Category Archives: Syria

Turkey is in Trouble: Ankara’s No-Win Syria Strategy

Posted on October 18, 2013 by aaronstein1

Turkey is in trouble. Absent direct American intervention in Syria – which was never going to take  place – Ankara’s hopes for dealing with spill over in violence from the conflict next door is near hopeless. Moreover, Turkey’s preferred policies … Continue reading →

Posted in Syria | 1 Comment

Guest Post: The EU Arms Embargo and the Syrian Conflict

Posted on May 29, 2013 by aaronstein1

As the debate about whether to arm the rebels continues, scant attention has been paid to whether or not such a policy is legal under international law. I have asked Jamie Walsh – a Ph.D candidate at University College Cork, where … Continue reading →

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Turkey Did Have a Choice in Syria

Posted on March 20, 2013 by aaronstein1

Turkey’s approach to the crisis in Syria is rooted in its previous “pre-Syrian revolt” foreign policy ambitions in the Middle East. Turkey’s overarching goal is to engage in a multi-directional proactive foreign policy, in order to deepen relations with leaders … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreign Policy, Syria | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Passive Defense: The Questions Turks Should be Asking about Patriot

Posted on March 7, 2013 by aaronstein1

Yesterday, I summarized an article I co-authored with Shashank Joshi – a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute- about the Patriot missile system and Turkey’s Syria policy. If you missed yesterday’s post, click here. In general, Shashank and … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemical Weapons, Missile Defense, Syria, Turkey | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

On 15 February, NATO announced that the final of the the six Patriot batteries was operational. According to the press release, “In response to Turkey’s request, NATO Foreign Ministers decided on 4 December 2012 that NATO would ‘augment Turkey’s air … Continue reading →

Posted on March 6, 2013 by aaronstein1 | 2 Comments

Border Blast: The Fallout and Predicting Turkey’s Response

Posted on February 11, 2013 by aaronstein1

Today’s bombing at the Reyhanli border gate could not have come at a worse time for the AK Party. Their Syria policy is unpopular, which had in turn forced Erdogan to switch from a policy of loud interventionist twinged rhetoric, … Continue reading →

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Ankara Responds to the Chaos in Syria

Posted on January 23, 2013 by aaronstein1

The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) – a London based think tank – published a piece I wrote about how the Syrian Civil War has exposed Turkey to the growing threat of Kurdish and Islamist empowerment. I have posted the article … Continue reading →

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Syrian Site Security: An Educated Guess (Updated with new information)

Posted on January 17, 2013 by aaronstein1

Foreign Policy has published an excellent piece by R. Jeffrey Smith that helps to fill in many of the unanswered questions I posed in an earlier blog post I wrote about Syrian site security. In light of this new information, … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemical Weapons, Syria, Turkey, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

German Patriot Games: The Bundestag Debates the Deployment of Patriot in Turkey

Posted on January 14, 2013 by aaronstein1

Niklas Anzinger –  a  Philosophy and Economics student at the University of Bayreuth in Germany – has kindly offered to summarize the debates taking place in Germany about the deployment of Patriot missile batteries and troops to Turkey. Anzinger spent … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemical Weapons, Foreign Policy, Israel - Turkey Relations, Syria, Turkey | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tacit and Explicit Knowledge: Why Most Claims about Syrian Weapons are Overblown

Posted on January 3, 2013 by aaronstein1

Recent news reports have claimed that Syria has modified surplus Mig-21s to be flown unmanned and to carry and deliver chemical weapons. According to the press report: On 21 June 2012, Syrian pilot Col Hassan Hamada took off in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Drones, Syria | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment