MARCH 13, 2017, Counterpunch.org. I am afraid to ask you you’re feelings about the recently announced American invasion into your country. In our talks these past months, we’ve spoken only about hardships: the increasing scarcity of electricity, water and food…

APRIL 6, 2016, Counterpunch.org. “…before it fell back into government hands last weekend”, notes a National Public Radio reporter Monday morning. He’s clearly disappointed, unable to utter even a suggestion that that event marks a military success against ISIS (IS,…

JULY 22, 2015, Counterpunch.org. When a former Syrian student of mine, Walid, announced that he’d resolved to pay smugglers to get him to Europe, I thought of his classmates and so many youths I hear from, now scattered across the…

FEBRUARY 5, 2014, Counterpunch.org. How can I distinguish between a 4-year old alawite corpse and a 6 month old miasmatic christian infant, between an orphan and a refugee?

DECEMBER 6, 2013, Counterpunch.org. Poetic designations like Qalamoun are propelled into international consciousness as new sites of combat and desolation. Because Qalamoun lies strategically on the main route between Damascus and Syria’s northern cities, we learn about it.

OCTOBER 20, 2017, Counterpunch.org The Iraqi government has every right to assert control over Kirkuk and its environs. (One only wonders why it waited this long.) The city has never been a Kurdish stronghold under the protection of Peshmerga, that…