Tag Archives: Syria

Imperial Chaos: the Road to Domination

Posted on August 5, 2012 by Matt

In May 2007 the UN’s Peruvian Middle East envoy Alvaro de Soto wrote a devastating confidential report which argued that American diplomacy had fatally undermined the UN’s attempts to act as an independent broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Among other … Continue reading →

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‘Islamism’ – friend and foe

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Matt

Last week the BBC’s Paul Wood introduced a group of armed Syrian rebels in Damascus as ‘Islamists.’   The label was not intended to be pejorative.   Wood clearly admired the young bearded fighters, who he presented as freedom fighters, … Continue reading →

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Syria: Into the Vortex

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Matt

Tomorrow in Geneva, international crisis talks are due to be held on the deteriorating situation in Syria, under the auspices of the UN-Arab League Peace Envoy Kofi Annan.  In addition to Foreign Ministers from the five permanent members of the Security … Continue reading →

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The al-Houla massacre: Syria as Algeria?

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Matt

The awful massacre at al-Houla is a horrific indication of Syria’s inexorable descent into a vortex of violence that increasingly resembles the Algerian civil war of the 1990s. The Algerian war began in January 1991 when the ruling FLN – the … Continue reading →

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