Another seven years of bad luck
June 10, 2021
Forced celebrations of the Emperor's newish clothes in Omayad Square, Damascus, May 27, 2021.
I wrote a long thread on Syria one year ago for the 20th anniversary of its official metamorphosis into a hereditary republic. Since then, none of the basic issues or root problems have changed, but recent developments would make you think otherwise.
Bashar Assad claims he's been “re-elected” – though he was never elected in the first place. The genocidal maniac got more votes than there are eligible voters in the areas he, Putin and Khameini control. It's a miracle in the face of the galactic conspiracy.
If you're even remotely familiar with Syria, you know there's been no such thing as elections since the Baath’s military coup in 1963. The farce just got more blatant with the Assads.
Meanwhile, normalization with the 21st century's most murderous regime now seems to be all the rage. Several countries are openly flirting with the genocidal maniac, teasing him with the prospect of reopening their Damascus embassies at the chargé d’affaires level … for now.
Some Europeans now pretend all is well in Syria, so they can send Syrians back there. Adopting a post-war narrative that is music to Assad, Putin and Khameini’s ears, they find Damascus safe enough for terrified Syrians who had fled, but not safe enough for Danish diplomats.
Gulf countries, which never welcomed Syrian refugees in the first place, are openly playing footsie with Bashar Assad. Bring him back to the Arab League, they say. Enough with this revolutionary liberty nonsense, they pray. Amen to that, nod other authoritarians near and far.
Putin’s allies are all having a grand time doing what they do best, because why not? Forcing civilian airliners to land and arresting passengers - who then "confess" great conspiracies on Belarusian television - is now a thing. New precedents. What could possibly go wrong?
Still, the Biden administration couldn’t be less interested in Syria or in the havoc the regime created in the region and beyond. No one in DC got the memo that what happened in Syria did not, and will not stay in Syria; on this, apart from the issue of Iran, Biden = Trump = Obama.
The Iranian regime is biding its time, waiting for the new nuclear deal and its fringe benefits: every risk it has taken, every investment it has made paid off. Hezbollah reigns supreme, demographic engineering changed Syria forever, and IRGC leverage over Iraq is unparalleled.
The “international community” claims helplessness and laments Syrian suffering, but the butcher of Syria - proven perpetrator of chemical massacres, carpet bombing, sieges, torture, and annihilator of hospitals - has joined the executive board of the World Health Organization.
Seven years of bad luck? Syrians have endured 21 under Bashar Assad, yet are told to swallow more of the same as the genocidal maniac's malignant narcissism reaches new dizzying heights. Thing is, those darn Syrians still believe they deserve a life of dignity. Imagine that.
