Two huge explosions killed and wounded scores of people in Damascus. The government accused the opposition, which, in turn, accused the government. And then this, today: in a video posted online the Islamist group al-Nusra Front says it carried out two bomb attacks in the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday (the original quote in BBC's newspeak was: "A video posted online in the name of Islamist group, al-Nusra Front, says it carried out two bomb attacks in the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday". Just an example of how political correctness even damages grammar). This all got me thinking again: does anybody care that the Wahabis are on yet another rabid killing spree, this time in Syria?
I have not posted much on Syria primarily because I feel rather uncomfortable with the entire situation. As you probably know, I loathe the Assad regime as much as I loathed the Gaddafi one. And yet, I don't feel that it is right to simply indulge in reckless Assad-bashing like many Arab and, sadly, Palestinian, pundits do. The very same folks whose irresponsible "down with Gaddafi!" plunged Libya in violence, chaos and poverty are now clearly hell-bent on repeating that same "performance" with Syria. The weirdest thing about these people is that they are self-proclaimed secularists, and yet they are in bed with the worse religious fanatics of the planet (Wahabi Islamists and Orthodox Jews). They whine about human rights, but when Gaddafi gets lynched by a crazed mob who even sodomizes him with a large knife, they turn away and have nothing to say.
For a while, I just assumed that they are misguided, but sincere, but when they turned their ideological hatred against Hassan Nasrallah, by far the most popular leader in the Arab and Muslim world, they showed me their true faces. Nasrallah, whom they in the past had covered in praise, suddenly turned into an overnight villain. Why? Because he chose to side with Assad and not with the US, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel and NATO. When I now see their expressions of outrage I wonder - did these pundits ever bother to actually listen (or read) a single speech by Hassan Nasrallah? How could they ever imagine that he would ever side with AIPAC and all the other newfound "friends of the Syrian people"?!
It is a very sad fact that a large segment of the Palestinian political leaders and pundits have had the gall to slander the one man on the planet who did more for the Palestinian people than any other and, forgive me for saying so, who did more for Palestine than any Palestinian ever did.
I understand that it would be useless for me to argue directly with these people, so I will limited myself to dedicating this short Russian fable to them in the hope that they might reflect on its moral:
This time around, and to the great chagrin of these "friends of the Syrian people", both Russia and China have balked at the US demands to betray Assad and the Syrian people (like they had done with Gaddafi and the Libyan people). This double veto got these folks really, really, really angry because they figured out that this time a NATO war on Syria would probably not happen. Barring a complete breakdown of the Assad regime, a "victory" for bizarre "Wahabi-Judaic-Secular coalition" is rather unlikely, hence the subsequent wave of (mostly) anti-Russian and (marginally) anti-Chinese vitriol.
Pepe Escobar has written a very witty satire about the fallback policy of the West towards Syria entitled World Powers Rush to Plunge Syria Into War. Check it out, it is both funny, accurate and sad.
As for the regime, it seems to be taking Moscow's threats about "no more mistakes or you are own your own" seriously and following a constitutional referendum parliamentary election have taken place. Does that mean that this Baathist regime has now come clean? Probably not. Old habits die hard, and corrupt officials used to rule by fear do not mend their ways overnight. But at least these two events could become the beginning of a gradual process of reform which could last for a very long time. The opposition understands that - hence the orgy of bombings which we are now witnessing.
Its too early to call this one. The Empire did prevail in Bosnia, Kosovo and Libya, but it was defeated in Chechnia by Russia which is now probably putting a lot of pressure on Assad to clean up his act. Besides Russia, Iran and Hezbollah are probably also trying to save Assad's regime, and both of these are very good at counter-insurgency operations. So I want to believe that there is hope to avoid a "Bosnia v4, Kosovo v3 or a Libya v2 in Syria", but it is going to be hard: Turkey is feeling that the moment is critical and going for the jugular, and NATO still might decide to strike. As I said many, many, times here, Russia will not, repeat not, militarily defend Syria in the case of a NATO aggression. And neither will China, of course. And that is the main problem.
The NATO puppets in Syria (aka the "Syrian opposition") enjoy the certainty that it can always retreat to a safe heaven into Turkey or Jordan and that its US and Israeli patrons will look out after them. The folks risking their necks for the Assad regime have no such guarantees. NATO can decide to strike and if that happens, they will be on their own with a zero chance to prevail.
The future is probably in the hands of the Syrian people. If they can convince NATO and its US overlords that an invasion of Syria will turn into a bloody mess followed by a bloody insurgency, NATO might decide to stay out of it. But if NATO feels that all it needs to do is engage into another air campaign "a la Libya" and that its allies on the ground will do what the KLA did in Kosovo or the Northern Alliance did in Afghanistan, then its all over for Assad and Syria.
Whatever the outcome, the moral stain on the Palestinian elites will remain: twice they back-stabbed their Arab brothers and twice they were on the wrong side of the fence. If Syria collapses, it will be with their complicity, and if Syria prevails, it will be in spite of them.
When the Argentinian people got really totally sick and tired of all of their political elites they came up with a truly beautiful slogan: "¡Que se vayan todos!" ("All of them must go!"). This is also what I wish the Palestinian people, that they finally get rid of their clueless political leaders and equally clueless do-gooder supporters abroad.
Hassan Nasrallah has recently declared that the time when Israel will cease to exist is nearing, and he is absolutely correct about that. The liberation of the Palestinian people is a historical inevitability, but it will not happen as long as the Palestinian people are lead by clueless elites. Neither Fatah nor Hamas nor the so-called "Palestinian intellectuals" have what it takes to free Palestine. So, indeed, "¡Que se vayan todos!"
The Saker
