Read an an excerpt from the new book ‘Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War’ by Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila Al-Shami. The book tells the story of how Syrians took to the streets in 2011 to demand the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and the political and humanitarian nightmare still unfolding today. This excerpt explores how the regime responded with overwhelming violence to the initial non-violent protests, and the choices facing grassroots activists as the revolution militarized.

As American and Russian negotiators discuss a cease fire in Syria, both countries are supporting forces carrying out atrocities in the county.

Jeff Klein reports on the horrific devastation left in the wake of the ISIS occupation of the world-famous ancient city of Palmyra and the neighboring Syrian town of Tadmor. He traveled there with a delegation that was the very first group of international civilians to view the site in the aftermath of the battle that took place there.

Sonia Grieco follows two Palestinian families who have fled Syria to Beirut’s Shatila refugee camp. “The life in the camp is tough, but at least the war is far”, says Rajaa, a recently widowed mother of two.

Jeffrey Goldberg drives the neoconservative story, in an interview with President Obama in which he repeatedly suggests that the president lost his foreign policy credibility when he failed to attack Syria in 2013.

Yonatan Shay, an official of the American Jewish Committee, seeks to paint Syrian refugees in Berlin as anti-Semitic, and as putting Jews in Europe in danger, with the obvious agenda of riding the nationalist xenophobic wave.

On December 3rd 2015 a statue was unveiled in honor of Richard “Dick” Cheney at the United States Capitol. Coincidentally, the previous day witnessed the British parliament, specifically the House of Commons, inadvertently honor Cheney in the debate on whether to extend the military intervention aimed at ISIS in Iraq into ISIS’s supposed heartland in Syria.

The crisis in Syria is still in full throttle. President Obama pretends to be a powerless…

Read an excerpt from Charles Glass’s new book Syria Burning from Or Books. In it, Glass puts the failure of the Syria revolution into a broader historical context where the United States, with its European and Arab allies, have manipulated and subverted movements for change in the Middle East for decades.

The world is witnessing the largest refugee crisis since the horrors of World War II. There are close to 60 million war refugees, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, an all-time high, as people from Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and Yemen are fleeing violence in their countries. Human rights organizations warn the Gulf states, Israel, Iran, and Russia—all of whom have taken zero refugees—along with the US, Canada, and Europe—which have taken few—are not doing enough. Ben Norton presents a guide to the refugee crisis and how every country you need to know about is responding.