Tangled Web: The Syrian Civil War and Its Implications

Abstract

Western news media outlets have paid considerable attention to the civil war in Syria, but much of the coverage is simplistic and melodramatic. Too many accounts portray the conflict as a Manichean struggle between the evil, brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad and noble freedom fighters seeking to create a new, democratic Syria. The reality is far more complex and murky. Syria’s turmoil has troubling, long-term implications not only for that country but for the Middle East as a whole, and even for the international system. The searing images of civilian casualties coming out of Syria have been hard to watch. Several thousand innocent people perished between the eruption of resistance to Assad’s regime in March 2011 and the beginning of 2013, with no end in sight. There is little doubt that government forces were responsible for the majority of deaths. The prospect that Assad might be overthrown is understandably appealing to Westerners from a moral standpoint, but the West needs to be fully aware of the potential for unintended, and possibly quite unpleasant, consequences.

Defacing the Map: Cartographic Vandalism in the Digital Commons

“…For example, in July 2012, a group of WikiMapia users repeatedly removed and obfuscated military sites in Syria, acting within the current armed conflict between the Syrian government and the armed opposition (Carpenter, 2013). An alleged member of the Syrian opposition added obscenity to the map, targeting the Alawites, the religious minority to which the Assad family belongs.…”

The Reasons and Economic and Political Consequences of Arab Spring

“…In Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen anti-democratic governments were toppled as a result of the protests while some economic and soc ial rights were granted to nations in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Bahrain (Stepan and Linz, 2013). In Syria, the death toll exceeded one hundred thousand from the beginning of the insurgency till July, 2013 (Carpenter, 2013). While Turkey positions itself beside democratic opposition movements, Iran has been supporting Esed regime with both military and political means.…”

Shifting Policies in Conflict Arenas: A Cosine Similarity and Text Mining Analysis of Turkey’s Syria Policy, 2012-2016

“…Syria's civil war has produced a myriad of national security challenges for Turkey. 1 Ankara's response has oscillated between trying to insulate itself from the effects of conflict to policies seeking to shape the situation in its southern neighbor. During the period of this research, from 2012 to 2016, Turkey's policies and actions towards Syria appeared contradictory.…”