A truly seismic change in the Middle East appears to be happening very fast. At its heart is a devil’s bargain – Turkey and the Gulf States accept the annihilation of the Palestinian nation and creation of a Greater Israel, in return for the annihilation of the Shia minorities of Syria and Lebanon and the imposition of Salafism across the Eastern Arab world.
This also spells the end for Lebanon and Syria’s Christian communities, as witness the tearing down of all Christmas decorations, the smashing of all alcohol and the forced imposition of the veil on women in Aleppo now.
Yesterday US Warthog air-to-ground jets attacked and severely depleted reinforcements which were, at the invitation of the Syrian government, en route to Syria from Iraq. Constant, daily Israeli airstrikes on Syria’s military infrastructure for months have been a major factor in the demoralisation and reduced capacity of the Syrian government’s Syrian Arab Army, which has simply evaporated in Aleppo and Hama.
It is very difficult to see the tide turning in Syria. The Russians now have either to massively reinforce their Syrian bases with ground troops or to evacuate them. Faced with the exigencies of Ukraine, they may do the latter, and it is reported that the Russian navy has already set sail from Tartus.
The speed of collapse of Syria has taken everybody by surprise. If the situation does not stabilise, Damascus could be besieged and ISIS back on the hills above the Bekaa valley within a week, given the speed of their advance and the short distances involved.
A renewed Israeli attack on Southern Lebanon to coincide with a Salafist invasion of the Bekaa Valley would then seem inevitable, as the Israelis would obviously wish their border with their new Taliban-style Greater Syrian neighbour to be as far North as possible. It could be a race for Beirut, unless the Americans have already organised who gets it.
It is no coincidence that the attack on Syria started the day of the Lebanon/Israel ceasefire. The jihadist forces do not want to be seen to be fighting alongside Israel, even though they are fighting forces which have been relentlessly bombed by Israel, and in the case of Hezbollah are exhausted from fighting Israel.
The Times of Israel has no compunction about saying the quiet part out loud, unlike the British media:
In fact Israeli media is giving a lot more truth about the Syrian rebel forces than British and American media just now. This is another article from the Times of Israel:
While HTS officially seceded from Al Qaeda in 2016, it remains a Salafi jihadi organization designated as a terror organization in the US, the EU and other countries, with tens of thousands of fighters.
Its sudden surge raises concerns that a potential takeover of Syria could transform it into an Islamist, Taliban-like regime – with repercussions for Israel at its south-western border. Others, however, see the offensive as a positive development for Israel and a further blow to the Iranian axis in the region.
Contrast this to the UK media, which from the Telegraph and Express to the Guardian has promoted the official narrative that not just the same organisations, but the same people responsible for mass torture and executions of non-Sunnis, including Western journalists, are now cuddly liberals.
Nowhere is this more obvious than the case of Abu Mohammad Al-Jolani, sometimes spelt Al-Julani or Al-Golani, who is now being boosted throughout western media as a moderate leader. He was the deputy leader of ISIS, and the CIA actually has a $10 million bounty on his head! Yes, that is the same CIA which is funding and equipping him and giving him air support.
Supporters of the Syrian rebels still attempt to deny that they have Israeli and US support – despite the fact that almost a decade ago there was open Congressional testimony in the USA that, to that point, over half a billion dollars had been spent on assistance to Syrian rebel forces, and the Israelis have openly been providing medical and other services to the jihadists and effective air support.
One interesting consequence of this joint NATO/Israel support for the jihadist groups in Syria is a further perversion of domestic rule of law. To take the UK as an example, under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act it is illegal to state an opinion that supports, or may lead somebody else to support, a proscribed organisation.
The abuse of this provision by British police to persecute Palestinian supporters for allegedly encouraging support for proscribed organisations Hamas and Hezbollah is notorious, with even tangential alleged references leading to arrest. Sarah Wilkinson, Richard Medhurst, Asa Winstanley, Richard Barnard and myself are all notable victims, and the persecution has been greatly intensified by Keir Starmer.
Yet Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) is also a proscribed group in the UK. But both British mainstream media and British Muslim outlets have been openly promoting and praising HTS for a week – frankly much more openly than I have ever witnessed anyone in the UK support Hamas and Hezbollah – and not a single person has been arrested or even warned by UK police.
That in itself is the strongest of indications that western security services are fully behind the current attack on Syria.
For the record, I think it is an appalling law, and nobody should be prosecuted for expressing an opinion either way. But the politically biased application of the law is undeniable.
When the entire corporate and state media in the West puts out a unified narrative that Syrians are overjoyed to be released by HTS from the tyranny of the Assad regime – and says nothing whatsoever of the accompanying torture and execution of Shias, and destruction of Christmas decorations and icons – it ought to be obvious to everybody where this is coming from.
Yet – and this is another UK domestic repercussion – a very substantial number of Muslims in the UK support HTS and the Syrian rebels, because of the funding pumped into UK mosques from Saudi and Emirate Salafist sources. This is allied to the UK security service influence also wielded through the mosques, both by sponsorship programmes and “think tanks” benefiting approved religious leaders, and by the execrable coercive Prevent programme.
UK Muslim outlets that have been ostensibly pro-Palestinian – like Middle East Eye and 5 Pillars – enthusiastically back Israel’s Syrian allies in ensuring the destruction of resistance to the genocide of the Palestinians. Al Jazeera alternates between items detailing dreadful massacre in Palestine, and items extolling the Syrian rebels bringing Israel-allied rule to Syria.
Among the mechanisms they employ to reconcile this is a refusal to acknowledge the vital role of Syria in enabling the supply of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah. Which supply the jihadists have now cut off, to the absolute delight of Israel, and in conjunction with both Israeli and US air strikes.
In the final analysis, for many Sunni Muslims both in the Middle East and in the West, the pull seems to be stronger of sectarian hatred of the Shia and the imposition of Salafism, than preventing the ultimate destruction of the Palestinian nation.
I am not a Muslim. My Muslim friends happen to be almost entirely Sunni. I personally regard the continuing division over the leadership of the religion over a millennium ago as deeply unhelpful and a source of unnecessary continued hate.
But as a historian I do know that the western colonial powers have consciously and explicitly used the Sunni/Shia split for centuries to divide and rule. In the 1830’s, Alexander Burnes was writing reports on how to use the division in Sind between Shia rulers and Sunni populations to aid British colonial expansion.
On 12 May 1838, in his letter from Simla setting out his decision to launch the first British invasion of Afghanistan, British Governor General Lord Auckland included plans to exploit Shia/Sunni division in both Sind and Afghanistan to aid the British military attack.
The colonial powers have been doing it for centuries, Muslim communities keep falling for it, and the British and Americans are doing it right now to further their remodelling of the Middle East.
Simply put, many Sunni Muslims have been brainwashed into hating Shia Muslims more than they hate those currently committing genocide of an overwhelmingly Sunni population in Gaza.
I refer to the UK because I witnessed this first hand during the election campaign in Blackburn. But the same is true all over the Muslim world. Not one Sunni Muslim-led state has lifted a single finger to prevent the genocide of the Palestinians.
Their leadership is using anti-Shia sectarianism to maintain popular support for a de facto alliance with Israel against the only groups – Iran, Houthi and Hezbollah – which actually did attempt to give the Palestinians practical support in resistance. And against the Syrian government which facilitated supply.
The unspoken but very real bargain is this. The Sunni powers will accept the wiping out of the entire Palestinian nation and formation of Greater Israel, in return for the annihilation of the Shia communities in Syria and Lebanon by Israel and forces backed by NATO (including Turkey).
There are, of course, contradictions in this grand alliance. The United States’ Kurdish allies in Iraq are unlikely to be happy with Turkey’s destruction of Kurdish groups in Syria, which is what Erdoğan gains from Turkey’s very active military role in toppling Syria – in addition to extending Turkish control of oilfields.
The Iran-friendly Iraqi government will have further difficulty with reconciling US continuing occupation of swathes of its country, as they realise they are the next target.
The Lebanese army is under control of the USA, and Hezbollah must have been greatly weakened to have agreed the disastrous ceasefire with Israel. Christian fascist militias traditionally allied to Israel are increasingly visible in parts of Beirut, though whether they would be stupid enough to make common cause with jihadists from the North may be open to question. But should Syria fall entirely to jihadist rule – which may happen fast – I do not rule out Lebanon following very quickly indeed, and being integrated into a Salafist Greater Syria.
How the Palestinians of Jordan would react to this disastrous turn of events, it is hard to be sure. The British puppet Hashemite Kingdom is the designated destination for ethnically cleansed West Bank Palestinians under the Greater Israel plan.
What this all potentially amounts to is the end of pluralism in the Levant and its replacement by supremacism. An ethno-supremacist Greater Israel and a religio-supremacist Salafist Greater Syria.
Unlike many readers, I have never been a fan of the Assad regime or blind to its human rights violations. But what it did undeniably do was maintain a pluralist state where the most amazing historical religious and community traditions – including Sunni (and many Sunni do support Assad), Shia, Alaouites, descendants of the first Christians, and speakers of Aramaic, the language of Jesus – were all able to co-exist.
The same is true of Lebanon.
What we are witnessing is the destruction of that and imposition of a Saudi-style rule. All the little cultural things that indicate pluralism – from Christmas trees to language classes to winemaking to women going unveiled – have just been destroyed in Aleppo and could be destroyed from Damascus to Beirut.
I do not pretend that there are not genuine liberal democrats among the opposition to Assad. But they have negligible military significance, and the idea that they would be influential in a new government is delusion.
In Israel, which pretended to be a pluralist state, the mask is off. The Muslim call to prayer has just been banned. Arab minority members of the Knesset have been suspended for criticising Netanyahu and genocide. More walls and gates are built every day, not just in unlawfully occupied territories but in the “state of Israel” itself, to enforce apartheid.
I confess I once had the impression that Hezbollah was itself a religio-supremacist organisation; the dress and style of its leadership look theocratic. Then I came here and visited places like Tyre, which has been under Hezbollah elected local government for decades, and found that swimwear and alcohol are allowed on the beach and the veil is optional, while there are completely unmolested Christian communities there.
I will never now see Gaza, but wonder if I might have been similarly surprised by Hamas rule.
It is the United States which is promoting the cause of religious extremism and of the end, all over the Middle East, of a societal pluralism similar to Western norms. That is of course a direct consequence of the United States being allied to both the two religio-supremacist centres of Israel and Saudi Arabia.
It is the USA which is destroying pluralism, and it is Iran and its allies which defend pluralism. I would not have seen this clearly had I not come here. But once seen, it is blindingly obvious.
Beirut 6 December 2024
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The plans, from US neocons, go back to at least 2006. And were reported on by Sy Hersh in an article title the “Redirection” in the New Yorker in Feb 2007. I discussed the use of Saudi CounterTerrorism policy to funnel willing salafists against Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and “Houthis” in this analysis.
https://nevergonnabelievethis.net/2024/09/21/jihadi-rehab-regime-change-and-the-prince-of-counterterrorism/
All things pass, except diabetes. MBN was never friends with MBS, but obviously his house arrest and various mistreatments are not of good omen regarding pluralism in the Saudi sphere. Who’s next?
I tried posting this article on Facebook and it was censored. 😡
Jon, I’m censored there too… For using Israel Word / Genocide Word. It’s started
Here’s Craig’s article on Wikispooks: https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Document:The_End_of_Pluralism_in_the_Middle_East
Enjoy!
It’s on moonofalabama as well, and will probably end up on CN.
Reading the Guardian’s rolling coverage, it’s shockingly lacking in impartiality about unfolding events, and more like that of a certain Murdoch tabloid. The clearly discernible narrative they are pushing : these jihadists are the ‘good guys’ and ‘liberators’. But what basis is there for believing that simply on the basis of a few staged videos from occupied areas? We don’t know how all Syrians feel about this, so it’s completely wrong for the Guardian and BBC to make such assumptions. The coverage is in stark contrast to that when their ideological bedfellows, the Sunni Islamic nationalist Taliban fighters rolled into Kabul to takeover – no liberation that, for the Guardian and BBC.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/07/syria-rebels-reach-damascus-bashar-al-assad
Their pro-HTS spin, talks of “liberated cities” and the coming end of “brutal dictator,” as if an armed insurrection by foreign mercenaries is an unalloyed good for Syria; something every country should desire. Egypt’s El-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah and minority ruler of Bahrain, must be rubbing their hands at the prospect of being next then, on that basis? Oh, that would be off script for these western hypocrites, making these decisions to topple only the dictators who won’t play ball.
Like many of those NAFO people online, guardian journos are down such a dark hole in their Russophobia, they view everything that happens in the world through a West vs Russia prism; if they perceive something as being bad for Putin and Russia? Well, then they’re happy. They are totally obsessed with Russia, because they’ve unquestioningly bought into every claim & utterance of the intel services over the last 15 years. They think Putin caused Brexit; put Trump in power…twice, and they believe Russia controls social media somehow, conducting ‘hybrid warfare’. The only people conducting online influence ops. at scale, are the West – supposedly in response to Russia doing that to us, sans proof. Look at the accounts that have popped up spewing anti-Assad and pro-rebel stuff in the last 24 hrs with no counter narrative from Russia or anywhere else for that matter. And who is providing al the pictures and videos from these caring, sharing jihadists?
the guardian of pluralism, mask off. (it will go back on).
Mask on, mask off – you’ll like this …
https://www.unz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/ErdoganRevealed-MW.jpg
as slippery as they come.
It will all backfire, as it did in Afghanistan and in Libya. But the US know this and don’t care. They see a short term advantage in backing monsters, for Israel and for their wider interests in the region.
all this is clearly play acting of the rapture/revelations lore by the zionist evangelicals in the US/UK and everyone played along by Israel.
I tried to share your essay on Facebook, and their censors deleted it. I am thinking as time goes by, they will be censoring anything that doesn’t agree with the official story.
Seems like Syria has fallen, one wonder how it could happen so easily and without pretty much no clashes (excluding air sorties).
A huge blow for Iran/Hezbollah/Palestinians/Russia, by crossing out Syria there could be no iranian weapons being delivered to Hezbollah anymore.
Assad is nowhere to be seen from the reports I have seen. There is a high risk that he will be killed now by Israel since it is less risk by killing him now when he is out of power.
Speaking of which, there are reports that Israel expanded their occupation, beyond, Golan Heights. Israel seems to cynically milk this event in every way possible. By on the one hand get rid of Assad but on the one hand keep claiming that Syria is a threat and therefore Israel must entrench their occupation.
The HTS really tried to generate support for this insurrection in the west though, proclaiming they are pro “diversity”:
“Western media’s latest scam – Terrorists on the offensive in Aleppo seem to be attempting to give themselves a facelift, suddenly embracing diversity ”
Facelifted Al-Qaeda in Syria now sounds like it swallowed an equity and inclusion manual written by a nose-ringed, purple-haired, gender-fluid Western activist. “Diversity is a strength,” said the group’s head, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, after rampaging through Aleppo.
https://swentr.site/news/608844-whos-trying-turn-jihadists-syria-gay/
What is sad is also that all this will take away the focus from the the israeli crimes against Palestine, Lebanon.
Hmm, guess I was optimistic about at least parts of the SAA. Fighting for self-preservation/sectarian reasons.
The lack of real outside intervention by Syria’s allies speaks to some machination between them and Erdoğan. They (and the Chinese) knew this offensive was coming, no chance they didn’t. Russia was a bit-part player, Iran & Hezbollah weren’t.
Hezbollah isn’t truly cut off: Lebanon is one big coastline, and road traffic is much slower, less efficient and not safe from interdiction either.
Syria is going to be a mess; the Kurdish-controlled areas are defacto a separate country, have been for years. Don’t see them and even “woke jihadis” getting along.
There’s also the mountainous coastland. Not sure the Alawites & other minorities congregated there will be keen on HTS rule, nor that the Russians will give up those bases.
So more division of Syria, in perhaps a Libya Mk2 scenario and Israel getting a small slice?
Yes the total lack of interest in stopping the HTS says alot about the actual western interests in the downfall of Syria.
Reports coming out that Assad is dead, his plane allgedly dissapeared from radar. If true, most likely assassination by Israel. Russia should have transported Assad. Blunder after blunder now..
Yes I agree this could easily turn into a failed state like Libya. So many interests by different sectarian groups and outside forces.
A truly black day for Syria. If anyone thinks this is good for the country they only have to look at Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan. Back to the middle ages, chaos and destruction. Israel, Saudi and the USA will be so pleased.
Certainly, very dark and almost too bad to be true, in just some months Haniyeh, Nasrallah, Assad(?) were wiped out, add the possibility that the former iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and former iranian FM Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also assassinated by Israel, when then their plane crashed in Iran.
The crushing of the Shia/Resistance axis that Netanyahu and the arab leaders dreamed of for decades, materialized just like that.
Iran is really in the crosshair now by Israel/US/Arab world. Very troubling times ahead, not to mention with the anti-iranian Trump incoming.
Jack
If the Iranian theocratic state was replaced by a democracy that would be a victory for the Iranian people.
Countries shouldn’t be run by priests.
despite his genocide, Genocide Joe ‘is a decent guy’
— John Kinsella, 2024
Total bollox as usual. Name me one western regime that is actually run by ‘the people’ rather than corrupt billionaires and fascists. Remind me, as well, is Ireland still run by the pope and his paedophile gang ?
The reality on the ground where we actually have ‘democracy’ is that it stinks and hates ‘the people’.
Stevie Boy
The Nordics are democracies as are the Baltics. The latter despite large russian minorities and Russian interference.
You mention Ireland where certainly up to the 60’s “Home Rule” was “Rome Rule”.
Not anymore though the RCC still has major but dwindling influence on education.
In Iran, women are beaten up and murdered for not wearing the clothes that God prefers. And of course only people approved by the priest caste are permitted to stand for election.
Stevie Boy
The Nordics and the Baltics are pretty decent democracies.
Yes Ireland was under heavy influence by the RCC up to the 1960s. But not any more.
“If the Iranian theocratic state was replaced by a democracy that would be a victory for the Iranian people”
You can be sure that any replacement of government organised by western governments will be much less democratic than the government it replaces. This has been their consistent pattern for centuries because western governments are the enemies of western values, if by ‘western values’ you mean the values of the Enlightenment.
JK redux
Nor dictators.
Would you support other ‘dictators’ being overthrown, el-Sisi – more political prisoners than Assad’s Syria. King Abdullah in Jordan and Bahrain’s minority Sunni monarch? How about KSA and the Gulf monarchies like Qatar and Oman?
The West is complicit and completely inconsistent. It’s as if, it’s really all about Israel’s needs.
Goose
I’d absolutely support the overthrow of the Gulf monarchies. And KSA etc.
I expect most people here would too.
JK. That’s the typical ‘western’ mindset.
Although, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and now Syria had their ‘human rights’ issues, just as KSA does now, just overthrowing stable, albeit unpleasant regimes is not the answer because you are always left with a vacuum which ultimately fills with the worse dregs of humanity.
To be successful and help the people, there must be a visible transparent, fully funded exit plan. There never is. And since this approach seems to be consistent with western regime change agendas the only logical conclusion is that this is what they want. Chaos. As such, personally, I prefer these regimes stay in place and diplomacy is used, à la BRICS.
JK redux
You do realise that NSA, GCHQ expertise has helped prop most those dictatorships up? Helping them with surveillance infrastructure to closely monitor democracy activists.
Military dictator, Adel Fattah El-Sisi, in whose jails tens of thousands of democracy activists reside, is feted by EU leaders, NATO the US and UK.
Biden even promised to cut US military aid to Egypt in 2020’s US presidential election campaign – if el-Sisi didn’t bring about democratic reforms and respect human rights. Biden broke that promise and never once restricted aid which rose substantially. The EU is pumping hundreds of billions to Egypt and Jordan, to buy the acquiescence over the assault on Gaza and to keep domestic protests muted.
JK Redux. Quite right.
It should be run by God-bothering Neo-Con Christians who supposedly are all going to Heaven in a Blazing Chariot. Including the Jews – but first they have to renounce Judaism and join Jesus.
Oh hang on……..it is.
Trump visiting Notre Dame was interesting. I wonder if he asked whether The Hunchback was alright?
No Old Moore – but all I see from this is chaos and Civil War. Another chance for the MSM to become involved in word juggling for the schmucks.
Everywhere these US Christians have been over the years seems worse – not better.
What shall we do? Give the Atheists a go?
JK redux writes: “If the Iranian theocratic state was replaced by a democracy that would be a victory for the Iranian people”.
As I’m sure JK knows, Iran was a democracy until 1953, when its government was overthrown in a coup instigated by the UK, and replaced by the brutal autocratic rule of the Shah. In 1979 the Shah was ín turn deposed in a popular revolt that resulted in the theocratic rule which has lasted since then. From 1980 to 1988 Iran successfully maintained its independence in the face of the USA’s use of Saddam Hussain’s Iraq as a proxy to fight a long, vicious and ultimately futile war against its neighbour Iran – just as Volodomyr Zelensky’s Ukraine has been used by the USA as a proxy to fight a futile war against Ukraine’s neighbour Russia.
I too would love to see a more liberal regime in Iran, but at present a priority for Iranians must be to guard themselves against the continuing threats to their security, and even their survival, posed by, in particular, the hostile nuclear-armed powers USA and Israel.
if you are a guardian reader the black flag of HTS is a symbol of freedom, human rights, democracy, liberation for women and gays, benevolence towards religious minorities.
Nice checklist of the things that will be gone by Xmas.
For Syrians Christmas will be gone before that.
There is excellent news in the BBC that people have been freed from the infamous Saydnaya prison, a centre of torture and executions.
But the UK government will now have to deal with HTS which is banned here. It needs to reform its terrorism laws and policy of proscribing organisations that operate mainly outside the UK. It’s too easy to have them banned by lobbying politicians. The UK needs to restore traditional freedom of speech and expression, journalism and non-violent activism in this country.
you needn’t stress. they’ll make an exception for these Wahabbi Islamic State terrorists because they support Israel.
I would have thought that Hamas was the closest group in Palestine to HTS in outlook. I won’t be surprised if they turn out to be just as antagonistic towards Israel as Assad.
Israel is a cancer.
sure, 14 months of silent inaction during a genocide of fellow Sunnis isn’t the real HTS. they secretly deplore what is happening in Gaza.
An apparent video of women and children being released from cells in Sednaya prison. They seem to be in the middle of the operation of releasing the prisoners:
https://x.com/ShaamNetwork/status/1865650288029253693
We’re alway told by the MSM in relation to regimes we don’t like that these places are a “centre of torture and executions.” Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. But what about Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib ? You don’t have to dig too deep to find out that most of these notorious places have strong links with the west through support, training and renditions.
And why call for the cuddly, pink, terrorists like HTS to be removed from the proscribed list when true freedom fighters like Hamas, Hezbolla and the Houties are still proscribed.
Bin the Israeli zionist agendas and the world will be a better place. Unlike f*cked Syria.
What about Aafia Siddiqui???
Treated so badly by the US that the US has to lock her up until she is over age 120 years to prevent her talking about it. Not allowed a visit by an Islamic cleric because she might tell him something that is a US top secret.
The show trial that convicted her was entirely about keeping her mouth securely zipped!!
Disaster. They are regime-changing Syria just like they did Iraq, Lybia, Afghanistan etc (and tons of south American countries, historically – plus colonialism, which was ssdd).
So please, stop pretending democracy is ok. This is a direct result of democracy. Kier Starmer has welcomed the demise of Assad, just like he supports and assists Israel. Institutions in our democracy, like all TV news and papers, spout the same propaganda about these puritanical jihadists really being freedom-loving rebels.
No hierarchical system for ‘governing’ can be anything other than a bureacratic, unhuman machine. The only way this shit can stop happening is by the abandonment of handing one’s authority over to the big Nanny, the State, which does whatever it likes in the name of ‘democracy’. If you voted, for any party, you voted for this.
Syria has fallen – the proscribed terrorist groups backed by the West which have been murdering, raping and pillaging their way across the country have entered Damascus.
Assad and his family have fled the country – now the terrorists backed by the West will really begin the butchering in earnest.
https://apnews.com/article/syria-assad-sweida-daraa-homs-hts-qatar-7f65823bbf0a7bd331109e8dff419430
Did the syrian army simply switch side? Otherwise what caused the almost total lack of response to the insurrection?
Apparently the syrian PM will work with the new rulers and HTS also claimed that the Syrian PM will rule until the regime change is complete:
Syrian Army informs officers of regime change – Reuters
https://swentr.site/news/608942-syrian-army-regime-change/
Meanwhile videos show how the new rulers loot, vandalize the iranian consulate
Looters ransack Iranian Embassy in Damascus (VIDEO)
Footage reportedly from the scene shows smashed windows and offices turned inside out in the diplomatic mission
https://swentr.site/news/608963-syria-iran-embassy-damascus/
Jack.
From what I’ve read – the SAA have been under constant attack from the US – also they were badly organised – some units fled, others retreated too quickly it was all one big mess – and the US backed terrorist are well armed and equipped – the Turks also are involved: Erdoğan backs the terrorists’ coup.
It’s not that I’m a fan of Assad; it’s that Syria will now end up in utter chaos – in a similar fashion as Libya – but not before the proscribed terrorists butcher many innocent People in Syria.
RoS, that is exactly what is happening, we are looking at a similar scenario, when the US disbanded the Iraqi army, the subsequent extremist militias which became ISIL. The US, Turkey and Israel are all involved in this, it is an absolute catastrophe.
The coup was almost bloodless because everybody was sick and tired of living in poverty and misery in a war-destroyed country while the Assad family enriched itself and let Syria rot. Nobody, not even Christians, Alawites and Shia, were willing to go through another meat grinder and fight another war only to then go back to living in misery under a kleptocratic regime.
In other words, Assad lost legitimacy in a big way. This is hard for the armchair experts who think about geopolitics in purely abstract terms, and cling to a simplified narrative about state actors controlling absolutely everything from behind the scenes, to accept but the rapid collapse of the Syrian Arab Republic with nary a shot fired speaks for itself.
Assad was a sh*tty leader and inspired no confidence or loyalty. Apparently even the Russians and Iranians were sick of the guy.
“Assad is nowhere to be seen from the reports I have seen. There is a high risk that he will be killed now by Israel since it is less risk by killing him now when he is out of power.”
There’s no way to be sure right now, let’s wait for a formal report and not fall prey to rumors that may be only disinformation.
But it is currently said that Assad’s plane may have crashed shortly after takeoff from Syria. If true, and it’s a big IF, the question is who benefited from such a technical dysfunction? In exile, he wouldn’t be a real threat to Israel. But possibly an embarrassment for his former allies…
The gift of hindsight. I remember now a post in a Telegram channel some months ago announcing there were well laid plans for a coup in Syria. The information was out of context with the events of the time when Syria did not seem at risk and was at least containing the HST factions in Idlib. But if this was genuine intelligence as opposed to a shot in the dark these plans must have been well known to all interested parties including Russia and Iran with plenty of time to come up with counter plans to defend Syria if there was any will to do so. They have clearly considered it is not in their interests to prop up a weak Syria anymore. It is now a time of waiting and seeing the consequences of the coup.
Whichever way one looks at it, it is a victory for US and western hegemony, which it will see as a vindication of their long term strategy using sanctions and propaganda to break the back of a country, arming the opposition and creating the conditions for regime change while saying it is nothing to to do with us.
The devil’s work is still not yet done. With Syria, Palestine, Ukraine, Georgia and even South Korea all in chaos the Biden mafia is certainly going out with a bang and not a whimper and it is as likely as not that Trump will continue to fan the flames in one way or another.
It’s about time for BRICS to whack the US dollar.
How much trouble is Russia in now, due to events in Syria?
If Russia were in really big trouble, i.e. not just in the Middle East, I’d like to think China would intervene to help.
Gotta wonder what those Russian ships that left Tartus will do.
I’m sceptical that this is bang, a change in the balance of power in the region in favour of bagels, burgers, more bagels, and a Turkish side dish, and no more Hezbollah or Assad family. We shall see.
This report from Syria by Vanessa Beeley confirms my worst fears.
https://x.com/VanessaBeeley/status/1865730838773600586
Vanessa is Precious … This is all so hard to watch … Evil Playing their games.
Your worst fears don’t include strategic nuclear and biological warfare leading to global rapid population reduction and a regime for the survivors that suggests that Stanley Milgram didn’t know the half of it?
What was Vanessa Beeley doing in Syria?
A wiki article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanessa_Beeley ) indicates that she is a sympathiser of Assad and Russia, as well as more controversial views eg that Al Qaeda wasn’t responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
Sounds like she’s got her finger on the pulse then, rather than up her own a*se!
You do know that 911 was carried out by the same crew that just f*cked over Syria? (Israel, Saudia & USA)
I don’t agree with your assessment of her, and I do very much think that UBL was the organiser (with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed) of 9/11.
___
MOD: Please note, Craig has asked that 9/11 is not discussed here (particularly not off-topic like this in the main blog). Would all posters kindly refrain from discussing this further.
Dan Cohen says….”There is no Syrian revolution. There is the CIA-run counterrevolution. They sound the same, but are complete opposites.
Syria has lost its sovereignty to competing gangs of Turkish and Israeli-backed jihadist mercenaries who are united in their hate for religious minorities. A dark day for humanity”.
There is much worse to come, the US has said Hezbollah must be disarmed ‘all over Lebanon’ and that Resolution 1701 together with this latest cease fire agreement stipulates this. Lebanon is now surrounded by HTS, formally Al Qaeda (HTS was designated a global war on terrorist group by the US in 2018 with a bounty of $10,000 dollars on the leaders head). Iraq is already dependent on US largess simply to get its own oil and gas receipts back, since all those receipts were deposited in the Federal Reserve at the demand of the various US satraps comprising the coalition and selected Iraqi yes men. When Trump was in power he threatened Iraq with the loss of their oil and gas funds if the Iraqis demanded a US troop withdrawal
A win win for Israel/US and Erdoğan.
Then Iran is in the cross hairs which has been the aim of Netanyahu for many years, hence his support for Trump. These developments are a disaster for the ‘arc of resistance’, the various denominations in Syria and Lebanon are at risk, the headchoppers do not discriminate, no matter how some western media might dress them up as some kind of liberal rebels who respect other religions.
The new middle east is being implemented at the point of a gun with hardly any opposition from those states in the crosshairs.
Be in no doubt, this is a huge blow to Russia and personally for Putin, they will likely lose their expensive newly expanded bases in Syria, and how much blood and treasure wasted propping Assad up since 2011? Though the US stuck around in Syria despite the Assad regime’s protestations, so who knows?
Paul Mason is attacking Craig and others today, but Mason is either naive or worse, because we all know that representative democracy for Syria is the last thing the US/UK and Israel want to emerge out of this. For any truly representative, democratically elected govt in Syria would demand Golan back, and be passionately pro-Palestine and anti-Israel. They may also be anti-Iran, but they’d be no friend of Netanyahu. They’d call for el-Sisi to go; question King Abdullah’s right to rule, question all compliant Arab leaders legitimacy: KSA, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Bahrain (minority Sunni ruler). The reason the anti-imperialist left is angry, isn’t because they see Assad as some sort of hero, it’s because they know the US/UK and Israel will be cooking up something far worse for Syrians.
The Biden admin really is throwing a tantrum in its final days, as we’ve seen with the restrictions being lifted on attacks into Russian territory for Ukraine, now this.
And the widespread, oft-repeated theory online, that Starmer was some sort of intel agency puppet, put in place to support all this stuff, also seems accurate. His 10 Pledges talked about Labour being a ‘force for peace’ in the world, and the introduction of a “Prevention of Military Intervention Act”; it was a brazen lie of the kind only security folks are comfortable with, justifying it as being ‘in the national interest’.
“the US has said Hezbollah must be disarmed ‘all over Lebanon’ ”
What are Hezbollah saying?
Spot on and Syria is very bad news for the Palestinians.
What did Putin tell Assad?
1) You can do one, mate.
2) We’d love to help you but we’re not in a position to. We’ve been hit too hard.
3) Things gonna be tough for a while, but hold on – we’ll see your group OK but we need to regroup because we’ve been surprised here, just as you have.
If Assad has run to Russia, that makes 1) less likely.
An extreme version of 2, with Russia basically having been whacked so hard that the Stars and Stripes will fly over Kursk and Sevastopol by next Christmas, seems unlikely.
There’s got to be a reason Assad isn’t putting up a fight. Damascus has been surrounded before. His family’s regime was very robust for decades. (Heroin heroin.) I mean really extremely robust. I couldn’t see the royalist poshos in Britain holding out for 13 years if they’d lost so much of their home territory, even if they still controlled London and Dover. This isn’t some kind of popular uprising, not even a fake one. So what is it?
@Goose – “Suppose(?) (British royalist air force) are dropping weapons and fresh ammo in locations for HTS (…) ”
… Giving the attackers a 3:1 advantage? That would require a lot of munitions.
More likely the Syrian government’s force was smashed by cyber.
The big military question now is what happens with Russia. (The big daily life question for people who live in the region is whether they’ll starve or flee or survive or what.)
I come back to eschatology – Alawite, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Greek Rite, Armenian, USA Protestant, Salafist… I’m not sure about the Armenians, but the Syria-Lebanon-Palestine region features big for all of these guys. The Alawites like to keep their religious beliefs secret, which naturally makes people wonder what on earth they are (although the reincarnation belief is known), but I imagine that given where they are located the same region may feature big in their eschatology too.
Who is doing the invocation [*] at Trump’s second inauguration? It will probably be someone who’s even more insane than televangelist Paula White-Cain who did it last time.
I nominate Archbishop Vigano (who was excommunicated earlier this year.)
Note
*) They really do call it an “invocation”.
Some rumours swirl saying Russia has reached an agreement with Turkey, for these Turkish-backed and trained HTS rebels not to attack Russian bases?
Maybe Russia just saw the writing on the wall? The scenes of SAA forces surrendering expensive Russian radar equipment probably infuriated Putin? Assad is a notoriously proud, stubborn man, like his father; he made little effort to reform his tightly knit Alawite circle/clan ,who share the power and (limited) wealth, in what is a majority Sunni country. The US was the real cause of his demise though by not allowing him to establish full control of the territory and resources, nor allowing Syria to have access to international finance to invest and rebuild. Getting control of terrorist hotbed and training base Idlib, and forcing the US out should have been Assad + backers’ priorities.
We all know the US and UK are increasingly largely only democracies in name only, but the veneer is just enough to pretend they uphold some ‘higher values’ enabling them to pretentiously accuse other countries of not being democratic. There is a lesson here for Russia, where Putin risks falling into their tried and tested trap, by not bringing forward a young fresh- faced, like-minded successor.
“the entire corporate and state media … says nothing whatsoever about the torture and execution of Shias, and destruction of Christmas decorations and icons.”
Absolute silence too from UK/US pundits who love to pontificate about Iranian and Afghan women’s rights.
Craig’s short statement on youtu.be about who destroyed Syria.
Syria destroyed by CIA and Israel.
https://youtu.be/55BUZP0Pozs?si=1R9KhlM33Zp-naYA
(There are reports that the plane that Assad was aboard, escaping Syria, has crashed.)
(Who helped it “crash”?)
Assad’s uncle fell out with Switzerland big-time this year – they want to try him for war crimes – and for a family like the Assads, who are among the biggest heroin traders in the world, falling out with Switzerland ain’t something you want.
Have you got sources for that Claim..Re Heroin ?
You really have a (misguided) chip on your shoulder re. Arabs and drugs, why’s that?
The Assads aren’t into heroin, Brian – Captagon was their thing (even if of late it was mostly just amphet & caffeine). Anyways, bet Maher’s wishing he’d divested more of the profits from that into drones etc for the SAA. Too late now.
Why would the USA help HTS, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, which it has proscribed as a terrorist organisation? That theory doesn’t make sense.
You’ve outthought him.
MJ
As Henry Kissinger said: America doesn’t have any friends, only interests.
They probably control al-Jolani in some way. Deep cover operatives are nothing new, look at Freddie Scappaticci, aka ‘Stakeknife’ in the IRA. If al-Jolani is Mossad, CIA or MI6, he’lll want out fairly quickly lest be discovered/ burned. The non-criticism from HTS of Israel over their mass killing of fellow Sunnis in Gaza, is a pretty sure sign that all is not what it appears to be.
Israel wants Syria’s air space clear – direct route to attack Iran – Assad and Russia made that impossible. Now do you get it?
Sectarian differences didn’t stop Hezbollah helping the Palestinians in Lebanon. For that reason, I suspect that Al-Jolani and Hezbollah (or Iran) will be reconciled, because of a common sympathy to Palestinians. Which is why Israel is busy bombing bases that HTS control.
MJ
Heard the expression: If they’re fighting each other they aren’t fighting us?
Because you can bet Zionists have.
That’s what Israel and the US will want for Syria: a weak, divided state in constant turmoil à la Libya. Israel doesn’t fear their jihadism if only backed up with small arms fire. Expect Israel to launch occasional air strikes if they obtain anything more powerful than AKs. Israel doesn’t want a newly democratically empowered Syrian leadership wagging a finger at them on the international stage. And how would Israel’s frequently heard boast of being “the only democracy in the Middle East” survive were that the case?
Re: ‘Israel wants Syria’s air space clear – direct route to attack Iran – Assad and Russia made that impossible. Now do you get it?’
Numerous Israeli planes flew over Syria on their way to bomb Iran just over a month ago as part of Operation Days of Repentance, Goose, when the Assad regime was still in charge. None got shot down.
LP
Not in the flight paths I saw some OSINT military outfit post. They avoided Syria, flying over Jordan and northern Iraq, releasing their air-to-surface missiles (ASM) before heading back. They didn’t go near Iran’s well protected air space i.e. no direct overflight.
Today, Israel have been bombing Syria’s now abandoned air defences. That’s not by chance.
Thanks for your reply Goose. Israeli F-15’s and the refuelling tankers might have gone over Jordan; the F-35’s that entered Iranian airspace went over Syria (shortest route to northern Iran). Some of them also destroyed some of Syria’s air defences shortly before – not that they probably needed to since the F-35 has the radar cross-section of a small hummingbird. The fact that they entered Iranian airspace has been widely reported and is confirmed by the fact that Israel hit targets in NE Iran which wouldn’t be accessible to ASM’s. Since the fall of the regime, Israel has been hitting all sorts of military targets in Damascus and wider Syria, with the aim of weakening any Syrian response to its plans for southern Syria.
Look at the map of the Middle East. Will the Iraqis ensure the US empire leaves ? Although geo-strategically the Turks try and have it both ways the demands are even more pressing on the Kurds. Depending on which way Iraq goes it could still be a buffer for Iran.
What is the Chinese position on all of this? Will there be an entente between the Arab states and Iran and has this already been agreed?
People talk about the Samson option for Israel but surely this is more applicable to Iran with the Gulf of Hormuz on its doorstep?
The US journalist Michael Tracey has put out some interesting tweets on the current situation.
We’ll have to wait and see, but I feel the cuddly liberals now in Damascus could be very nasty neighbours – Israel watch out. Muhammad Marandi was describing their origins and proclivities on this You tube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1f1T3jyeg8. Worth a watch if you have an hour to spare.
Lee Mordechai (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
The report Dr. Mordechai has compiled online – “Bearing Witness to the Israel-Gaza War” – constitutes the most methodical and detailed documentation in Hebrew (there is also an English translation) of the war crimes that Israel is perpetrating in Gaza. It is a shocking indictment comprised of thousands of entries relating to the war, to the actions of the government, the media, the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli society in general.
https://archive.ph/2024.12.05-185711/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-12-05/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/massive-database-of-evidence-compiled-by-a-historian-details-israels-war-crimes-in-gaza/00000193-979b-d408-a7d3-bfdbf1410000
There is news that US-backed Turkish factions are fighting US-backed Kurdish militias in Northern Syria.
The late Hezbollah leader Nasrallah warned over 10 years ago that if Syria falls, Palestine will be lost.
“My brothers and sisters, if Syria falls into the hands of the U.S., Israel, the people who accuse others of heresy, and all of America’s pawns, which purport to be leading countries in the region, the resistance will find itself under siege, and Israel will invade Lebanon, in order to impose its terms on the Lebanese people, and in order to revive its aspirations and schemes. Then, Lebanon will embark upon another Israeli era. If Syria falls, Palestine will be lost. The resistance in Palestine will be lost. Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem”
https://www.memri.org/tv/hizbullah-secretary-general-nasrallah-vows-defend-syria-we-can-send-tens-thousands-mujahideen
Meanwhile Israel has invaded a Syrian Golan Heights buffer zone previously manned by the Syrian army. They do not waste time, do they?
It is now obvious that the US Proxy war against Russia started in Ukraine in 2014 and the US supported Salafi head chopper regime change in Syria are two arms of the same pincer attack.
Also The Biden regime may be trying to start nuclear World War III before Trump is installed in a self-coup. Trump may not be allowed to take power!!!
Biden’s administration is trying to make any US-Russia reconciliation impossible, yes.
Though not so much Biden, he doesn’t know what day it is. It’s the people at the Department of State: Blinken, Sullivan et al – I think Nuland left. These coordinate with Obama and they’ve been at it since at least September 2013, when Putin frustrated the Obama/Cameron regime change plans. Shortly after, in late 2013, we saw Maidan erupt from nowhere. It’s all connected; the same people allowed free rein.
I knew they’d try to pick up where they’d left off in 2020, when Biden beat Trump. To say they are an obnoxious bunch is an understatement. And they have friends in the UK; it’s a joint endeavour of various elites, including those in two-faced Qatar. They’re lucky this all seemingly goes over Trump’s head.
John Sawers, who was in charge of MI6 in 2013, when the atrociously ill-judged Cameron /Obama plan played out, has been on Sky news claiming HTS are a liberation movement not a terrorist organisation & the UK govt should remove them from the list of proscribed international terrorist groups.
You can bet the UK has MI6/ special forces among the rebels, people tasked with rummaging through Syrian security departments’ files and documents, right now: General Intelligence Directorate (GID); Military Intelligence Directorate. Removing any potentially unpleasant surprises that are lurking, related to UK/US, so as to avoid another Libya surprise, and those now infamous rendition files coming to light.
Plus, they’ll be removing anything that exonerates Assad for various chemical weapons attacks in the country. If Assad has any sense, he’ll have already shared everything with Russia.
Goose you can read it here.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/uk-welcomes-fall-of-assad-s-barbaric-regime-says-starmer-amid-calls-for-peace/ar-AA1vu6gr?ocid=BingNewsSerp
The PM Starmer who is aiding and abetting in the genocide in Gaza – welcomes the fall of Assad as does his deputy – HTS is, I think a newer name for Al-Qaeda, Jolani is without doubt a US backed terrorist.
RoS
Starmer is a complete fool welcoming it given the history of similar false new dawns. Iraq; Afghanistan; Libya…. If life doesn’t improve dramatically in Syria, or gets worse, the Al-Qaeda crew will turn increasingly religious and increasingly repressive to maintain order amid public protests. This is also why there’s an, albeit tiny, chance Assad might not be finished.
Look how the Taliban initially promised to play nice and protect women’s newly acquired rights to education etc. If things go badly for al-Jolani (if he sticks around) there’ll be sharia law and full burqa requirements in no time. Then the mass exodus of millions to Europe.
No mutti Merkel tho, and her 2015 willkommen policy. Maybe Sweden will absorb them or the Netherlands or perhaps France? This is the problem with the US’s reckless adventures; they bite Europeans on the arse as Israel and the rest of the Arab states refuse entry to refugees. And Turkey will be busy sending Syrians back.
RoS
Someone online posed the amusing question, asking whether al-Jolani’s rehabilitation from former Al-Qaeda frontman to ‘respected’ rebel. Also heralds a reevaluation of Shamima Begum’s case.
It is bizarre how HTS are being feted as a bunch of reformed characters for whom proscription orders must be lifted. While some British citizen, who was trafficked as a child and isn’t accused of doing anything, is stuck in some Syrian hell camp because she’s too dangerous to return.
“Reuters claims (Assad) may have died in a plane crash”, reports TASS.
https://tass.com/world/1884019
It look so wimpy for TASS to quote Reuters.
“Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been granted asylum in Russia and is currently in Moscow with his family, Russian news agencies RIA Novosti and TASS reported on Sunday”
https://www.rt.com/russia/609002-assad-in-moscow-with-family/
Indeed a bit absurd since RT now reports that Assad is in Syria
Assad in Moscow with family – Russian media
The Syrian president has been granted asylum in Russia, Kremlin sources say
https://swentr.site/russia/609002-assad-in-moscow-with-family/
“Picked” Russia before Iran, probably a security measure since Israel would surely target him if he fled to Iran but (most likely) Israel do not dare to commit the same act inside Russia.
Why would Israel want to target him?
He’s not Hamas leadership … nor Hezbollah’s. He has no functional value or role in the ME going forward. And there’s nothing that he can now say, that he couldn’t say when interviewed as Syria’s leader in Damascus. He’ll likely be another rueful Viktor Yanukovych. Russia seems to be collecting ex-leaders, removed in western-backed coup d’états.
Excellent joke. And what’s more, he previously chose to be a dictator in Syria mainly because other countries in the Middle East would have been quicker in getting rid of him.
But let’s forget about “theocracies”. None of us are fluent in Greek. Let’s rather speak like the author of this article and call them “religio-supremacist centres”. Sounds much better to an English ear.
Assad is no longer a lion, and from now on will keep fearing he may end up like Prigozhin…
Active genocide participants Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron welcome the fall of the “barbaric regime”/ the “barbaric state” in Syria.
Reported by al Quaida-celebrating media as the words of good men repulsed by the suffering of innocents.
One could only wish these rebels advance toward Jordan, Egypt, Saudiarabia and then we would see if Starmer, Macron and the other usual lousy suspects support overthrowing these western-backed “barbaric” regimes too…
It is almost comical how media/politicians in the west now bending over backwards regarding Assad to justify the take-over, it is like re-run of the Libya where every alleged/real crime commited by Khadaffi and now Assad past decades is being touted all over to brainwashed the western spectator that these rebels, they are the “good guys”. Gruel propaganda non-stop now in the media. Disgusting.
Meanwhile these are the same western elites/media that actively back a genocide in their next breath. Have Macron, Starmer ever used the word “barbaric” to describe Israel’s crimes? Of course not.
“Syria” is really a godsend for the west, diverting attention from their shameful behavior in Gaza.
The media’s ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ are whoever is in each column, on the updated daily list the security services pass to them.
We have the most unquestioningly servile, incurious mainstream media I’ve ever known.
BBC: Assad & family have landed in Moscow. So he got asylum from his good pals the Russians.
M.J.
I can remember when the there were calls from Westminster politicians – to petition the queen to give Assad an honorary knighthood – around 2012 I think.
Of course Westminster, has history when it comes to propping up societies worst – such as General Pinochet – not to mention the countless vile regimes in West Asia, such as Saudi Arabia – Bahrain – the UAE – Jordan – Oman etc – who comply with Western hegemony that’s why they are not regime changed.
Assad wouldn’t bow to Western hegemony – so they had to find a way to depose him – at least with Assad Syria was stable – now Syria will end up like Libya a chaotic failed state – that too fell apart after the West killed Gaddafi.
I think you’re unfortunately right about British politicians having a history of helping unworthy rulers, e.g. Pinochet even though he was a dictator (because he was apparently a valuable help in retaking the Falklands in 1982). The others are probably a case of a kingdom supporting traditional friendships with other kingdoms, so the Bahraini household cavalry got invited to escort the late Queen home after her 70th jubilee celebration. In the case of Bahrain a joint letter was sent by a number of human rights organizations to the UNGA (https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/09/23/bahrain-joint-letter-human-rights-priorities-all-member-states-united-nations) which will hopefully result in the release of people who were sentenced to death such as Mohammed Ramadhan and Husain Moosa, given that the Bahrainis themselves found evidence of torture in obtaining their confessions.
But look at the write-up in the monarchist Tory Times, 1 July 2012:
https://archive.is/SDGnG#selection-1479.79-1479.173
“The Arab leader was granted audiences with the Queen and the Prince of Wales, lunch with Blair at Downing Street, a platform in parliament and many other privileges.”
How strange. Usually foreign leaders have to hitch-hike their way into London from whatever airport Easyjet lost their luggage at. That’s if they’re lucky enough not to be captured , thrown in the back of a Renault van, and made to work in a carwash for a few years.
Privileges? Funny, because I’ve never heard of a British head of state being granted “privileges” abroad. Everything they do is out of generosity, bestowing on foreign leaders the benefits of being able to say that a British posho waved at them or chatted with them. One is given to understand that foreign types refer to these benefits as “face”.
“Granted audiences with”. Who do they think they are – the Pope?
Born to be unquestionably superior!
Seriously – even Donald Trump doesn’t talk like this.
The Times goes on:
“Blair’s willingness to appear alongside Assad at a joint press conference — even though the Syrians would probably have settled for a farewell handshake for the cameras.”
Yeah – or a quick snap of himself gurning by a red phone box or a Westminster clocktower – or both.
Mind you, you do have to wonder why anyone would want to accept hospitality from hosts who think their guests than sh*t.
Finally…could a point not be made about statues? Disrespect certain types of murdering slaving scumbags’ statues in Britain and the authorities will lock you up.
I’m glad Assad and his family are safe. In a very short time, Syria will realise that sovereignty and the devil you know is better than headchopping nutters funded and supported by the western axis of evil.
Maybe of interest? A short vid about the Alawites.
https://youtu.be/ZXA6DpInIRc?si=aT1YnilUnLcc5tH2
Note to British journalists: in reports on Syria or Assad, don’t mention heroin or captagon. That’s the No-No Rule.
And no need to bother your pretty heads about what an “Alawite” is either. Keep to the line that a brutal dictator has fallen, statues are toppling and Elon Musk can prove it, and the Home Office was being far too strict when it classified these HTS freedom-loving popular rebels as “terrorists”. HTS got nothin’ to do with the 1980s boy band “Al Qaeda”, that only oldies remember. You can see that from the different names.
Reminder: heroin – no; captagon – no.
What are you on about, Brian?
https://www.thetimes.com/article/syria-captagon-president-assad-speed-drugs-nlvljrb7p
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/07/drug-captagon-turning-syria-into-narco-state
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/syria-drug-captagon-manufacturing-dealing-trafficking-assad/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-66002450
The reason that UK media doesn’t mention heroin in connection with Syria, is because very little of that goes through there – the main routes to Europe are still through Turkey.
Syria under Assad was about as narco a regime as there could possibly be.
I will be surprised if the MSM asks the question “What happens to the Assad family’s interests in the drug trade now he has been thrown out?”
True that more heroin goes through Turkey and Russia than through Syria.
In Syria, captagon is much bigger than heroin.
Thanks for your reply Brian. I’m sure that someone will step in to fill the vacuum – if not in Syria, then elsewhere. Doesn’t have to be Captagon: could be meth from Afghanistan, which despite the ban is still being produced in Ghor Province etc.
Did Assad bring about his own downfall.
“Assad started siding with the the Gulf Arabs & they exercised pressure on him to distance himself from Iran & the Resistance.”
This explains why Tehran stepped away from Syria so easily and quickly. Assad wasn’t seen as reliable.”
https://nitter.poast.org/KitKlarenberg/status/1865845286670925915#m
And then there is this – which could explain Putin’s lacklustre defence of Assad and Syria over the last few days.
“One way of framing what’s happening between Erdoğan and Putin is that the latter has surrendered both Karabakh and Syria to the former.
If accurate (not necessarily), then what has Putin got in exchange?
– Uninterrupted gas exports through Turkish Stream
– Crucial backdoor mitigating the damage of Western sanctions (including for military technology) and a key transport hub for passenger travel out of Russia, given all but closed borders with the EU
– De-facto Turkish neutrality in Ukraine conflict – big deal given Turkey is part of NATO and that Baytaktars were an important element on the escalation ladder prior to full-out invasion
– Turkish mediation that nearly ended the Russo-Ukrainian in 2022 on conditions that satisfied the Kremlin
Quite a lot, actually.”
And this.
“In October, Iran announced the creation of a formal Resistance military pact, with centralised command and control, and mutual defence components (ala NATO’s Article 5). Syria was markedly unmentioned in public statements about the alliance.”
https://nitter.poast.org/KitKlarenberg/status/1865846384777175111#m
@RoS – Interesting analysis, framed with Turkey vs Russia.
Not sure about the list of what Russia gets out of it though.
The minute Turkey stops applying the Montreux Convention “neutrally” – e.g. with reference to the Russo-Ukrainian war – that’s when they lose control of the Straits.
Erdoğan could experience imperial overstretch or blowblack or both. He likes to think he’s got mega-knackers but where are his nukes? He can’t chum up with Zelensky even if he wanted to.
https://tass.com/world/1884249
“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that there are only two real leaders in the world now and they are himself and Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
“Now, there are only two [experienced] leaders in the world. They are myself and Vladimir Putin. I am not saying this because one of them is me. But I have been in office for 22 years, nearly as long as Mr. Putin.”
Erdoğan has been president since 2014 and before that he was prime minister from March 2003.
March 2003 is not 22 years ago unless you round upwards. Which reminds me of an obscene joke that I shan’t repeat.
I wonder about this guy Erdoğan. I get it that he’s happy and pleased with himself. But making that kind of “I am great” statement to the media right now doesn’t seem so clever. How long will he last??
A big “if” I think.
OK but what’s your alternative to using a Russia vs Turkey optic?
It seems fair enough as far as it goes.
But Turkey’s strategic position would just go “phut” like a burst balloon if the Montreux Convention were to be superseded by events (to put it politely). If there’s really going to be a fight about movements through the Straits, Turkey’s position won’t count for much, even if they can, at present, throw their weight about to some extent in Syria and in Nagorno-Karabakh. Ultimately are they higher up the ranks of powers than say Poland or Sweden?
That sly old fox Erdoğan – this has been kept quiet today – in light of what has happened in Syria.
350 Turkish troops (peacekeepers) have been deployed to Kosovo (KFOR troops) to keep an eye on things and the Nato Mission in Kosovo.
‘Sly old fox’, I think not. I suspect he is a very useful puppet for TPTB. Everything he does supports the west and their agenda. I also suspect if he really stepped out of line he would be as easily deposed as Assad.
Erdoğan is doing quite well for the moment. But the moment war breaks out between Russia and either Israel or the USA, I’m not sure anyone will care what Great Leader Erdoğan does because he won’t be a player. He’ll be less of a consideration than say Orbán. But until that moment comes, Erdoğan is a player and the Russia vs Turkey lens is a fairly good tool to use.