Bouthaina Shaaban, Political and Media Advisor to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, addressed a talk hosted by the Centre for Policy Analysis on the Syrian crisis. Newsclick presents the video of the talk. Shaaban says there are multifaceted factors responsible for the crisis. She says the expulsion of Syria from the Arab League has caused huge damage. The arming of Syrian rebels has still not abated. Every passing day is a tragedy with 2 million people already displaced, thousands killed and many more orphaned. Syria is being infused with sectarian beliefs and language, which is destroying the secular foundations of the system. Shaaban sees in Syrian crisis a whole design for the entire region. She hopes countries like India would be more pro-active at the upcoming BRICS meeting in South Africa in pressing for a non-military intervention in Syria.

Most of what was said at the summit of BRICS and in its Delhi Declaration, was hot air, as one has come to expect of such meetings. However there are at least two significant developments that set this summit apart.

NATO headquarters shares with the caves of al-Qaeda the error of hubris.

For the world's developing economies, a movement away from the dependence on the IMF is in order. Vijay Prashad writes.