There are parallels between their roles in Syria and Ukraine. But can Abu Mohammad Jolani be as easily controlled by the U.S., Israel and Turkey (who may have conflicting interests) as Volodymyr Zelensky?
LISTEN: The Two Puppets
Tag: Bashar al-Assad
Craig Murray: The End of Pluralism in the Middle East
What this 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.
What Russia Feared in Syrian Conflict Has Come True
Three years before it intervened in Syria, Russia feared an Islamist takeover in Damascus would lead to widespread chaos in the region, like a new Afghanistan in the Levant, reported Joe Lauria in 2012.
AS’AD AbuKHALIL: Syria Now
The Assad family regime, sustained by force, was destined to collapse and the infighting between the various armed militias now may produce a situation not unlike Afghanistan.
Syria Is Absorbed Into the Empire
Maybe you would prefer to believe a plucky band of heroic freedom fighters bravely overthrew an evil supervillain dictator all on their own like some Hollywood movie, says Caitlin Johnstone.
Offensive Forces in Syria are Like Khmer Rouge
John Wight says the common denominator behind the rise of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 1970s and Salafi-jihadism in our time, is Western foreign policy.
JOHN KIRIAKOU: Gabbard Could Help Change US Foreign Policy
We need someone in the post willing to rein in the neocon intelligence and foreign policy establishments when they urge the president to double down on military action based on phony or incomplete intelligence.
How the CIA Destabilizes the World
Jeffrey Sachs regrets that the C.I.A.’s rogue operations did not end after the crimes exposed by the 1975 Church Committee.
Free Will Trumps Determinism in the Gulf
The Gulf states are tapping the “feel-good” generated by the Saudi-Iranian deal amid signs of an overall easing of tensions, except in Washington, writes M.K. Bhadrakumar.
US Occupiers Lash Out as Syria War Draws to an End
Washington is worried about a peace between Damascus and its estranged Arab neighbors — as well as Turkey — that is marginalizing the U.S. and its allies, writes M.K. Bhadrakumar.