Chris Hedges is always using his years of experience as a war correspondent to render authority to his long-winded jeremiads & to his defense of the Assad regime.

This is my 51st year as an antiwar activist so I could claim some authority of my own. But one thing you know from activism is that longevity is no measure of good sense in politics. There’s no sectarian fool quite so deplorable as an old sectarian fool. New York City socialist politics is filled with them.

When a young activist in NYC, I was attending an antiwar meeting with a friend where an octogenarian socialist was ranting on & denouncing everyone in that hammer & sickle language that is their style. My friend leaned over & whispered “If I turn out that way at 80, just shoot me.” I won’t shoot him but he did turn out that way & is now a vociferous defender of Assad.

What doesn’t kill you in politics makes you loony instead.

Despite profligacy with the block button, I hate like hell giving up on people, especially if they’re involved in immigration rights or Palestinian solidarity work. But when they won’t be persuaded to look at other sources than Global Research, Mint Press, RT, Pravda, Sputnik News, & the Beavis & Butthead propagandists for Assad, there isn’t much point in wasting your breath.

You know they’ve gone full monty deranged when they talk about the Arab Spring uprisings of millions against dictatorships as orchestrated by the CIA & Mossad; how the world is run by reptilian Jewish bankers; how Assad is the lesser evil to jihadist head-choppers; how the gassing of Khan Shiekhoun was really the White Helmets making a “snuff movie of dead kids”; or when they switch the subject from Khan Sheikhoun 2017 to Fallujah 2004 to deflect from Syrian war crimes to US war crimes rather than denounce Assad, Russia, & the US.

Syria isn’t easy to understand & is intentionally obfuscated to mask the character of US, Russian, & other military intervention. The primary facts are that Syria has formed an unstable & volatile alliance with Russia, the US, Iran, et al, as a counter-revolutionary force to destroy every vestige of revolution against Assad’s dictatorship–just as they are bombing Yemen to destroy the revolution & operating through military dictatorship in Egypt & the Saudis, US, UK in Bahrain to destroy the Arab Spring uprisings–& through Israel to destroy Palestinian self-determination.

It is a Faustian bargain for Assad who needs US & Russian bombers to destroy the revolution but who knows full well that if the revolution is defeated, the US & Russia will turn on him to impose a partition of Syria & he will not end up where he was before the revolution began but will become a minor satrap in a fractious colony starved out by sanctions & besieged by US special forces.

If Assadists think the US is engaged in a proxy head-chopping war against Assad now, they ain’t seen nothing yet. If the revolution is defeated, their days of being embedded up the ass of the Syrian army will be over & they’ll be riding sidecar at a demolition derby.

We cannot allow the Syrian revolution to be defeated without putting up a fight to defend it. The fate of millions hangs in the balance: the fate of Syrians, of democracy in the Middle East & Africa, of Palestinian self-determination, of the Arab uprisings in Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, South Sudan, of beleaguered & persecuted Muslims & of the oppressed around the world. That’s how important the Syrian revolution is to all of humanity.

Those confused by a complicated situation can begin by reading
“Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution & War” by Robin Yassin-Kassab & Leila Al-Shami (an eminently readable primer of the revolution), & the blogs of Syrian revolutionist Yassin Al Haj Saleh & Leila Al-Shami.

One needn’t agree with those writers on everything; I take issue with Robin Yassin-Kassab on US intervention & disagree with imposing a No Fly Zone, which I consider an act of war. But his & Al-Shami’s analysis of the Syrian revolution is brilliant & makes Assadist apologetics look like horse manure in comparison.

http://www.yassinhs.com/

https://leilashami.wordpress.com/author/leilashami/

My friend who rescues cats called this evening to ask if I would take in a Cocker Spaniel she found & asked me to meet her at a supermarket to get the dog. When I arrived, my friend & another woman–a stranger & also a dog lover–were trying to calm the very frightened little girl. My beloved mutts were in the car & their jealous barking sent the little Cocker running. We chased on foot across the parking lot, dodging cars along the way, but our flip flops were no match & she left us in the dust.

Stalking dogs by car is an art form for me now so I set off looking for her, driving in the middle lane with the emergency lights flashing. Looking like a fool, I might add. Soon I saw her skulking down a side street & set off in pursuit. She dodged me for about a mile but by now it was getting dark & she was walking down a road with oncoming traffic & no shoulder. She was a sitting duck to get hit so I was flailing my arms to traffic so they wouldn’t hit her.

Now here’s the beginning of the miracle part: a young man & woman driving by saw my predicament, pulled their car off the road ahead of us, & the man set back on foot to capture the dog. Another man joined in & the wife & I were a caravan of cars following them follow the dog. It was completely dark when they caught her & handed her triumphantly to me. There was no way to thank them. People who are so kind don’t require more than gratitude.

Now part two of the miracle: I phoned my cat rescue friend & my new rescue friend to tell them the dog was found. Becky, my new friend, told me she looked on FB lost & found dogs & found this photo of a dog named Lady that looked just like our Cocker. The family was looking for her & offering a $500 reward. She connected us & it turns out the family lives about three blocks from me though they lost her quite a distance away & I found her about three miles from here.

They left here moments ago. It was their Lady, no mistaking that. The older fellow was crying as he cuddled her & his family said he’d been crying all day. He’s a double amputee & spends most of his day with Lady by his side. They’re working people. There are no rich people in my neighborhood, believe me. I would have felt the fool taking $500 offered me by the man for chasing down his dog. There was more miracle here than anything & more kindness from strangers of the kind that makes your heart sing. I’ve been the recipient of far too much kindness in my life to not be grateful for a chance to pay it forward.

I’m thinking such miracles come from all the blessings I receive from Kashmir. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RbhQjyCr_A

“I Protest” by MC Kash in tribute & solidarity with the tens of thousands of students across Kashmir protesting today against the violent Indian occupation.

Just in the past few days they have witnessed each other being used as human shields, shot at with pellet guns & live ammo, beaten, executed just walking down the road, & had their schoolyards invaded by soldiers.

They stood alone & defiant for 28 years of such criminality. But their relentless activism on social media is rousing the forces of international solidarity. Do not let them stand alone any longer.

Their struggle against colonialism is historic, monumental; their victory against occupation & colonialism would change the balance of power in the world to the advantage of the oppressed.
In the midst of occupation, they have stood with the oppressed around the world –with Gaza, Aleppo, the Rohingya, & many others.

We stand with them. Our deepest respect & solidarity for the freedom fighters of Kashmir who refuse to back down. They are the teachers & leaders in how to make this world suitable for human beings to live & love in.

Azadi!

Anybody have an issue with this little guy in North Korea?

Of course not. Then it’s agreed. No one wants to bomb him except the US Pentagon for reasons that have nothing to do with freedom or democracy.

Stop the war threats against North Korea!

(Photo from 2011 by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Anybody have a beef with these little kids singing their hearts out in North Korea?

Anybody other than the US Pentagon want to bomb them to smithereens because their leaders are repressive?

Didn’t think so. Stop the US war threats against North Korea!

(Photo from 2011 by Ng Han Guan/AP)

Words cannot convey the horror of the gassing of civilians at Khan Sheikhoun & the bombing of civilians outside Aleppo. They are both monstrous crimes against humanity. Our sincere condolences to the families & friends of all the victims.

There will be no end to these atrocities & to the grieving–not just in Syria, but elsewhere in the Middle East & Africa–without rebuilding the international antiwar movement to demand the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign military forces in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, & elsewhere, & to demand Assad stop bombing civilians. He is not bombing “his own people.” The Syrian revolution against his dictatorship does not belong to him. The Syrian people do not belong to him.

As for the grieving survivors of the airport hangars that were killed by US bombers, we leave Assadists to cry their crocodile tears like fools.

No to US & Russian military intervention! No to Russian, Syrian, & US bombing of civilians! Out Now!

Photo is White Helmet rescue worker helping an elderly woman who survived the suicide bombing attack on the bus convoy. Why? Because she is human. No other reason necessary. Political loyalties not an issue.

We’re heard from the first Assad official to speak out on the suicide bombing of the civilian bus convoy near Aleppo. Fares Shehabi, the Syrian parliamentarian from Aleppo, reared up on his hind legs to denounce the White Helmets for helping in the rescue operation. He berated them on social media for rescuing children for publicity & said “after the bus massacre, WH showed up!” Actually they were there as part of the forced relocation & population swap engineered so regrettably by the Assad regime. The hapless Assadist of Aleppo either knows less than the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in Coventry or he’s lying again. Or both. And btw, where was our man Fares during the rescue operation?

Just hours after the suicide bombing, Shehabi posted this photo on Twitter saying this guy “is the “moderate” suicide rebel who bombed the civilian buses.” Well we’re wondering, since Shehabi is the Assad official for Aleppo, what he knew & when he knew it about this alleged suicide bomber? If they knew he was a terrorist & what he looked like, why didn’t they stop him & arrest him when he approached the civilians in a delivery van? Presumably this photo wasn’t taken after he blew himself to smithereens–though such a claim would not be beyond Assadists. Did they think a terrorist would be delivering candy to children?

Alas poor Fares. Get your damn lies straight.

https://twitter.com/ShehabiFares/status/853361914445012996

A Syrian nun who just got an award for courage from Melania Trump says Assad is not a dictator. If anybody knows courage it would be Melania. As for Sister Carolin Tahhan Fachakh from Damascus, let me remind you that my novice mistress told us Jesus never changed his underwear. She swore to it. It mattered to her.

https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/942950049179836/?pnref=story

The questions remain: how could a suicide bomber drive his van right up next to the civilian bus convoy without being inspected by Assad troops? Why does media have to rely on reports from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) in Coventry rather than Assad forensics investigators in Aleppo? Why has Assad said nothing about this bombing?

Why are Assadists calling this video propaganda?

The historic imperative remains: rebuild the international antiwar movement demanding the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all military forces from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia. Out Now!

Let the Syrian people hit the road to Damascus to settle accounts with Assad without US or Russian bombers impeding the way.