Long the crossroads of civilizations, Syria has now spent seven years as the proxy warzone of great powers. With over half a million dead and millions more displaced, the conflict is  now “arguably the world’s largest humanitarian disaster since World War II,” writes Andrew Tabler in The Atlantic. “The Syrian Civil War now threatens to morph into the Syria War—a regional conflagration which seems likely to burn for a generation. And civilians are cursed to live it, and die in it, every day.” How did we get here? And what comes next? Links - “How Syria Came to This” (Andrew Tabler, April 15, 2018) - “What If There Is No Ethical Way to Act in Syria Now?” (Sigal Samuel, April 13, 2018) - “The Obama Doctrine” (Jeffrey Goldberg, April 2016 Issue) - “The Syrian War Is Actually Many Wars” (Krishnadev Calamur, April 13, 2018) - “Trump's Selective Empathy for Syrian War Victims” (Krishnadev Calamur, April 18, 2018) - The Poems of Max Ehrmann (Max Ehrmann, 1906) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices