After six weeks in Beirut, duing which I witnessed a substantial swing in the balance of power in the Middle East in favour of the Greater Israel project, it is time to take stock.
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Craig,
Either there is the will and means to effect resistance – or there isn’t.
For the moment, with the exception of the Houthis, there is consistently expressed will but in practical terms – not the means. You have stated, with first hand information, this reality.
Time and change of circumstances will dictate events, seems to me.
An assured catalyst is that where there is injustice there inevitably will be resistance.
Isn’t that the reality?
Thanks for sharing your information, insights and the specific details on the ground.
Thank you for this excellent analysis. Bleak house for sure.
You’ve done your bit to expose Israeli war crimes in Lebanon. Possibly you can continue the fight against Israeli apartheid and genocide in the West after your return. As you say, the new government in Damascus may not prove friendly to Israel at all in the longer term, on the contrary. So well done, and MXHNY to you and family as well.
Godspeed, Bon voyage, Alhamdoulillah.
Let’s keep the nefarious intelligence services monitoring your blog unaware of your whereabouts and traveling plans…
Happy Holiday Season for you and your loved ones. Please make sure to have post-production of your yet-unreleased documentaries completed in time for Xmas. This will be by far the best gift for your readers, and many of them may have chosen to have this year a Lebanese cedar in their family room instead of a regular Nordmann fir!
No, and here I beg to differ, Imperialism is NOT winning. The metric system clearly makes the rules, sorry. One day, Scotland may even drive on the right side, who knows.
It’s only temporary winning for imperialism, I’m pretty sure. Syria could easily go horribly wrong for the empire. The jihadis won’t tolerate Israel very long. Maybe not all of them, but open abandonment of their principles will stick in the craw of a large number of the jihadis, and Julani may have trouble keeping control. Equally, the IDF may get overconfident (under its own jihadi-like command) and expand into the open lands of Syria. That would put the Israeli military at severe risk sooner or later.
Hezbollah does have its own independent weapons-manufacturing capabilities. Besides, Hezbollah survived the decades when Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi government made it unsafe to send anything from Iran to Hezbollah by land.
Before the Americans destroyed the Iranophobic government of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iranians were able to somehow reach Hezbollah without needing the Iran-Iraq-Syria-Lebanon land route. My opinion is that the loss of Syria is a huge setback, but not a permanent blow.
Is there a transcript?
Quicker to take in; fewer distractions; less encouragement to and reliance on Google.
Careful what you say …
“Britain’s newest online censorship law came into force on Monday, as the country’s telecoms regulator published a list of content that social media platforms must remove to avoid multi-million-pound fines.
The guidelines list a range of 130 illegal acts that these platforms must forbid and prevent
…, the rules will apply to more than 100,000 companies from around the world, from the largest social media platforms to “very small” providers of entertainment, dating, gambling, and other online services.”
https://www.rt.com/business/609445-uk-online-safety-law/
Here is the list of illegal content:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-safety-act-explainer/online-safety-act-explainer#new-offences-introduced-by-the-act
I don’t see anything political there except possibly one mention of “terrorism”. Nothing on this webpage, that I’ve noticed.
The Unborn Babies
That Israel have Murdered
In Tens of Thousands,
Thanks for your Brave work Craig..Precious and Vital.. Stay safe.
Apparently this is a Statement from Assad –
Statement:
“With the expansion of terrorism in Syria, and its arrival in the capital Damascus on the evening of Saturday, December 7, 2024, questions began to be raised about the fate and location of the president, amidst a torrent of confusion and stories far from the truth, which constituted support for the process of installing international terrorism concealed as a Syrian liberation revolution.
At a critical historical moment in the life of the nation, when truth should have a place, there is something that needs to be clarified through a brief statement. These circumstances and the subsequent complete cessation of communication for security reasons did not allow for it to be made, and its brief points do not replace the narration of the details of everything that happened later, when the opportunity arises.
First of all, I did not leave the country in a planned manner as was rumored, nor did I leave it during the last hours of the battles, but rather I remained in Damascus following up on my responsibilities until the early morning hours of Sunday, December 8, 2024. With the expansion of terrorism inside Damascus, I moved in coordination with my Russian friends to Latakia to follow up on the combat operations from there. Upon arriving at the Hmeimim base in the morning, it became clear that the forces had withdrawn from all the battle lines and that the last army positions had fallen, with the deterioration of the field situation in that area increasing, and the attack on the Russian military base itself being escalated by drones. In light of the impossibility of leaving the base in any direction, Moscow asked the base leadership to work on securing immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday, December 8, the day after the fall of Damascus, and after the fall of the last military positions and the subsequent paralysis of the rest of the state institutions.
During those events, the issue of asylum or resignation was not raised by me or by any person or party, and the only option presented was to continue fighting in defense of the terrorist attack.
In this context, I emphasize that whoever, since the first day of the war, refused to trade his country’s salvation for personal salvation, or to bargain with his people with various offers and temptations, is the same person who stood with the officers and soldiers of his army on the front lines, dozens of meters away from the terrorists in the hottest and most dangerous hotbeds of conflict, and is the same person who did not leave during the most difficult years of the war and remained with his family and people to face terrorism under bombardment and the danger of terrorists storming the capital more than once during fourteen years of war. And whoever did not abandon the non-Syrian resistance in Palestine and Lebanon, and did not betray his allies who stood with him, cannot be the same person who abandons his people to whom he belongs, or betrays them and his army.
I have never been a person who seeks positions on a personal level, but rather I considered myself the owner of a national project that derived its support from a people who believed in it. I carried the certainty of the will of that people and their ability to preserve their state and defend its institutions and choices until the last moment. With the fall of the state into the hands of terrorism, and the loss of the ability to provide anything, the position becomes empty and meaningless, and there is no meaning to remaining responsible in it. This does not mean in any way abandoning the authentic national affiliation to Syria and its people, a fixed affiliation that is not changed by position or circumstance, an affiliation filled with hope that Syria will return free and independent.”
https://t.me/SyrianPresidency/4386?
A sobering assessment of the situation and thank you for it. It is consistent in essence with others that I have come across though with a different emphasis on who the driving forces actually are and how they are doing the driving. Alexander Mercouris on The Duran suggests Turkey is behind it all with HTS acting under its control. He describes HTS as a “fiction”. Planned or opportunistically, Israel seems to have benefited most and by implication its USA sponsor. Turkey and Israel certainly seem to be sharing the spoils, possibly as a result of having a complementary relationship as opposed a fully cooperative and coordinated one in the Assad deposition process.
I can’t think of any historical precedent where a successful insurgency which ostensibly receives widespread approval from the world at large loses almost from day one its “right to self – defence” as a result of another state’s bombardment of its military facilities. I suspect it’s a matter of HTS here today and gone tomorrow.
This is shocking.
“For all those telling me how normal and understandable it was that Al Jazeera host @kasimf tweeted a call for mass beheadings in Syria, starting with journalists and artists he accuses of supporting Assad, he deleted his tweet. I made sure to archive it ”
https://nitter.poast.org/AliAbunimah/status/1867251406685585485#m
Republicofscotland
Al Jazeera is based and funded in Qatar I think.
No different to the media in the West for sure. Depends on who’s paying your wages/income I suppose.
Saudi Arabia is accused of ‘Sportswashing’, and the vast majority of presenters across the Globe could all be accused of ‘Truthwashing’
Three things though in passing:
Lot’s of Drones and other things flying over the US and a few other countries (non-reported in Africa I think) and it’s very impressive – no matter who it is. The Pentagon is not arsed as they weren’t arsed on 9/11 – so no change there.
An Israel Bomb? dropped on somewhere in Syria scored 3.0 on The Richter Scale.
And finally………..Now we know who this Chinese Fella is and what he looks like we can all sleep safely in our beds. No free Xmas Turkey for this man at the Prince’s knees up this year. ‘Blood is Blood’. Not much blood in Turkey as far as I know, Charles.
What everyone is refusing to notice:
The Russians removed their Air Force from Syria in advance of the regime change.
The Assad family has left Syria. It must be assumed they took their wealth/assets as well.
Maher Al Assad who controlled the Syrian Army left Syria WITH HIS ARMY.
Iraq now host the Syrian Army. How long did that negotiation take? Was Iran involved (seems hard to believe otherwise)?
Was the genocide in Gaza a smokescreen for the Syrian regime-change plan. Has there been a Syria for Ukraine deal. Has China been left out of the game.
While people show surprise at ISIS/HTS being supported by USA/Israel etc., ISIS has always fought its battles with US weapons in hand and relied on US air support. The forces of the barbaric know who their friends are.
The anomaly here is the Oighur involvement. China cannot be pleased about a Oighur success story. But the Russians must have informed them in advance, they cannot risk that relationship at the current time.
The Ukrainian support for HTS and Jolani reinforces the idea that there is a Syria/Ukraine deal in the background, that along with the Russian withdrawal. It is not as if the Ukrainians didn’t have other pressing matters to attend to.
And Why do you Assume all this John.. Who told you to Assume.. ?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/dec/16/alleged-chinese-spy-linked-to-prince-andrew-named-as-yang-tengbo
“The security minister Dan Jarvis said a planned shake-up of security laws that would require those working for a foreign government to declare this or face criminal prosecution would now not be ready until summer 2025.”
Labour Friends of Israel
Conservative Friends of Israel
Liberal Democrat Friends of Isrrael
Board of Deputies of British Jews
Confederation of Friends of Israel in Scotland
Campaign Against Antisemitism
On the last-mentioned, this is from the “definition of antisemitism” that they support:
https://antisemitism.org/definition/
* “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour).”
* “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”
If you oppose the making of a “claim” that Israel is a racist endeavour, and you oppose the drawing of comparisons between genocide committed by Israel and genocide committed by other powers in the past 100 years, you are obviously working for the good of Israel – and in support of the genocide that it is committing. How could that be denied? (But of course it would be denied.)
Lock ’em up!
I wonder why the wait until summer 2025? Could it be Gaza-related?
Sometimes I don’t like to be overly negative, but when we read of a “planned shake-up of security laws“, maybe this is the right time to stop believing that failed methods of fighting against oppression are going to work.
Yes unfortunately there is no denial that Israel have become the new leader of the Middle East and that with rapid pace, although It did not have to be like this. Most obviously the arab leaders and one must now add, a considerable part of the arab population are now, without doubt, just fine with living like slaves to israel’s interests.
“Arab countries must stop appeasing a violent expansionist Israel”
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-arab-countries-stop-appeasing-violent-expansionist
This morning I read how arab leaders are instead busy bootlicking Netanyahu by finalizing a deal, on behalf of Israel, for palestinians to let go of the israeli captives in Gaza, instead, the arab leaders should be busy cutting ties applying political, economic sanctions and making sure Israel will pay for the colossal destruction of Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and make sure Israel also face judicial punishment for the genocide et.c.
But again, there is no such interest because we are talking about wilful slaves.
A bleak assessment, though I won’t mourn the demise of the theocratic regime in Iran.
If the situation is as unstable as Craig predicts, it won’t last long and better times may follow.
At least the forces of tyranny in Russia are not having it all their own way: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/17/russia-ukraine-war-general-linked-chemical-weapons-ukraine-dies-moscow-latest-updates#top-of-blog
JK Redux
The MSM Liberals (some Theocratic – some not) were musing over the idea that ‘The Syrian people’ were going to rebuild Syria (what’s left of it later), and I thought:
With what? They are skint after sanctions and Protestant US looting plus stealing, so what will ‘The Syrians’ rebuild with? Don’t say The IMF and World bank will lend the ordinary people money to re-build their lives – you need collateral for that and the Theocratic WASPS (and the odd Catholics) have possession of the collateral mentioned above.
Incidentally, when the war ends in Ukraine – the ordinary Ukrainians will be asked to do the same. Despite Blackrock et al owning most of the good stuff.
Because when you get right down to it, religion is not at the root of any of this. It is about surviving to eat, drink water and live no matter where you live in the world. Only the spoilt Brat Westerners would not understand that.
I will remind anyone that any given country’s Foreign Policy is always reflected at home. This is yet another reason why Democracy in the post-pampered world is under threat.
Democracy is not under threat, it is already dead and it is difficult to estimate its expiry date, whether 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ago!!!
That ‘chemical weapons’ link to the terrorist assassination is very helpful to western reporting.
Last week the SBU claimed responsibility for the execution of a Russian missile scientist in a park not far from today’s explosion. So far as I can discover he was shot in the back. I was not aware of this being reported in western MSM and I can understand why. Bumping off ‘boffins’ is not such an easy sell, legitimate target though he may have been in Ukrainian eyes, as a military General linked to chemical warfare.
David Warriston
Who is the terrorist?
“Imperialism is winning”. Yep. Because imperialism is an ideology created to fight and conquer. (Communism, too, by the way). It would be surprising if those calling for peace prevailed. In ancient Indian history, there were only two kingdoms where Jainism was the state religion; both short lived. (Jainism is a religion that renounces any violence).