Duterte describes himself as a socialist. So did Hitler & Stalin. So do many who support the Assad dictatorship & claim he’s a socialist too. That claim may give others among his outright fascist supporters pause but they still all march to hell together.

Apparently socialist is one of those identities that doesn’t mean very much anymore so people should cease polemics against the left on Syria since the left doesn’t exist any more. As the left stands today, that’s not a bad thing. But don’t use Syria to grind old grievances & learn to make distinctions between the umpteen kinds of socialists, libertarians, Islamophobes, haters of Jews, & outright weirdoes that make up the Assad chorus.

When the old-time socialists said they would march with the devil himself for justice, that was an unfortunate metaphor not meant to be taken literally.