Can an attack on Idlib be Prevented? Mark Leon Goldberg September 7, 2018The presidents of Turkey, Iran and Russia met in Tehran today to discuss the situation in Idlib. This is the province of Syria to which millions of civilians and some fighters have fled as their cities and towns fell to government forces. They were permitted b...
A Final Showdown Looms in Syria. The UN Warns it Could be a “Bloodbath” Mark Leon Goldberg August 23, 2018The Syrian war may be entering its final phase. Rebel fighters from various factions are now concentrated in Idlib, in northern Syria. Idlib is the place to which civilians and members of armed groups were permitted to escape as part of evacuation deals f...
A UN Peacekeeping Force is Caught in the Crossfire of Escalating Conflict in the Golan Heights Mark Leon Goldberg May 11, 2018UN Peacekeepers have been stationed in the Golan Heights since 1974. The mission, known as the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, or UNDOF, deployed to the border region of Israel and Syria following a ceasefire in May 1974. Technically, UNDOF is su...
UPDATE: A Chemical Weapon Has Been Used in Syria. What Does the Security Council Do Now? Mark Leon Goldberg April 9, 2018UPDATE: The Security Council is meeting again today, potentially on separate resolutions offered by the United States and Russia. The key difference between the two resolutions is that the United States wants an independent international investigation to be ab...
The White House Turns to the UN to Fight ISIS’ Re-Emergence in Syria. (But Denies it the Funding to Do So) Mark Leon Goldberg April 4, 2018The White House sought to address some confusion over President Trump's suggestion yesterday that American troops should quit Syria. The statement released this morning was still somewhat cryptic, but it did unambiguously call on the United Nations to "work to...
PODCAST: With the Devastation of Eastern Ghouta, The Syria Conflict Enters a New Phase Mark Leon Goldberg February 22, 2018 The conflict in Syria has entered a new phase. ISIS has been defeated, yet in many ways the war is metastasizing.In Eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus, the war is as brutal as ever. After days of extremely heavy bombing, the UN secr...
How ISIS May Face Justice for their Atrocities Mark Leon Goldberg November 17, 2017Over the last several weeks, ISIS has been systematically losing territory. Its last stronghold in Iraq, the city of Hawija, was liberated in early October. A few weeks later, ISIS' de-facto capital in Raqqa, Syria fell to US-backed forces.ISIS no long...
A UN Official (Correctly) Calls Trump’s New Travel Ban “Collective Punishment” Mark Leon Goldberg September 25, 2017New travel restrictions imposed by the United States hurts ordinary people for one reason only: their nationality.Jan Egeland is the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the world's largest humanitarian organizations. He is also the former top UN ...
The Number of Refugee Children Out of School is Increasing at an Alarming Rate Mark Leon Goldberg September 21, 2017Amid all the pageantry, hoopla and media circus that is UN week in New York there is always some interesting and substantive work being done on important global issues. Sometimes these issues are not on top of the agenda of world leaders (though they proba...
