| 06 June 2013
Recently in an interview to the foreign media Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed the hope that the international meeting "Geneva-2" will help to overcome the crisis in the country. We welcome the US-Russian rapprochement, and we support any action that will help to put an end to the violence commented the Syrian leader. However, he expressed doubt whether all the countries involved in the conflict are willing to find a political solution. He added: I do not think that the forces that support the activities of terrorist groups really want peace. We are realistic and know that they will try to disrupt the conference for a political settlement.
| 17 May 2013
Later today, President Barack Obama will sit down with Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Oval Office. It will be a friendly re. Obama has said Erdogan is one of the few foreign leaders with whom he has developed "friendships and the bonds of trust." Speaking to the Turkish parliament four years ago, on his first trip abroad as president, Obama declared, "Turkey is a critical ally. Turkey is an important part of Europe. And Turkey and the United States must stand together — and work together — to overcome the challenges of our time." These challenges are many — among them, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. While Turkey and America partnered for the greater good throughout the Cold War, no amount of White House praise can hide the fact that Turkey today is less a bridge between the West and the Islamic world and, increasingly, a force undermining trust and cooperation.
| 14 May 2013
Egypt's Black Bloc grew out of their struggle for liberation from an authoritarian system, only after non-violent civil efforts had failed. Ironically, the U.S. Black Bloc and Egypt's Black Bloc are on opposite sides of the political struggle – one, in the U.S., a friend to the Muslim Brotherhood and doubtless trying to gain prestige through their nominal association with international fighters; the other, in Egypt, an enemy to the Brotherhood, and fighting for democracy and legitimate government.
| 08 May 2013
Contemporary international politics has seen a phenomenon in the Arab world that has been dubbed the Arab Spring. It began on December 17, 2010 in Tunisia where a young fruit vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, committed suicide by burning himself to give vent to his grievances against the system that he thought had treated him arbitrarily and tyrannically in denying him economic opportunities. The episode sparked an uprising where the autocratic ruler of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a military man who had taken over in a bloodless coup when the founder of the modern Tunisian Republic, Habib Bourguiba, became incapable of continuing his rule.
