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    Does public care about UN blessing over Syria?

    In the debate over whether the United States and one or more of its NATO allies should launch a military strike against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over its alleged use of chemical weapons, much has been made of the need for multilateral sanction for such an effort, either by the U.N. Security Council or NATO.

  • short reads

    UN approval before using military force lacks widespread global agreement

    The UN Security Council failed Wednesday to reach agreement on a British-sponsored resolution authorizing approval of taking action against Syria for its alleged use of chemical weapons. A 2011 Pew Research poll found publics in most countries surveyed did not support the principle of obtaining UN approval first.

  • short reads

    As U.S. considers Syrian strike, support for NATO has waned

    While the U.S. and several of its allies in NATO review options for military action against Syria for its alleged use of chemical weapons, such action is reportedly not likely to be under the umbrella of NATO. Support for NATO in member countries has waned.

  • short reads

    The black-white and urban-rural divides in perceptions of racial fairness

    A recent Pew Research Center survey asked Americans of all races how black people are treated relative to whites by the police, the court system and other institutions in their community. The results show a large and consistent black-white gap in perceptions, with blacks far more likely than whites to say African Americans are treated […]

  • short reads

    King’s “I have a dream” speech, by the numbers

    Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech 50 years ago today on Washington D.C.’s National Mall and Memorial Parks has become one of the most famous, and quoted, pieces of oratory in U.S. history (though that wasn’t apparent to everyone at the time). But how well have the aspirations King so memorably expressed been realized? We ran […]

  • short reads

    Another casualty of war in Syria—citizen journalists

    Professional journalists have long faced the risks of working in harm’s way, but now conflicts like the one in Syria are claiming the lives of a new part of the media — citizen journalists.

  • report

    King’s Dream Remains an Elusive Goal; Many Americans See Racial Disparities

    Five decades after Martin Luther King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C., a new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that fewer than half (45%) of all Americans say the country has made substantial progress toward racial equality and about the same share (49%) say that “a lot more” remains to be done.