Bashar al-Assad

As the generation that grew up in and saw the collapse of the USSR, Generation X is uniquely positioned to lead the US as it drifts into the second Cold War.

That Jesus Christ’s two advents are set against the backdrop of a region rarely associated with good news is ironic, but this year that irony is less obvious. Good things are happening in the Near East if you know where to look.

The Autonomous Administration for North and East Syria (AANES) is seeking international recognition as a legitimate government, but currently it is campaigning the US to lift sanctions on its territory.

Beijing aspires to be the new, responsible superpower that can mediate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and offer the Middle East stability.

Force-short-of-war raises many moral questions, and jus ad vim has been an attempt to provide answers.

Ten years on, the rulers in Damascus sleep easily once again. Without incurring any great punishment from the outside world for their ghastly crimes, the crisis has left Assad and his henchmen emboldened.

A recent Zoom event at San Francisco State University (SFSU) sparked investigations because it hosted Leila Khaled, a current leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP), a US and EU-designated terrorist group.

Extremists are slowly extinguishing of some of the world’s oldest Christian communities, while the world remains largely silent.

As we continue to sift through the shrapnel of President Donald Trump’s decision to pull US troops out of Syria and green-light Turkey’s long-planned operations against Syria’s Kurds and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria, we need to keep in mind that what transpired in October represents only the short-term consequences.