It has been a scary few weeks in international news. A panel discussion tonight at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts will cover recent terrorist attacks in France and Lebanon — including the American and international responses.The Islamic State group has taken credit for recent attacks in Paris and Beirut, which have elevated international discourse about how to defeat the militants. MCLA professors Dave Cupery and Ben Taylor will be joined by Adam Hinds, who worked on conflict resolution in Iraq and Syria for the United Nations, for a discussion on the events and their implications. Professor Bob Bence will moderate the talk. Political science and public policy professor Cupery says he will talk about potential responses from the international community — including arming rebel groups in Syria — in an area with competing interests.
“The U.S. and our allies have sought arm and finance the ones that deem as most friendly to democracy, liberalism and our strategic interests in the region,” Cupery said. “That’s challenging to do because some of the groups that we deem as the good rebel groups they’re often working at least indirectly with more radical groups that share the desire to overthrow the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria.”
Other options being explored or expanded are placing Special Forces in the region and airstrikes. Having reviewed opinion polls over the past 18 months, Taylor says the American public has been louder about the need to do something about ISIS following egregious actions by the group like beheadings, mass killings and the destruction of antiquities. But he says recent history has shown Americans are wary about entering a military engagement without leaders laying out a clear definition of success.
“The problem with ISIS, as far as I can tell, is defining what success or victory looks like against that organization, quasi-state,” Taylor said. “Without being able to define that we’re never going to get past willingness to help out, past maybe bombing. That’s my sense in public opinion. So any politician who is looking at this from an electoral point of view has to be very worried about that and has to take it into account as they think about how to position themselves and what polices they’re going to undertake.”
The recent violence has also made some Americans question the decision to allow Syrian refugees to resettle in the U.S. More than half of the governors have expressed some wariness about the current process. Taylor says public opinion is muddled on this complex issue.
“Conservative politicians and Republicans particularly as this is election season at the presidential level certainly see this is as an opportunity to create differences among themselves,” Taylor said. “Who can be the most conservative? Who can be the most aggressive toward ISIS? Refugees are a symbol of that in some way because there is some uncertainty and fear about having refugees in your area.”
Taylor says an increased foreign policy focus in the presidential race benefits former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the most because of her international experience. Cupery says the recent attacks may shift the international community’s aim as it pertains to ousting embattled Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad.
“The international community is going to look at Syria and say ‘Hey, maybe we just want something predictable versus someone who has their hands clean,’” Cupery said.
Cupery described the U.S., Russia and Iran all opposing ISIS as strange bedfellows. He says the bombing of a Russian passenger plane last month may alter Russia’s actions.
“That pushes Putin more toward us [United States],” Cupery said. “Then what happened in France is pushing the U.S., France and other Western countries perhaps to a more hawkish and confrontational direction. Iran is very interested in diminishing the growth of Sunni extremism as it looks to spread its more Shia influence. I think that we see the countries moving in that direction of all sharing a common enemy and therefore having more space for direct cooperation.”
The panel starts at 7 at MCLA’s science center. It is expected to run 90 minutes.
