“Is there just cause and right intention? Yes, there’s a grave public evil with a chemical weapons attack. But on criteria of last resort, proportional response, probability of success, this strike idea really falls short of the mark.” More →

August 30, 2013

A report from one of the sprawling Syrian refugee camps in Jordan describes the interfaith “burdens of hospitality” being shared by Mennonite, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and UN aid groups as thousands of Syrians cross the border every night. More →

March 8, 2013

Some Turkish Alawites say their concerns are driven less by sympathy for the Assad regime than by a fear of what might replace it. More →

January 4, 2013

“It is the responsibility of the international community, of the global civil society, to come and take care and assist the transformation of Syria, in collaboration with the Syrian civil society,” says the exiled leader of the Deir Mar Musa monastery near Damascus. More →

July 31, 2012

“We are together in front of God and recognize each other as believers…these Muslim, Christian and Jewish, they worship God in a kind of choir,” Father Paolo Dall’Oglio told correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro in describing the work of his monastery before violence erupted in Syria. More →

July 20, 2012

Does the US have a duty to act? Is it possible to somehow intervene in Syria and still do more good than harm? “Nothing is certain in human affairs,” says this political and moral philosopher. More →

March 16, 2012

The United States has decided not to act unilaterally to protect rebellious Syrian communities from the atrocities of the Syrian military. By the time the international community organizes to take remedial action against Syria’s armed forces, the regime’s tyrannical oppression … More →

March 14, 2012

“I feel the voice of God echoing from the mountains all over this place,” says a Syrian Christian pilgrim visiting Deir Mar Musa, an ancient desert monastery in Syria reestablished by Jesuit priest Paolo Dall’Oglio. More →

March 8, 2012

Watch more of our conversation about Libya, humanitarian intervention, and the ethical questions being raised by NATO’s current military strategy.
More →

June 10, 2011

Read correspondent Lucky Severson’s August 7, 2006 interview in Washington, D.C. with Vali Nasr, a professor in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. More →

August 10, 2006