In this Middle East Analysis podcast (25 May 2013), Dr Harry Hagopian looks once more at the ongoing turmoil and bloodshed in Syria.


In this Middle East Analysis podcast (25 May 2013), Dr Harry Hagopian looks once more at the ongoing turmoil and bloodshed in Syria.

As the international community continues to debate the best approach to the crisis, he asks, pragmatically, whether the time has come and gone for any satisfactory solution of intervention. Also, does intervention necessarily mean boots on the ground, or enforced no-fly zones facilitating corridors of safety for aid and refugees?

President Barack Obama spoke of the ‘red line’ for the US being the use of chemical weapons by Bashar al-Assad’s regime. In at least one attack, a number of news outlets reported the alleged use of the nerve agent sarin, but are we any closer to international agreement on how to proceed with Syria?

The podcast considers the international political stalemate; how the al-Assad regime is regaining the upper hand; the potential shape of a future Syria and what this means for its communities; whether there is a credible solution of intervention and who would the international community actually be supporting?

Once again, the host for this podcast, relayed by Ekklesia, si the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

* Full podcast (MP3 format): http://www.catholicnews.org.uk/content/download/35440/263470/file/MEA-2013-7.mp3

Harry Hagopian is an international lawyer, ecumenist and EU political consultant. He also acts as a Middle East and inter-faith advisor to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales and as Middle East consultant to ACEP (Christians in Politics) in Paris. He is an Ekklesia associate and regular contributor (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/HarryHagopian).

Formerly an Executive Secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Committee and Executive Director of the Middle East Council of Churches, Dr Hagopian is now an international fellow, Sorbonne III University, Paris, consultant to the Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide (UK), Ecumenical consultant to the Primate of Armenian Church in UK & Ireland, and author of The Armenian Church in the Holy Land. His own website is www.epektasis.net Follow him on Twitter here: @harryhagopian