respect to... Read More
Syria disfigured – options for the West
To understand what a militarily-inspired democratic transplant might achieve in Syria, one might look at what happened when the Iraqi Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein... Read More
There never was an “Arab Spring”
With the top of the leadership pyramid removed, the societies left behind were rife with internal divisions. Without any historical experience, or sufficient wealth to divide... Read More
From YouTube to Jihad – Balkan volunteers in Syria
Even though conservative Islam is not much appreciated among the liberal and secular Bosniak and Albanian communities in the Western Balkans, radical groups show an... Read More