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Browse: Home » Syria » Page 5
The Syria dilemma: Dissecting the leaked diplomats memo calling for Obama to get tougher on Assad

The Syria dilemma: Dissecting the leaked diplomats memo calling for Obama to get tougher on Assad

June 24, 2016 · by Patrick Lawrence · in Articles, Salon

Something smells fishy when a hawkish State Dept. memo “leaks” to the Times on the eve of Sec. Clinton’s nomination It has been clear for some time that the Syria conflict was bound to turn into some magnitude of Waterloo…

Our Syria policy is still a mess: These are the dots the media refuses to connect

Our Syria policy is still a mess: These are the dots the media refuses to connect

June 12, 2016 · by Patrick L. Smith · in Articles, Salon

Russia’s foreign minister reveals a strange talk with John Kerry, and explains much about American foreign policy MOSCOW—Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s widely respected foreign minister, dropped a big one here last weekend. After an hour-long conversation with John Kerry, Lavrov asserted…

Why It’s Time to Rethink Our Pointless Standoff with Russia

Why It’s Time to Rethink Our Pointless Standoff with Russia

June 5, 2016 · by Patrick Smith · in Articles, The Fiscal Times

The following column was filed June 5, 2016, and not published. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s widely respected foreign minister, dropped a big one here over the weekend. After an hourlong conversation with John Kerry Friday, Lavrov asserted in nationally televised remarks…

She’ll make Iran, Syria worse: What the media won’t tell you about our foreign policy — and how hawkish Hillary will pour the kerosene

She’ll make Iran, Syria worse: What the media won’t tell you about our foreign policy — and how hawkish Hillary will pour the kerosene

April 17, 2016 · by Patrick L. Smith · in Articles, Salon

The truth about our foreign policy is on display, if we choose to look. If only we ever learned the right lessons What an unusual season—or seasons, I should say. The inner workings of American foreign policy are rarely as…

Obama Faces Painful Choice in Syria as Peace Talks Falter

Obama Faces Painful Choice in Syria as Peace Talks Falter

March 24, 2016 · by Patrick Smith · in Articles, The Fiscal Times

Following the ceasefire in Syria negotiated a month ago by Washington and Moscow, Secretary of State John Kerry must now work out a long-term settlement in Syria. Any agreement involves not only the Assad regime and the Russians — a…

The real story about Syria and Libya: Behind a new agreement with Moscow, and the insidious way the New York Times protects Hillary

The real story about Syria and Libya: Behind a new agreement with Moscow, and the insidious way the New York Times protects Hillary

March 1, 2016 · by Patrick L. Smith · in Articles, Salon

A new accord with Moscow on Syria clears up little. And a new Times series on Clinton and Libya has a messy agenda Hardly does the Syria accord announced jointly in Washington and Moscow last week clarify the swamp of…

How the US and Russia Can Make the Syria Ceasefire Deal Last

How the US and Russia Can Make the Syria Ceasefire Deal Last

February 29, 2016 · by Patrick Smith · in Articles, The Fiscal Times

We have a serious “cessation of hostilities” in Syria, finally, and it’s the best chance for peace since protests became violent four years ago. But there was no sliver of daylight between the joint announcement of the U.S.-Russian agreement last…

A New World War? Russia and the US Look for a Way to Cool Down Syria

A New World War? Russia and the US Look for a Way to Cool Down Syria

February 15, 2016 · by Patrick Smith · in Articles, The Fiscal Times

Two things emerged from the Munich security conference last week, which seem to make little sense when considered side by side. One, the major powers agreed to a “cessation of hostilities” in Syria. Skeptics think this will amount to little…

As Syria Talks Flop, Obama Is Painted Into a Corner

As Syria Talks Flop, Obama Is Painted Into a Corner

February 8, 2016 · by Patrick Smith · in Articles, The Fiscal Times

So much for the Syrian peace process. With the opening of talks in Geneva last Monday, their collapse two days later, and little hope their resumption February 25thwill bear much more fruit, the four-year war in Syria takes a new…

“Intelligent people know that the empire is on the downhill”: A veteran CIA agent spills the goods on the Deep State and our foreign policy nightmares

“Intelligent people know that the empire is on the downhill”: A veteran CIA agent spills the goods on the Deep State and our foreign policy nightmares

February 7, 2016 · by Patrick L. Smith · in Articles, Salon

After almost 30 years in the CIA, Ray McGovern became a truth-teller. He sits down with Salon for a long debriefing I first heard Ray McGovern speak on a country road in the New England hills. This was courtesy of…

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Writer, commentator, longtime newspaper and magazine correspondent abroad. Writes often on Europe and Asia. Published five books.

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