SJS3: "Syria in the Abyss"

SJS3- "Syria in the Abyss"

Source: Weiss, Max. "Syria in the Abyss." Current History, vol. 113, no. 767, Dec. 2014,
     pp. 372-73.

Author: Max Weiss is the author of In The Shadow of Sectarianism: Law, Shiism, and the Making of Modern Lebanon. He is also the current associate professor of History and Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University.

Summary: This article examines the uprising in Syria and analyzes how an American journalist, Reese Erlich, voices their opinion on the situation. Since 2011, more than 200,000 people have died during this war, and more than nine millions have been forced to relocate, mostly in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. Many citizens took matters into their own hands and tried to attack the Assad government. He also touches on how Syria is not all to blame for the outbreak of war. The author being examined, Erlich, claims that tries to understand Syria's perspective and view on the uprising and rebellion. The article also voices that there are double standards when dealing with Syria. According to Weiss, Erlich feels that Israel is being hypocrites, in the fact that they are promoting bombing because they do not like Assad. In addition, he states that the United States and other countries do have an effect on Syria. According to the author, Syria has the best location that will be able to work effectively with the United States. Weiss then ends with saying that although very insightful, no person with power will see and evaluate what Erlich claims is right for the country of Syria.

Analysis: Although Weiss included some ideas of his own, he mainly focused on examining what the author of Inside Syria, Reese Erlich had to say about the civil war going on in Syria. However, Weiss does put forth a concise, well written analysis of what Elrich stated in his writing.