Russia’s decision to send troops into Syria in defense of its ally, President Bashar al-Assad, is now at the center of a major diplomatic standoff between Moscow and the West. But the move by Russian President Vladimir Putin to send military support to combat ISIS insurgents is also a sign of concerns at the military […]
Tag: war
A new virtual reality video of a war-ravaged Syrian city offers an unprecedented 360° interactive view of the destruction left by the country’s ongoing civil war. French daily Le Parisien reports that the video was filmed in the northwestern city of Jisr ash-Shughur with a six-camera system that allows the viewer to look in all […]
-Essay- PARIS — There are times when it is necessary to compare things that are not comparable. There’s a chance at least that it will wake up some anesthetized minds. Between 1933 and 1940, several million refugees who had escaped from Germany, Poland, the Baltic countries and elsewhere, fleeing Nazism, were met with closed borders. […]
With ISIS terror reigning in Palmyra, where treasured Roman ruins are at risk, reflections on a fascinating if less ancient part of its history: the Zenobia Cham Palace Hotel.
A volunteer who led a writing workshop for Syrian child refugees of the war did what he could to offer the aspiring writers some hope. His heart was touched in return.
The treaty signed with Iran won’t eliminate the risk of global proliferation. Russia, China and North Korea in particular are building arsenals and see destabilization as strategy.
Among the families in war-ravaged Syria are many being held together by women alone, as their husbands have left to try to cross into Europe and prepare a life for their families. The wait is long, and often futile.
MOSCOW — Alexander Prokhanov loves to play the bad guy. But he’s no character actor. He is editor-in-chief, since its founding in 1993, of Zavtra (Tomorrow), a Russian ultra-nationalist newspaper that is fiercely anti-Western and anti-American, as well as clearly anti-Semitic and homophobic. In his mess of an office, Prokhanov, 77, invites us to sit […]
Getting past the Israeli checkpoints into Palestine is a humiliating experience. Reflections of an Egyptian writer.
It’s been two decades since the flight of many Kashmiri Hindus after an insurgency targeted them. Now even Kashmir Muslims want them to return.
ABU GHRAIB — This city’s streets are deserted. It would seem certain that the residents of Abu Ghraib fear the Da’ish, the Arabic word for ISIS, as fear has been the dominant emotion since the terrorists began conquering territory in Iraq. And now, the terror organization is defending their gains with brute force. A uniformed […]
War has compromised the mental health of millions of Syrians. The problem is also transcending borders, following people as they seek safety abroad.
Despite serious financial difficulties, Argentina is negotiating major arms purchases from Russia. Relations with the U.S., in the meantime, have gone from bad to worse.
LONDON — At London’s Ladbroke Grove Tube station, a very steep set of stairs leads down to street level. If you turn right at the foot of the stairs it is only a short stroll to the famous Portobello Market and the even more famous Nottinghill, with its pubs and clubs, designer shops and cream […]
It’s an untold story that offers hope during troubled times in Europe, the Middle East and beyond. Anna Boros survived the Holocaust thanks to a courageous Egyptian doctor.
To gauge the ways the civil war has affected all of Syria, a look at seven cities on the fourth anniversary of the first uprising against the regime. A chronicle of death and life going on.
Recent beheadings highlight an ongoing exodus of Christians from territories targeted by ISIS. Some have taken refuge in Lebanon.
What was once a simple and relatively quick commute through Aleppo now takes up to 12 hours, as battered roads, endless checkpoints and ISIS violence take their toll. A bus driver’s view.
Governments are taking Twitter to task for inadvertently helping jihadists “recruit, incite and horrify.” But they’re forgetting what a valuable law enforcement resource the platform is too.
Countless displaced by the war in Syria include those forced to move from one part of the country to another. Misery tends to follow.
Scientists are increasingly revising the idea of human nature as inherently competitive and violent. A documentary explores the possibility of a prehistoric “utopia,” when people lived without cruelty or war.
The risk is real of armed conflict between the West and Moscow on European soil. Searching for a way out means learning the lessons of Finland, and counting on leadership from France.
Once a backer of the Free Syrian Army, a harsh reality caught up with this father of three near Aleppo.
After the Soviet collapse, Russia and Ukraine split what was left of the Red Army. Now an open war between the two is becoming increasingly likely in a bitter twist of history.
“My Great-Grandmother’s Suitcase” — Die Welt, Jan. 27, 2015 The suitcase featured on Die Welt“s front page is kept at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and is labeled “Zdenka Fantl.” It belonged to a young woman who was taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1943 — and survived it. The woman’s great-granddaughter Kim Sarah Mojecki […]
Despite lacking basic amenities, residents of a small Syrian village persist in their quest for education. But to keep the children warm in shelled-out buildings, they must bring wood to school.
DAMASCUS — Maher knows more about trash than a nine-year-old should know. “Some of it stinks more than others,” he says, chuckling at his own remarks. “At first I used to feel like I was about to faint before I finished my job, but I got used to it.” It’s not unusual in different areas in and around Damascus to see children and sometimes older men or women climbing into garbage cans, foraging for scraps of food. Passersby often turn their faces away from the scene. The young children who collect goods from the garbage can are often insulted or […]
They moved to Israel from Argentina, or are the descendants of those who did. Despite the insecurity and fading hopes of peace, Argentine Israelis refuse to pack their bags in despair.
REYHANLI — At the beginning of this year, Jamal Maarouf was regarded as the new white knight of the Syrian insurrection. Over the course of just a few days in January, Maarouf and his men drove ISIS jihadists out of northern Syria’s Idlib province. Armed by the United States and Saudi Arabia, the leader of […]
-OpEd- BERLIN — As German military theorist Carl von Clausewitz once wrote, the aggressor is always peace-loving. He wants to take over our land, our people, our resources without firing a single shot. By this same logic, the defender is always the aggressor. This truth has seldom been better illustrated than by events in eastern […]
Professor Asher Tishler has long been a highly respected researcher in both Israeli military and business domains. It’s high time for him to dish on those in the highest positions of power.
-OpEd- PARIS — As Germany celebrates the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Sunday, we mark the passage of time. Historically speaking, time is a variable. Much can happen in a quarter century, or very little. Twenty-five years was how long military service used to last for peasants in Tsarist Russia. […]
A reporter witnesses a city fall to the hands of Boko Haram, as locals recount the brutality they’ve witnessed. Meanwhile, slim hopes for a negotiated solution.
BEIJING — After a development period of more than 10 years, and with final approval from the China Food and Drug Administration, Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Co. has just launched a generic erectile dysfunction drug based on Viagra, to be sold at half the price. At the press conference for the launch of “Jinge” (literally meaning […]
The Polish Solidarity leader and Nobel Peace Prize Winner offers a combative vision for how Europe can stand up to Moscow. He speaks from experience.
With no electricity or gas, enterprising locals in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta have begun extracting fuel products by melting plastic scavenged from destroyed buildings.
The sense of unraveling across the globe is the result of a power vacuum. After the post-Cold War end of U.S. hegemony, no one is ready to impose order. And, no, economics can’t fix it.
In Tartus, on Syria’s western coast, residents in relative calm. But even here, a new sectarian melting pot and a flagging war economy are beginning to take their toll.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a new biometric system aims to prevent locals from pilfering supplies meant for victims of civil conflict. The aid often ends up at local markets.