Leaving the Syrian Civil War
We’re going to get out of the Syrian war the same way we got in: without a strategy to do so. I’ve said before that the president’s refusal to engage in a policy process is troublesome in the extreme. Structured policy processes serve to add discipline to a decision-making process, to surface unintended consequences, and to ensure that whatever decisions are made for the nation are thoroughly vetted and thought-through. … Read More
#31 in Trending: U.S Strikes Syria – Picks of the Week
Brian Williams is ‘guided by the beauty of our weapons’ in Syria strikes | The Washington Post US strikes in Syria launched from USS Porter | YouTube Dozens of U.S. Missiles Hit Air Base in Syria | The New York Times Trump launches military strike against Syria | CNN Politics Friday morning the number thirty-one top trending video on YouTube, beneath asapSCIENCE: “Are you normal,” celebrities eating hot wings … Read More
Documentary Filmmaker Daphne Matziaraki to Receive 2017 Pell Center Prize
Newport, R.I. – Filmmaker Daphne Matziaraki, whose documentary about the European refugee crisis was nominated for an Academy Award, has been named the 2017 recipient of the Pell Center Prize for Story in the Public Square. The prize, awarded annually since 2013, honors a storyteller whose work has significantly influenced the public dialogue. “It is an incredible honor to be awarded the prestigious Pell Center Prize for Story in the … Read More
Witness: Photographer and Filmmaker Javier Manzano Receives 2016 Pell Center Prize for Story in the Public Square
Newport, R.I. – One day in Aleppo, Syria, in 2012, Javier Manzano was in a car driving along a road. He found himself in one of the world’s most dangerous places because he is a photojournalist and there was a story to tell. As they drove, he saw the road in front of him erupt as a Syrian Air Force bomb detonated. His car screeched to a halt and as … Read More
Picks of the Week: Obama & Trump
Just how much do these men have in common?
Javier Manzano to receive 2016 Pell Center Prize for Story in the Public Square
NEWPORT, R.I. – Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and documentary filmmaker Javier Manzano, whose career has taken him to Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Nigeria, among many other places, has been named the 2016 winner of the Pell Center Prize for Story in the Public Square. The prize honors a storyteller whose work has significantly influenced the public dialogue. As the fourth winner of the prize, conferred by the Story in … Read More
Picks of the Week | The Long Game
President Obama: the 60 Minutes Interview | CBS News Rift in Obama administration over Putin | Politico Who is a Better Strategist: Obama or Putin? | Foreign Policy Last week, during an appearance on “White House Chronicle,” the show’s host, Llewellyn King, asked me whether a lack of leadership on the National Security Council and at the State Department was to blame for the impotence of U.S. policy in the Middle … Read More
Picks of the Week | Big Challenges Await Next President
Why Americans Still Think the Economy is Terrible | New York Times Senators call U.S. effort to train Syrians to fight Islamic State ‘a joke’ | McClatchy DC Russia is Setting up a Forward Operating Base in Syria, Pentagon Confirms | Defense One President Barack Obama waded into the 2016 Republican primary debate this week when he said, “Despite the perennial doom and gloom that I guess is inevitably … Read More
Photographs: Fleeing From Terror
Every day, floods of people gather into the camps and centers in Kobani: about 5,000 new refugees each day. Photographer Furkan Temir released eleven photos into the news, all showing the faces of the refugees, each photo in black and white. One photo shows a mother and her child, centered in the frame, the mother gazing despairingly toward the ground. Another shows a large group of men watching warfare not … Read More
Pell Center Roundtable Discussion: The Crisis in Syria
About one year ago, the President of the United States declared that the widespread use of chemical weapons in Syria would draw an armed U.S. military intervention. On August 21, 2013, chemical weapons were employed against civilian targets in a suburb of Damascus, Syria. According to reports, more than 1400 civilians were killed, including more than 400 children. President Barack Obama responded by calling for an armed international response. The … Read More