Tag: war
Understanding Syria on Another Anniversary of War: A Brief Reading List
Today marks the eighth year of the war in Syria. The conflict has produced some of the worst destruction and the most displaced people of any conflict in decades. It is the worst war, for its...
Look, Syria Is Still Happening
The war that started with protests-turned-violent in March 2011 enters its eighth year tomorrow. Its eighth year. Eight years is a long time. And it’s way longer when the threat of bombs, chemical weapons, kidnapping,...
It Was Time to Act Yesterday
How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? – Psalm 137:4 During the predawn hours of September 2, 2015, the body of a young boy washed ashore on a...
We Knew What Was Happening in Aleppo. We Have No Right to Act Shocked.
The end of the siege of Aleppo came with fury and fanfare. The city’s fall—or liberation, depending on your politics—much like the entirety of its four years of unceasing war, was brutal. Cluster bombs, the...
The Siege of Aleppo
Syria’s Stalingrad has seen more destruction than any warscape is entitled to. Barrel bombs, hell cannons, the deliberate targeting of schools and hospitals, civilians as human shields, damage to UNESCO heritage sites, failed truces, deprivation,...
Do something
In fifty years, we’re going to look back at the first half of the 21st century and remember again that the Syrian crisis—the apex of larger regional and international conflicts—was the defining struggle of a...
Hope doesn’t mean forgetting
Sometimes, we look forward to a new year because it means we get the chance to start over. The clocks and the fireworks shoot straight up and hang for a minute before, boom, a fresh...
Remember, the Sochi Olympics are being staged in a war zone
By now you’ve probably heard about the less-than-desirable conditions being faced by athletes, journalists and fans in the Russian city of Sochi, where the Winter Olympics are being held. Tweets about “dangerous face water,” a...