The MSC Wiley Lecture series will be hosting a talk, ‘The Syrian Enigma: A Continuing Crisis’ on Thursday. A part of the continuing Wiley lecture series, the event will feature an expert panel to provide their views and opinions on the ongoing Syrian crisis.
Adrian Bissdorf, director of marketing for the MSC Wiley Lecture Series, said the Syrian crisis was a humanitarian tragedy and an important test to see how the international community reacts to the situation.
Speaking at the panel will be Andrew Natsios, executive director of the Scowcroft Institute, Erin Snider, associate professor at the Bush School and David Edwards, professor of political science at the University of Texas. The event will be followed by a question an answer session.
Bissdorf said each speaker would provide their view on the issue along with a likely prediction of what would happen and what should happen.
“In the early fall, when the chemical weapons attack was discovered and international forces were forced to consider military intervention, the topic was front-page news,” Arnold said. “But as the domestic budget and debt crises stole the show in Washington, the humanitarian needs of the Syrian civilians were forgotten by the general public.”
Bissdorf said Natsios would be speaking about the uprising with respect to the Muslim Brotherhood while Snider will focus on the humanitarian aspects as well as the possible responses available for the international community.
“Since the uprising that began in 2011, its incredible how many people suffer to this day,” Bissdorf said. “It’s not just that region that has been affected. U.S. and Russia relations have become strained over Syria. With the recent development of gassing of civilians a red line was crossed and apparently there was no intervention.”
Bissdorf said discussion of the tragedy is an important step towards finding solutions.
Tucker Pope, director of symposia at the Wiley Lecture Series, said the objective of the event is to broaden the educational experiences of the Texas A&M community by encouraging thought-provoking discussions on solutions to such problems.
“We usually arrange these lectures on domestic and foreign policy issues once every five weeks or so,” Pope said. “The Wiley Series has been around since 1982 and was endowed by the Wiley brothers in 1984.”