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As the Syrian Arab Army, flanked by the Russian Aerospace Forces and military specialists continue to liberate Dier ez-Zor, one of the most interesting developments is something that hasn’t happened.
Earlier this year when Iraqi forces along with the US retook the city of Mosul from ISIS, what transpired for the innocent civilians of the long besieged Iraqi city was less of a liberation than a process of trading the monster of ISIS for the brutality of Iraqi forces.
One of the most striking turnarounds in the Middle East is the sudden close rapprochement between Syria and Iraq, who in their moves along the Syria-Iraqi border are increasingly coordinating together against both ISIS and the US.
To be clear, this is a major turnaround. Since the Second World War Syria and Iraq have more often been in bitter conflict with each other than allied with each other.
The following video shows life as it has been during the war in Syria, which is seldom shown in the western mainstream media.
Young people talk about their love of art and music which would be prohibited or even punishable by death under Al-Qaeda rule.
In government controlled areas the video shows how all people enjoy their daily life in peace even after years of war. Such are the spirits of the Syrian people; to celebrate life even in the face of war, death and destruction. They have learned to defy the terrorists’ mortar shells as they rain daily on them.
The morally correct answer is no. But the following grim yet practical option should at least be discussed.
The element of surprise is one of the key tactics in any war, whether it be a military war, an intelligence war, an information war, a cold war or a broad sweeping moral battle.
Syria is now in the cross-hairs of a Pentagon seemingly hell bent on war. Whether Donald Trump can or even still wants to resist this, is anyone’s guess.
This is why Syria, in close cooperation with her allies must take the first decisive step.
In terms of foreign policy making, pragmatism has died in the west, although there are some glimmers of hope that it may be resurrected under a Trump Presidency.
But in other areas, pragmatism bordering on cynicism is not only present in the west but omnipresent. However, it is found virtually exclusively in the realm of domestic issues.
The 21st century has witnessed what many would call a sharp decline in the strength and stability in governments promoting Arab nationalism. Whether Ba’athism, Nasserism or Libya’s unique Third International Theory, many of the regimes that were once bulwarks of the various ideologies of Pan-Arabism have either been destroyed or severely compromised.
With Russia and America engaging in ever closer cooperation with Kurdish forces in Syria and with the question of President Assad’s war against terrorism changed from one of ‘if’ to a question of ‘when’, it is necessary to example what the relationship between Syria and the Kurds will be in the conflict’s aftermath.
Ba’athism can be viewed from two different perspectives: firstly by its objective virtues, and secondly by its opposition.
Ba’athism, as a political theory, combines Arab nationalism with socialist ideas, high quality secular education, a mixed economy, and a strong central government that oversees a secular society in which all religions are treated equally and worship is freely allowed.
US Defence Secretary James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis has jumped into the Iran fray.
Here is what he said:
