Trump’s Tweets and Retreats on Syria
We should have gotten more of the oil in Syria, and we should have gotten more of the oil in Iraq. Dumb leaders. We should stay the hell out of Syria, the “rebels” are just as bad as the current regime. WHAT WILL WE GET FOR OUR LIVES AND $ BILLIONS? ZERO The President must get Congressional…
Friends, Foes, and Frenemies: Who’s Fighting Whom in Syria
Russian soldiers ride through Aleppo, 2017Christian Werner Syria’s civil war doesn’t have two clearly defined sides. Hundreds of opposition groups have taken up arms against the Assad government—and sometimes each other. The conflict has also become a proxy war for countries including the United States, Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Not to mention the Kurds, Hezbollah,…
Why You’re Not Hearing About America’s Wars
James FoleySteven Senne/AP James Foley, a 38-year-old former prison literacy teacher, went to Syria in 2012 to cover a civil war in which the United States was a major player—and which Americans were largely ignoring. He believed in the power of witnessing, and in the human capacity for empathy. “Journalism in a war zone should…
A Timeline of the Syria Conflict
Left: Syrian President Hafez al-Assad (right) in 1967. Right: An ISIS fighter in Raqqa, Syria, in 2014Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho/Getty; Stringer/Reuters Hafez al-Assad seizes power in a coup within the Baath Party. He becomes president of Syria the following year. Syria and the Soviet Union sign a treaty of friendship and cooperation. In response to a Sunni rebellion…
Prisoners In Just Two States Can Vote. Here’s Why Few Do.
Prisoners at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland, Vermont, register to vote in 2008. Only two states, Vermont and Maine allow people to vote while they’re in prison.Toby Talbot/AP This story was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit newsroom covering the US criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletter, or…
Is Our EPA Chief Stupid or Evil?
Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via ZUMA In most studies of new drugs, half the patients are given the experimental drug and the other half are given a placebo. It’s a “blinded” study because the patients don’t know which they’ve been given. In a double-blinded study, the doctors don’t know either. Andrew Wheeler, head of the EPA, is…