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Qunfuz.com
Writer and blogger at Qunfuz; author of The Road from Damascus and co-author of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War
PROFILE
Robin Yassin-Kassab
Guest
FROM Robin Yassin-Kassab
To the Point
A Portrait of Life -- and Survival -- in Syria After five years, this week the civil war in Syria reached new levels of violence despite talk of an international commitment to a ceasefire. This week, Aleppo. Syria's largest city and a longtime rebel stronghold, became a new and bloody battlefield. At least 50 people died when bombs hit four separate medical facilities and schools in the province airstrikes that US officials have blamed on Russia and the Assad government. All of this despite a United Nationsbrokered ceasefire agreement, which is supposed to go into effect tomorrow. What is life like in a country strafed by bombs, looted by war profiteers, in cities subject to siege and families divided by politics? We talk to reporters and aid workers about the unique toll terrorism, civil strife and violence take on Syrians who cannot, or will not leave their country.
Which Way, L.A.?
Syria, Libya and the Future of NATO Syria is conducting bloody repression of its own people without interference. Some 8500 Syrians have fled across the border into Turkey and thousands more may be making their way on trucks, tractors and on foot, without access to shelter or food. In Libya, Moammar Gadhafi is hanging on longer than expected. Is NATO prepared to protect civilians for humanitarian reasons? What's the future of the Atlantic Alliance? Segment image: Syrian refugees gather on June 15, 2011 during Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's visit to the Turkish Red Crescent camp, two kilometers from the Syrian border. Photo: Mustafa Ozer/AFP/Getty Images
To the Point
Syria, Libya and the Future of NATO The government of Syria is using tanks and other weapons to quash dissent by killing its own people. The international community, so far, is standing by. The UN Security Council has not denounced the Syrian regime, and NATO is showing no appetite for intervention. NATO is having a hard time already in Libya , and the US is impatient about being so involved in an action pushed originally by Britain and France. What's happening to the idea of "liberal intervention" on humanitarian grounds? Are US and European interests no longer in sync? What's next for NATO?
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