The New Dark Age

'Socialism or Barbarism'

Syria: A Battle Lost Amid a Wider War

Sunday, 8 December 2024 — Internationalist 360°

Editorial Comment: I agree with Brian’s analysis, yet I have many questions  that demand answers. Not only did Syria’s allies fail to stop the fall of Syria, they did nothing to end the genocide in Palestine or the advance of the war to Lebanon and Syria. In fact, Russia repeatedly sabotaged negotiations in Syria by insisting on Turkey’s inclusion, not respecting the sovereignty of Syria when it demanded the departure of all Turkish forces from Syrian territory. Repeatedly Russia supported Turkey and established joint security patrols, which amounted to protecting land illegitimately occupied by Turkish forces.

Russia never challenged Israel when it bombed Syria, not even when Russia was directly attacked. The multiple betrayals that Russia and Turkey were collaborators in are well documented, yet as they happened, too few were willing to voice criticism or expose the hypocrisy.

Kevork Almassian observed that it is not credible that Russia was unable to detect the HTS advance, the amassing of forces and abnormal troop movements, given their extensive monitoring of Syria, including via satellite. As he astutely points out, civilians in the areas of Aleppo and Homs saw this coming. He based his alerts over the past few weeks on a combination of information coming from Syrian citizens and his own expert analysis. How is it that the Syrian government, media and Russian forces were blind to these developments? Is it not also curious that Russia’s naval and airbase in Syria are intact and have not been evacuated?

Regardless, Iran, Russia and China would be wise to heed Brian’s warning:

“For those in Tehran, Moscow, and Beijing and across all other capitals outside the West who lie to themselves about the nature of this war to avoid the discomfort of facing it – Syria is your ultimate future. There is no place for you at the table. You cannot compromise. You cannot infinitely buy time. You either successfully defend your nation together with your allies or you lose it.”

– A.V.

Brian Berletic

What is happening in Syria is a major loss for the Syrian people and their allies, including Russia and Iran and ultimately both China and the rest of the multipolar world.

It is a reminder that the US and its proxies remain the greatest threat to human peace and prosperity on planet Earth today – a potent danger that should not be underestimated.

Not only has the US maintained a large army of terrorists all along Syria’s borders, it has maintained significant control over global information space poisoning entire regions of the planet against their own best interests.

While US industry and military power fades, it has maintained its ability to politically interfere and capture entire populations – not through any particular strength, but from a fundamental lack of action from the rest of the world in recognizing information space as the key to national security in the 21st century.

Even today, most of the world has surrendered its information space to Silicon Valley and the US State Department. No matter how many tanks you have, if the US can convince your population not to man them or to point their guns in the opposite direction, you still lose.

One Battle Amid a Wider War

It is also important to remember this is just one battle amid a much larger and more critical war between US hegemony and multipolarism. No single battle is more important than the outcome of the war. If Russia has to pick between Ukraine and Syria – it clearly must pick Ukraine.

These events demonstrate that Russia and Iran are not “all powerful,” and that complacency is deadly.

And despite the tragedy taking place in Syria now, winning the war provides the possibility of one day restoring Syria.

“Extending Russia” (and Iran and China)

Russia has been forced to make difficult decisions. It is not just fighting the US in Ukraine – it is fighting the US all along its periphery from Eastern Europe to Central Asia.

The US strategy, as laid out in policy documents (literally titled: Extending Russia”), is to “extend” Russia by creating multiple crises Russia is forced to react to eventually overstretching itself and collapsing.

Russia must carefully choose where to commit and where to define its limits.

Beyond even that – the goal is to isolate Iran (which now looks likely), then Russia, then China – defeating the champions of the multipolar world in detail.

For those in Tehran, Moscow, and Beijing and across all other capitals outside the West who lie to themselves about the nature of this war to avoid the discomfort of facing it – Syria is your ultimate future. There is no place for you at the table. You cannot compromise. You cannot infinitely buy time. You either successfully defend your nation together with your allies or you lose it.

I will expand on this further throughout the week as events develop.

  • Syria’s collapse is a loss for the Syrian people and their Iranian, Russian, and Chinese allies;
  • It is a reminder that while US military and industrial power wanes, it still possesses potent “superweapons” in terms of monopolizing information space, poisoning populations against their own best interests, and toppling nations;
  • The US strategy has been to create multiple crises for Russia along its periphery including in Syria, forcing Russia to make difficult decisions regarding where it commits limited resources;
  • The multipolar world must accept the reality that what is essentially World War 3 is ongoing and they will all eventually be targeted in turn;
  • Investment is required in securing and defending national and regional information space from US interference through the creation of local education programs producing journalists and analysts, local social media platforms to replace US-based platforms, and laws ending foreign funding of media inside targeted countries;

Resources:

New Yorker – The Redirection (2009): https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20…

Judicial Watch – DIA document (2012): https://www.judicialwatch.org/documen…

NYT – U.S. Groups Helped Nurture Arab Uprisings (2011): https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/wo…

CNN – Syrian rebel leader says goal is to ‘overthrow’ Assad regime (Dec. 6, 2024): https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/06/mi…

US State Dept. – Foreign Terrorist Organizations: https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrori…

RAND Corporation – Extending Russia (2019): https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_re…

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