Refugee on Hungarian border: “I was trying to cross to #Hungary but we got caught by border police. They released dogs that attacked us & I was bitten on my wrist.”

(Photo of refugee’s arm tweeted by MSF Sea)

There are protests across Idlib, Syria against Al-Qaeda/Nusra terrorists by supporters of the revolution against the Assad dictatorship. This child is at a protest in Maarat Al-Nooman about 33 km (21 mi) south of Idlib.

The placard says: “O Jabhat Al-Nusra. From Maarat Al-Nooman your end has come. You cannot humiliate what Bashar Al-Assad couldn’t.”
She’s not thinking about national sovereignty like the Hands Off Syria crowd; she’s thinking the end of bombing & terrorism–the two sides of the counter-revolution. She’s thinking democracy & justice & peace & the end of Assad’s gulag.

Long live the Syrian revolution.

(Tweeted by Lina Shamy from Syria)

Counter-revolution in Daraa, Syria:

Syrian forces are conducting a murderous ground & air bombardment of Daraa. This airstrike a few days ago is on a city of nearly 100,000 civilians. The city is 90 km (56 mi) south of Damascus & 13 km (8 mi) north of the border with Jordan.

Daraa is known as the “cradle of the Syrian revolution” because it sparked the revolution against the Assad regime in March 2011 when the regime arrested & severely tortured 15 young boys for spray painting anti-Assad graffiti calling for the downfall of the regime. Thousands of protesters demanding the release of the kids & political freedom were attacked by Assad troops using water cannons & teargas before they opened fire on the unarmed protesters. The protests spread across Syria & ignited the revolution which is battered & weak but not yet defeated.

The only principled antiwar response is to demand Assad stop the bombing & the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign military forces including the US, Russia, Iran, Hizbollah.

Our unconditional support for the Syrian revolution. One of the greatest tragedies of our era is the lack of international solidarity with the revolution against a monstrous dictator & the greatest crime is the support by so many for the counter-revolution involving Assad, Putin, Trump.

(Photo tweeted by Lina Shamy from Syria)

Just finished the article for Pakistan Today on Trump’s farcical visit to Saudi Arabia. Who knows if anything got done there since he’s not up to diplomacy or negotiations. Though he does a mean curtsey. Mostly it was about cementing the US relationship with the Saudis.

One thing I always learn from my studies is the absolute impoverishment of scholarship, at least available in English. I can’t think of an international issue I’ve studied where that hasn’t been the case. There’s just mountains of rubbish written by know-nothings & much of it is outright lies or by State-department types–at least on subjects I’m interested in. When you find scholars who are really cogent, it’s good to learn they are often recognized for their work. Though the dopes get higher honoraria. It pays to talk stupid.