Tag Archives: Middle East

Syria in the shadow of Iraq

Posted on March 15, 2013 by

After two years of a bloody civil war in Syria the frustration in finding a diplomatic solution is seeing a number of governments openly talking about arming the more moderate elements of the Syrian opposition. With over 70,000 deaths to … Continue reading →

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Syria’s Refugees – A Jordanian Perspective

Posted on January 17, 2013 by

This is the second in a series of blogs recording a week-long visit to the Holy Land with the Vatican’s Holy Land Coordination Group, 4-10th January 2013. Poor internet connections throughout the trip meant that my reflections could only be … Continue reading →

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Prospects for Peace in Syria

Posted on September 5, 2012 by

What are the prospects for peace in Syria? Is there a non-violent way out of this crisis? These might appear daft questions to ask when the conflict is spiralling so destructively out of control. But, it is precisely because the … Continue reading →

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Modernity and its futures?

Posted on April 20, 2012 by

Trawl the shelves of any respectable bookshop today and you will find a growing body of literature expounding the now well trodden thesis that China’s rise inevitably means the West’s demise. To be fair scholars have been exploring this possibility for … Continue reading →

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Unite for Syria: Stop One Year Of Bloodshed

Posted on March 15, 2012 by

Today 100s of NGOs and 1,000s of campaigners are coming together across the globe to call on the international community to UNITE FOR SYRIA and STOP ONE YEAR OF BLOODSHED. I’m chuffed to bits that the Church of England is … Continue reading →

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Revoking Assad’s licence to kill

Posted on March 12, 2012 by

Over the last few weeks I’ve been working with partners to coordinate a package of activities around the one year anniversary of the Syrian uprising on March 15th. The first part of this is now complete, with publication of an … Continue reading →

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Developing an Understanding of Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions

Posted on February 23, 2012 by

Putting aside for the moment the unanswered question of whether Iran intends to militarize the nuclear capability that it appears likely to acquire any time soon, what exactly is driving Iran’s nuclear ambition? It is not the place of this blog to document … Continue reading →

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Taking a More Sympathetic Look at Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions

Posted on February 21, 2012 by

Every day carries yet further news about Iran’s nuclear programme and the international effort to prevent Iran crossing the nuclear threshold. If news reports are to be believed – and we know they rarely should be – we are slowly … Continue reading →

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Preliminary Reflections of a Reluctant Pilgrim

Posted on January 30, 2012 by

In an earlier blog I questioned whether it is possible to hold together a journey though the historical landscape of Jesus and its 21st Century reality? Since arriving in Tel Aviv on Friday, this reluctant pilgrim has visited a number … Continue reading →

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Afghanistan: To 2015 and Beyond

Posted on January 11, 2012 by

Rather than face the inevitable tsunami of emails that arises from being holiday, I decided to escape the office today for the relative sanctuary of the IISS where resident scholars were launching the results of their research project on the … Continue reading →

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