Life, Death and Art in Syria - Art Exhibition Organized by Fanack

Family Without a Home
by Rafaat Bilal

By now hardly anyone can deny knowing about the terrors of the Syrian civil war, which has been raging among different factions since 2011. The number of killed, wounded, and refugees has been rising over the years. Accurate numbers are hard to come by with various sources using different numbers.

Wikipedia states:" .....a 2014 U.N. study concluded that at least 191,369 people have died in the Syrian conflict.The UN thereafter stopped collecting statistics, but a study by the Syrian Centre for Policy Research released in February 2016 estimated the death toll at 470,000, with 1.9m wounded (reaching a total of 11.5% of the entire population wounded or killed)."

In addition, approximately 4 million Syrians are refugees who mostly left for Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. Then there are refugees trying to move to Europe, many seeking to go to Germany, but a smaller portion of approximately 40,000 Syrian refugees have fled to the Netherlands.

It is in The Hague, in the Netherlands, that an art exhibition, Life, Death and Art in Syria, is organized by Fanack, an independent online media organization that provides balanced and informed analysis about the Middle East. (Fanack is a content partner with Cosimo, with whom we released a collection of classic books about the Middle East. See also Syria, The Desert and the Sown, 1907 travel literature by Gertrude Bell of the highest order.)

In this exhibit, jointly organized with Nieuwspoort, the Dutch parliamentary press club, and art gallery Frank Taal,  Syrian artists and their stories are brought together showing their interpretations and experiences of being Syrian post 2011. Both images and stories are poignant and worth your visit to Nieuwspoort, literally at the doorsteps of the Dutch parliament in The Hague - till September 15 - or visit it online. If you want to meet the artists and hear their stories over a traditional Syrian dinner, there will be a closing dinner held on Monday September 12.

May Classic of the Month: On Liberty by John Stuart Mill

Cosimo is putting the spotlight on worldwide politics with the May Classic of the Month, On Liberty by John Stuart Mill.


"No one can be a great thinker who does not recognise, that as a thinker it is his first duty to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead. Truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study and preparation, thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think."
       -John Stuart Mill, in On Liberty


Perhaps the greatest work from British political philosopher John Stuart Mill, On Liberty is one of the most profound and most hotly debated works of the 19th century. Is it a classic plea for human freedom and intellectual development... or is it factually wrong and morally offensive? With recent political upheaval in Ukraine and violent crimes in Syria, this book could not be more relevant to today's news and happenings. 

About the Author
English philosopher and politician John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was one of the foremost figures of Western intellectual thought in the late 19th century. He served as an administrator in the East Indian Company from 1823 to 1858, and as a member of parliament from 1865 to 1868. 

Cosimo is proud to offer both an affordable paperback and handsome hardcover edition of On Liberty at leading online bookstores including Barnes & Noble (paperback and hardcover), and Amazon (paperback, hardcover, and eBook).

Hazel Henderson on Syria and the International Criminal Court

Although the ground on the Syria crisis has started to shift, at this point we don't know how successful the Russian proposal for Syrian chemical weapons disarmament will be, neither what the response of President Obama and the Congress will be in case of failure. What we do know is how President Obama and his foreign policy team has framed the debate a few weeks ago. Now an intriguing article has been written by Hazel Henderson, well known as a sustainable economist, futurist, author of multiple books including with Cosimo, specifically addressing the false dichotomy presented by President Obama and calling for a non-military and legally sound option of referring the perpetrators to the International Criminal Court (ICC.) In her article Averting Another U.S. Foreign Policy Disaster published in The Globalist, Hazel Henderson states.

"So far, the public debate in the United States on what to do about Syria has been largely limited to an almost childishly binary proposition: “Bomb Syria — or do nothing.” President Obama has taken a first step out of this box by correctly throwing the decision on Syria to the U.S. Congress, as required by the U.S. Constitution."

Henderson then acknowledges that due to  Russia's initiative, President Obama has "now a way to put the military strike on hold. But should this initiative fail, there remains a strong possibility — given the grave doubts asserted by many, including military officers and other leaders — that Congress will answer President Obama’s request with a resounding “no” vote."

Henderson continues and calls for an alternative to the option of military action:

Danny Schechter on What Syria and the Financial Crisis Have in Common

At the eve of President's Obama televised speech to the American people, developments on the "ground" about Syria appear to be changing dramatically. Russia has made a proposal today to avoid a U.S. military strike on Syria by having international monitors take control of the Syrian government’s chemical weapons, while Syria's foreign minister Walid al-Moallem welcomed this proposal. This may turn out to be just a ploy to play for time or it might offer the Obama administration an unexpected way out of this political and diplomatic mess. Whichever it is, it's causing confusion in Washington: the U.S. Senate postponed a vote authorizing an attack, and President Obama's speechwriters will be having a hard time coming up with a speech that will be truthful, up-to-date, and effective. One can also wonder what effective would mean in this increasingly complicated war game.

Against the backdrop of the developments in Syria crisis, Danny Schechter, filmmaker, Cosimo author, media critic, aka the News Dissector  wrote an article on the disinformation website (published before Russia's proposal became public), titled: Financial Crisis and Impending War Are Converging As Failed Policies Become Self-Fulfilling Prophecies. In this article, Schechter is making an interesting connection about the convergence of two events, the Syria crisis and the upcoming anniversary of 9/11 on the one hand, and on the other hand the anniversary of the financial crisis. Schechter says:
"And, then, there’s the anniversary of the financial crisis which all the military bang-bang is sure to drive off the front pages even as New York Times economist Paul Krugman noted Friday:

“In a few days, we’ll reach the fifth anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers — the moment when a recession, which was bad enough, turned into something much scarier. Suddenly, we were looking at the real possibility of economic catastrophe.
And the catastrophe came.”....

.....You can be sure that Obama does not intend to speak about the economic crisis next Tuesday, because he has no real answer to Krugman’s indictment of failed economic policies. One of the architects of that policy, Larry Summers is apparently about to be appointed to head the Federal Reserve Bank for TEN years, despite his pathetic record, with Obama’s support."

Schechter continues: