56 Comments

I doubt that Trump's and his team's actual understanding of the situation is significantly more nuanced or accurate than what it seems to be from his Twitter posts.

Expand full comment

Please note - now that Isis/al-qaeda (whatever the heck they named themselves this week) are working on behalf of empire, they are “rebels” rather than terrorists. (Infants running for their lives in empire sponsored wars are terrorists, you see.)

And now, the US has managed to topple the last non-theocratic west Asian state. But it’s ok, because the new al-qaeda is totally “woke” and intends to give women and gay people full democratic rights.

Expand full comment
3dEdited

Indeed, very rightly spoken.

Expand full comment

Trump is simply bullshitting, in Professor Frankfurter's sense of the term.

In other words, Trump neither knows nor cares what the truth is.

This could be applied to most of Trump’s statements.

Expand full comment

>>" but they also shouldn’t try to spin it as Russia’s fault like Trump did in his posts."

Trump thinks that spinning it that way has some sort of propaganda benefit for his incoming administration, perhaps especially for whatever "negotiations" he has in mind for a ceasefire.

I agree that it's dishonest. But Trump bought into the absurd charges that Assad was using nerve and other chemical agents in 2017-18. He advanced the claims that hundreds of Wagner guys were killed by US air strikes. I hope we're not still gulled by the "Trump as a friend of Russia" meme at this point.

Expand full comment

Very insightful, Mr Xenophon.

By the way, it was Trump who signed the Caesar Act, endorsing highway brigand style economic blockade of Syria.

Expand full comment

His own DOD person in 2019 straightforwardly outlined the logistics to intentionally destroy Syrian stability and sovereignty. 4 points. The Caesar Act. Steal and deprive them of the oil. Stay and occupy the portion of the country they're in. Forget the 4th, it might have been a comic throw in like "maintain our troops there to fight Isis." Included in this good Ben Norton video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8pZgwOdIuA

Expand full comment

Trump is all about populist pandering to his right-wing, war hawk base. He is not against NATOs intention to destroy Russia.

He just wants a better deal.

His whole life reeks of pragmatism epitomized by his The Art of the Deal.

He’s Wall Streets War Hawk.

War is Big Business.

Expand full comment

Indeed, Charles Leone.

Expand full comment

> ... but they also shouldn’t try to spin it as Russia’s fault like Trump did

As usual Trump the absolute moron, he does not know what he is talking about, takes things out of context, and exaggerates everything to suit his narrative.

However, having said that, in my view Russia DOES bear some, if not a lot, of responsibility for Syria's demise.

In 2010 Syria paid for an S-300 air defense system from Russia, but Russia did not deliver. Then, in 2016, when Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet over Syria, Russia rushed Syria's S-300 system across as a message to Turkey to stop messing around.

The message was received loud and clear by Turkey, but the "keys" to the S-300 were still NOT received by Syria, as a result of which Nazi Talmudland could continue its bombardments of Syria with impunity.

Had Syria been in control of what was legally theirs, i.e. the S-300, it could have prevented those bombing missions, kept its military hardware intact, and concentrate those resources on fighting Turkey's terrorists, even Turkey, and the U.S.'s terrorists.

None what happened on Monday would have materialized, alas it did, partly thanks to Russia, it needs to be acknowledged!!

Expand full comment
3dEdited

Cool it gentleman, Ngungu. As I have said before, Russia has not levelled any charges or allegations against Mr Assad and his government, and mediamen who purport to have insider knowledge of the mind of the Russian government too are not mind-readers but at the most are hazarding reasoned guesses based on their readings.

There is no acrimony or bad blood between the Russian leadership and Mr Assad even today, and speculations to the contrary are precisely speculations and nothing more.

As for the charge levelled by western observers that President Assad's army has irresponsibly abandoned Russian military equipment into HTS hands which will now be transferred to Tukey's custody for reverse engineering by NATO, suffice it to say that this is no big deal, because Russia had sold several batteries of the S 400 system, which is way far higher tech than the S 300's it supplied to Syria, to Turkey which is now being accused of hostile intentions towards Russia and of conspiring to steal Russian military tech on behalf of NATO. So, if Syria's abandonment of Russian equipment is being blamed for potential detriment to Russian military tech secrets, this very allegation would imply that far greater deteiment has already occured by virtue of the much higher-tech S-400's which had been directly transferred to Turkish hands by Russia itself. As a matter of fact, the Russian government is not indulging in any petty squabble of mud-slinging or blame game against President Assad, and there is not a single piece of news from an authentic source to even suggest that it has done so. As for speculation by individual observers, that is not a patented preserve of any one person, and there is no bar on any individual for dabbling in any flights of fanciful conjecture.

As for the argument that ceding of power and other concessions by President Assad in form of a power sharing agreement for broad "Bosnian style autonomy" to the pseudo-Islamist proxies of Turkey, who are foreign mercenaries alien to Syria and are not even natives of Syria for the most part, could have averted the present catastrophe by placating all parties to the conflict, that likelihood now appears to be more of wishful thinking in hindsight, given the untrustworthiness of Erdogan's Turkey which as it turns out now had been taking Russia for a ride all along from the very outset with totally insincere intentions, and had greenlighted the present invasion of Syria and storming of Damascus by its HTS and para ISIS proxy coalition as early as 6 months ago in cahoots with senior NATO brass. It appears that there has been a massive intelligence failure on Russia's part in not being able to gauge Turkey's treacherous intentions. Even now, reports have been surfacing of a Turko-Israeli plot to overrun Iranian border posts and to effect regime change in Tehran by storming the capital with Turkish army commandoes disguised as Sunni vigilantes, but it is unclear how far such premonitions will alert those affected to institute preemptive measures.

Expand full comment

Syria may have S-400 components, but obviously it did not have the complete system otherwise it would blown those Nazi Talmudicland's planes out of the sky.

I don't care about whether the Syrian army acted responsibly or not, I was just reacting to the fact that Syria was left without a complete S-300 (or S-400, as the case may be) air defense system because Russia withheld it, despite Syria paid for it.

Expand full comment

Neither have I suggested that the Syrian Army acted irresponsibly, or that it even matters now. Such musings are beside the point now. Syria Army only had the S300, while the much more advanced S 400 had been directly supplied by Russia to Turkey which is the aggressor in the present scenario. Besides, the pacifist idea that Syria could have bought peace by giving in to Turkey's irredentist demands in the form of ceding autonomy to Erdogan's proxies in northern Syria, does not appear very convincing in hindsight.

Expand full comment

> the pacifist idea that Syria could have bought peace by giving in to Turkey's irredentist demands in the form of ceding autonomy to Erdogan's proxies in northern Syria, does not appear very convincing in hindsight.

Correct. Nevertheless, don't put words in my mouth because I never suggested that, so please remain accurate when you discuss.

Expand full comment

No, I have never insinuated that you said so. I brought up mention of that argument, because currently it is a hottie amongst the slew of criticisms against Mr Assad which have been doing the rounds in much of the media. Possibly they have eluded your attention, but at the place where I live, such barbs are strewn all over the place. I clubbed it along with the couple of other points which are being trumpetted as Mr Assad's faults, simply for the sake of arraying my point to point refutations all in one place.

Expand full comment

Just wait till all that Syrian equipment starts arriving in Ukraine.

Expand full comment

T-Rump hasn’t told the truth

since the day he said;

“Mama, I shat my pants!”

Expand full comment
3dEdited

There is more to the collapse of the erstwhile government in Syria than meets the eye.

Russia in its wisdom has made an excellent decision in granting asylum to the former leader of the Syrian government, Mr Bashar Al Assad.

Russia maintains cordial relations with Mr Assad as well as with the Syrian people, and is no way involved in any blame game or mud-slinging against any Syrian including Mr Assad or his family members. Speculations to the contrary are the handiwork of vested western interests.

Russia does not interfere in the internal affairs of either Syria, or Turkey, or Israel or Saudi Arabia for that matter.

Russia has inviolable rights to its air and naval bases in Syria which accrue from its agreements with the Syrian people through the agency of their legitimate elected government which held office at the time of signing of those agreements.

None of the external players in the Syrian imbroglio, and none of the power brokers such as the USA, or EU or their regional cohorts in the middle east, whether they be part of NATO or CENTCOM or any other power-pact amongst themselves, HAS ANY LOCUS STANDI TO OUST RUSSIA FROM ITS SOVEREIGN MILITARY BASES IN RUSSIA.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL THE WORLD AND ORTHODOX FAITHFUL AND MERRY CHRISTMAS TO WESTERN CATHOLICS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

MAY THE GOD OF CHRISTIANS GIVE WISDOM TO EUROPEANS AND GUIDE THEM IN EARNING THEIR DAILY BREAD while LEADING THEM NOT INTO TEMPTATION.

Expand full comment

Syria's collapse reminds me of South Vietnam's in 1975--the whole army just unraveled in a matter of days because its soldiers didn't believe in dying for a hopelessly corrupt regime.

Russia's response, that Assad fell because he was corrupt, is little different from the American one in 1975 and so many other times when a client regime fell--We did everything we could to help them, but...

Expand full comment
3dEdited

You say: "Russia rescued Syria in late 2015 because it wanted to prevent the creation of a black hole of instability from which terrorists could threaten it"... Exactly what seem to be the direction of events in Syria in 2024. So either Russia believes Syria's instability wouldn't be an issue this time around, or believes there will be no instability, or were unable to prevent it... Don't give me BS about Assad or Syria blaming... Assad is what he has always been and Syria has, too...

Expand full comment

Incorrect. There is a big difference between Syria in 2015 and 2024. This time around you don’t have the Gulf states pouring in money, weapons and fighters. Saudi Arabia & co seem much more attuned to reaching an understanding with Iran and Russia.

Expand full comment

Inessential... Apart that money ARE flowing in from Gulf emirates, though maybe not from SA

Expand full comment

Saudi & co as bad as Turkey

Expand full comment

The rebels strengthened themselves since 2018. What did Assad do? Why didnt he do the same??

Expand full comment

Talk about blaming the victim. In case you forgot, Israel informed Russia of all its attacks in Syria on, wait for it, Russia's allies there. That says all I need to know.

Expand full comment

Another development leading to Assad's fall is the fact that the USA controlled the northeast of Syria, stealing oil and grains and ruining the economy such that Assad couldn't pay his soldiers and officers even if he had wanted to.

Expand full comment

This article here is delusional. The neocon author is obviously just as misinformed as all other neocon idiots. https://www.19fortyfive.com/2024/12/how-the-america-could-takeover-russias-tartus-naval-base-in-syria/

Did Putin strike a deal with the snake Erdogan to keep Khmeimim & Tartus Military Bases? Would Turkiye shoot down a Russian plane transiting Turkiye airspace? If they did, President Putin and Russia (using queen Ursula Von der Crazy’s words) has tools to retaliate against Erdogan.

Expand full comment
3dEdited

While there is merit in not blindly believing the ALT Media fostered fallacy that Russia is "against" Israel, at the same time there is no denying the fact that Israel and its cohorts of themselves peddle and leave no stone unturned to lend credence to the notion that Russia does indeed harbour abiding enmity towards Israel. In the event, it appears as if eventhough concerted efforts from some vested quarters to pit Russia against Israel remain a chimera at the moment, it is being expected of Russia to announce its innocence in respect of any perceived hostite intentions towards Israel by maybe swearing again and again, eventhough Israel itself calls the bluff of such reiterations of innocence by insisting they are untrustworthy. Under the circumstances, would it not be the most expedient in the economic sense to just let the implied and express incriminations levelled at Russia by Israel exert their intended effect on the audience. What strategic purpose of Russia is served in struggling to refute its arraignment by Israel and the latter's MSM cohorts ? Besides, the very perseverance of Israeli cohorts in accusing Russia of harbouring ill-intentions towards Israel despite the contrary being true, is evidence of not-so-well-meaning motives towards Russia on part of Israel. Somewhat like the situation until 2nd NATO inspired insurgency in Chechenya, when Russia had been on the tenterhooks taking great pains to explain its sincerity in seeking assimilation into the American led European bloc, while Europe and America cared not a two penny hoot and openly brandished their hostile intentions. Would it not be a more frugal utilisation of available resources if Russia just plays to the gallery and allows the Israeli-fostered notions of Russia being an adversary of Israel to simply sink as deep as they possibly might in the minds of the intended audience. Pleading innocence before an actual enemy of yours who is running a kangaroo court which is accusing you of being its closet enemy accompanied by threats of exemplary punishment for such transgression, is not exactly in tandem with the principle of self respect, because it amounts to implicit validation of and submission before the enemy's self avowed jurisdiction over you. Why bother going the undignified extra mile to refute those allegations?

Expand full comment

Russia has a fundamental interest in keeping a slew of non-hostile Western states that trade with them happy. This obviously includes Israel, Hungary and Slovakia. Sweden, Austria, Finland and Switzerland were traditionally non-hostile, but that is no longer. And no-one EVER wants to place ALL his eggs in one basket (read China). India doesn't help much if 80% of the trade account has to be invested in that country.

For Israel it's the same thing. The US deep state has never been happy about its existence since 1948 - so Israel has to balance between the US and Russian interests. People like Netanyahu or Bennett understand this intuitively. But others like Lapid are just i*iots who are supported by the US Democrats and the Deep State. Hence they try to stage another Orange Revolution.

Expand full comment
3dEdited

Israel at the moment in its dealings with the world at large does not function and behave as a "country" in the sane sense of the world, but instead as a yet one more corporate office of the Zio-oligarchic cabal ensconced in western bourses, which brooks no challenge to its monopolistic but illicit stranglehold over global economy, nor countenances the spectre of any nation breaking free from this stranglehold. As such, it is impossible for Russia or anyone else including India which you have incidentally mentioned for that matter, to placate Israel simply by trying to align its foreign policy with Israel's supposed national goals in the middle east. Israel's displeasure with Russia has nothing to do with any unfulfilled expectations of Russian sympathy for Israeli political expansionism in the Levant or Hijaz. Those narratives are actually distrations from the real issue. The Greater Israeli ambitions of political conquest of Ukraine and much of Russia have nothing to do with legitimate aspirations of the Jewish inhabitants of Israel, or what may be called as national aspirations of Israel as a country. Those corpimperialist ambitions over Ukraine and Russia have to do solely with the insatiable greed of Zio-oligarchs who covet all of the stupendous endowment of Russia and Ukraine with natural resources. As such, it will remain nothing short of wishful thinking on part of Russia if the latter were to hope that pandering to regional expansionist demands of Israel in some sort of a "deal" (for want of a better term) will keep Israel from eyeing the vast territory of Russia with imperialist designs. That is not something happening in the foreseeable future. Israel's formulation of its foreign policy in so far it pertains to regions beyond its immediate vicinity or its decision about designating or earmarking some person or nation as a friend or foe DOES NOT TURN ON ANY PERCEPTIONS OF EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO POLITICAL INTEGRITY OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL from that person or nation. Ultimately it is power projection alone which can keep lecherous scavengers from pouncing on Russia, and also disincentivating the western powers from bribing or otherwise inducing unscrupulous cheapskates in the global south or South Asia to backstab or waylay Russia. This includes the firm resolve not to condone or tolerate the crossing of Russia's red lines, both in Europe as well as in the Middle east, by anyone including Israel.

Anyways, thanks for your valuable input, Mr Barnabius.

Expand full comment

Iran said they warned Assad of the impending attack, but Assad wasnt interested in remaining in power in Syria.

Expand full comment

Assad's wife has Leukemia, diagnosed early this year. He is a physician, loves her, and may have lost his will to rule.

The (m)mRNA gene-therapy products impair cancer-surveillance functions of the immune system and greatly increase the risk of this, and other specific cancers.

Expand full comment

And whose vaccine do you think the Assad's took ? Russia's or the US's ? ;)

Expand full comment

I don't know.

The Sputnik gene-therapy product was DNA based, almost identical to Astra-Zeneca/Oxford, but using a different adenoviral vector for the first and second doses, so technically "better", but none of them improved resistance to COVID infection after a window of a few months, after which an increased rate of infection played out.

The (m)mRNA Pfizer & Moderna products are more well known in much of the world.

Only the Chinese "Sino-vac", which also sucked by all accounts. was a traditional "vaccine" by preparation, though it was also ineffectual, so did not meet criteria for an actual vaccine.

Anything that would make a body produce spike-protein for an extended period, as (m)mRNA and DNA-viral-vector "vaccines" do, seems to impair the immune system, notably cancer surveillance.

The rumor amongst global elites was that Pfizer was the best of the lot. It did have about 30% of the (m)mRNA dose of the Moderna, on average, though it was always a crapshoot what was in any vial.

There were garbage-soup manufacturing standards.

I hope this addresses your question.

It is the best I can do.

Expand full comment
2dEdited

Acute and subacute pancreatitis, a deadly life threatening complication, which may be missed in the absence of a high index of suspicion because findings may be non specific in more than 30 percent of thise afflicted even on ultrasound scan, has been noticed in a small percentage of persons taking mRNA vaccine, as well as with the Covaxin (BBB152) Indian vaccine. Thrombogenesis intravascular coagulation has been extremely rare or absent with the Sputnik vaccine, in contradistinction to the AstraXeneca one eventhough both rely on Adenoviral vectors, likely because of the purity of Sputnik in the sense of absence of nucleic acid fragments. Apart from the fact that the Astra Xeneca vaccine necessitated a temporal separation of at least a few months between the two doses, to preclude the formation of antibodies against the adenoviral vector.

Liver disorders.

Expand full comment

Chances are that they were given Sputnik if they were dumb enough to take anything.

Expand full comment