Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Policy

This Is How Great-Power Wars Get Started

| June 21, 2017

Not with a bang, but basic strategic confusion in Washington about the links between Syria, Qatar, Iran, and Russia.

In the last month, for the first time since the civil war in Syria began in 2011, the United States has directly attacked Syrian government forces or proxies — not just once, but at least four times. The urgent question now is less about Syria than Russia, which in response to the latest of these incidents, in which a U.S. fighter plane shot down a Syrian jet, threatened to target any U.S.-led coalition aircraft flying over Syria.

Are the U.S. and Russia being sucked into war in the Middle East, and if so, how can escalation be averted?...

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For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Simpson, Emile.“This Is How Great-Power Wars Get Started.” Foreign Policy, June 21, 2017.

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