Tag Archives: Syria

“Et Tu, Brute!”–Betraying the Kurds

Which Shakespeare play best captures Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds? Julius Caesar, perhaps, for pathos, Othello for the cold-blooded way it was done.

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On Broken Ceasefires, in Homer & in Syria

The horrific bombing of a 31-truck aid convoy brought an end to the painstakingly negotiated ceasefire between Russian and the United States in Syria. The incident resembled how Hera and Athena break up the truce that the Greeks and Trojans are trying to negotiate in “The Iliad.”

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Speak Now for Peace

Obama, take note: Vachel Lindsay in 1915 counseled against going to war even after the sinking of the Lusitania.

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Getting Tied Down in Syria

Is there a danger that U.S. involvement in Syria will lead to a Gulliver-like disaster?

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Syrian Violence vs. Our Humanity

Galloway’s “Cellist of Sarajevo” gives a face to the victims of violence.

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Syria’s Massacre of the Innocents

Updating Herod’s slaughter of the innocents, Scott Bates imagines a soldier who takes a principled stand and refuses to participate.

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Assad Came Down Like a Wolf on the Fold

The Syrian president’s assault on his people reminds me of Lord Bryon’s poem “The Destruction of Sennacherib,” where a superior force is defeated by the cause of justice. Time will tell whether this is no more than a fantasy.

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Refugees Dropped in a Fantastic Terrain

As I watch the brutal repression currently underway in Syria, I am reminded of Syrian-American poet Mohja Kahf’s poem about her family fleeing to America from Assad’s father in 1971.

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