The Collapse of American Power in the Middle East

Robert Fisk, Timothy Lynch and Sally Warhaft — Photo: Emily Harms

The Syrian War is the most deadly conflict we’ve seen in the 21st Century so far.

And with 12 million Syrians displaced since 2011 and world powers intervening on all sides – it’s far from a regional problem. The Syrian War is a crisis with ramifications that reach across the globe.

Now in its seventh year, the conflict that began during the Arab Spring has become appallingly complex. The involvement of world and regional powers has served to intensify and prolong the hostilities, turning Syria into a proxy battleground, and casting the possibility of peace further into the distance.

For this Fifth Estate episode, recorded live at the Melbourne Writers Festival, join the Independent’s revered correspondent Robert Fisk and American politics expert Timothy Lynch for a discussion of foreign political involvement in the region. How are the interventions of world and regional powers exacerbating the conflict? Who are the various rebel groups involved and what are their activities in other parts of the region? How are global dynamics shifting – and are we witnessing the collapse of American power in the Middle East? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.