COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone
Well, the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is out, likely to be replaced by one or more US puppet regimes depending on whether the nation maintains its current borders or is carved up into separate states. The empire notches another win.
I am not a military analyst, but analysts who are normally supportive and optimistic in favour of Assad like Elijah Magnier and Pepe Escobar are saying this is the end.
Assad’s whereabouts are unknown as Turkish-backed fighters and al-Qaeda-linked forces with a history of Western backing have swept through the country with alarming speed, and now Russia and Iran have joined with the governments of US-aligned nations like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey in calling for an end to the fighting in favour of a political solution.
- LISTEN: A reading of this article by Tim Foley
- Syria war live news: Opposition takes Damascus, says al-Assad overthrown
CNN reports that opposition forces have captured Damascus , Assad has reportedly fled the country with his whereabouts unknown, and footage reportedly shows Assad forces retreating from the area where the president’s main residence is located.
Looks like “our side in Syria” won. Let’s all hope it now doesn’t go like the last time we “won” in Iraq and Libya. pic.twitter.com/F3HbpE5uiv
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) December 7, 2024
The US proxy warfare in Lebanon and Ukraine makes a lot more strategic sense now; by tying up Hezbollah and Russia in other conflicts, the path was opened up for another run on Damascus and a chance to further cut off Hezbollah from supplies.
Many pundits on my end of the commentary spectrum had been calling those proxy wars self-defeating and framing them as the desperate flailings of a dying empire which will only accelerate its demise, but now here we are watching the empire score a victory it’s been chasing for years, with the Western/Israeli stranglehold on the Middle East growing tighter than ever.
Crazy how the west went directly from “We need to occupy Afghanistan for two decades to prevent it from being taken over by the Taliban” to “Yay! Syria’s being taken over by al-Qaeda!”
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) December 8, 2024
An al-Qaeda is woke now narrative
Meanwhile, the press is falling all over itself to support this regime change by promoting the narrative that al-Qaeda is woke now.
CNN just released a coddling softball interview with Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the former ISIS and al-Qaeda member who leads the Syrian opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is itself a rebranded offshoot of al-Qaeda in Syria.
Jolani told CNN that he has reformed from his radical ways of the past, saying, “Sometimes it’s essential to adjust to reality,” adding, “someone who rigidly clings to certain ideas and principles without flexibility cannot effectively lead societies or navigate complex conflicts like the one happening in Syria.”
Now the imperial press are full of headlines like “How Syria’s rebel leader went from radical jihadist to a blazer-wearing ‘revolutionary’” from CNN, “Syria’s rebel leader Golani: From radical jihadist to ostensible pragmatist” from The Times of Israel, and “How Syria’s ‘diversity-friendly’ jihadists plan on building a state” from The Telegraph.
Only a matter of time before we start seeing former ISIS and al-Qaeda members chatting it up on liberal Western talk shows with their preferred gender pronouns listed next to their names.
As luck would have it, these “diversity-friendly jihadists” have been telling the Israeli press that they “love Israel” and won’t do anything to harm its interests, so it’s safe to say that this “revolution” has been about as organically grown as a sheet of crystal meth.
One of the many perks of being the world’s dominant superpower is that it gives you the luxury of time. If one regime change operation fails, don’t worry, you can just move some chess pieces around and take another shot at it.
If a coup attempt fails in Latin America, relax, there will be other coup attempts. If your efforts to grab Syria fail, you can just smash it with sanctions and occupy its oil fields to impoverish it while overextending its military allies in proxy conflicts elsewhere and grab it later.
A good kickboxer throws many combinations with the understanding that most strikes will miss or be blocked or cause minimal damage, trusting that eventually the one knockout blow will get through.
No empire lasts forever, but there’s no evidence that this one is going away any time in the immediate future. This ugliness could conceivably drag itself out for generations.
Caitlin Johnstone is an Australian independent journalist and poet. Her articles include The UN Torture Report On Assange Is An Indictment Of Our Entire Society. She publishes a website and Caitlin’s Newsletter. This article is republished with permission.
