In 2017, before she became a congresswoman, Ilhan Omar tweeted, “Syria’s Assad has become an icon of the far right in America.” By then, Assad had also become an icon of the Stalinist, libertarian, & lazy-assed left, making them indistinguishable from the far right. That’s why you don’t see many Assadists defending her against Trump’s incitements to violence, at least nothing in comparison to their all-out campaigning for Assange. In Minnesota, the home base of Assadist Mint Press & an active Assadist & Stalinist antiwar movement, there are a few activists with “I stand with Ilhan Omar” badges & were a couple small protests (one in February & one in April) led by pro-Palestinian Jewish activists but there is no sustained campaign to defend her against Trump’s current threats. Articles about her in Assadist media focus on her support for Palestinians & opposition to war with Iran & Venezuela but none talk about her opposition to Assad.
In March 2019, Assadists went ballistic with miles of denunciations when Omar tweeted, “The people of Syria revolted against Assad’s repressive dictatorship 8 years ago today, demanding a more just & free government. Peace loving people around the world stand in solidarity with them in this struggle!” Fascist propagandist Eva Bartlett gets paid big bucks by Syria & Russia to monitor & chastise every criticism of Assad & in response to Omar’s tweet, Bartlett called her a “soul-devoid pawn of Empire” & accused her of lying & pandering to ‘Empire’. If anyone should know ‘soul-devoid’ it would be Eva since dictatorships are the circles she hangs out in & shills for. The courage & independence of Ilhan Omar are something Bartlett cannot even conceive of since her commitments are rooted in Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, & substantial remunerations.
Afghanistan is demanding Trump explain his comment that he has a plan to wipe it off the face of the earth & kill ten million Afghans in ten days in order to end the Afghan war. There is no explanation for Trump’s fascistic pathology nor justification for US military policy. All that’s left is to oppose it by rebuilding the corrupted antiwar movement on a principled basis.
Turns out Trump was again blowing smoke from his nether regions when he said Modi asked him two weeks ago to mediate the Kashmiri conflict between India & Pakistan. Even Modi wouldn’t want Trump or some Jared Kushner type devising ‘deals of the century’ for India. The entire region could become a nuclear conflagration under Trump’s interference.
One cannot apologize for posting too much about the bombing of Idlib. The struggle of the Syrian people against dictatorship, as part of the great Arab Spring uprisings, represents a watershed moment in history, a moment where the political corruption of the antiwar & socialist movements fully manifested on the side of dictatorship, Islamophobia, & anti-Semitism. While the Syrian Arab Spring fights with ferocity & without international support, the leading figures of the antiwar & socialist movements are writing their own epitaphs in the smut they hurl at the Syrian Arab Spring, especially the White Helmets.
Behold the ‘liberation’ of Idlib by Syrian & Russian bombers which have turned heavily populated cities into dead zones to defend the Assad dictatorship’s right to self-determination. Nihilism has become the ideological stance of all who defend this as liberation. Sectarians have found their natural habitat in Stalinism & Stalinism has found its final rotting place in fascism.
How to unravel the complexities of the Syrian revolution? Those civilians being bombed to death for rising up against dictatorship are the oppressed & those doing the bombing are the oppressors, including Syria, Russia, the US-coalition, & Iran.
Stop the slaughter in Idlib. All foreign military forces & mercenaries out of Syria.
(Photo is unverified screenshot of video from Ben Tro on Twitter)
UN officials report that yesterday at least 39 people, including eight women & five children, were killed in Syrian & Russian bombing of the busy marketplace in Maarat al-Numan, Idlib. That death toll is expected to rise as bodies continue to be recovered from the rubble. According to witnesses, some of the bodies were shredded or burnt beyond recognition. The death toll yesterday for all of Idlib, including bombing attacks on Khan Sheikhoun & Maar Shoreen, was at least 59 people killed & more than 100 injured, many of them critically.
Here a White Helmet rescuer carries a child injured yesterday by Syrian & Russian bombing of Idlib. Assad propagandists would call this photo staged & the child a ‘crisis actor’. The corrupted antiwar & socialist movements would say this slaughter is necessary & “worth it” to defend the Assad dictatorship’s right to self-determination. Principled antiwar activists call this a genocide & oppose it with every fiber of their being.
Stop the bombing of Idlib. All foreign military forces & mercenaries out of Syria.
Sketch from an eyewitness photo: White Helmets are helping recover bodies from a massacre of civilians in a busy marketplace attacked yesterday by Russian war planes.
The artist Marc Nelson said, “If you ever wondered how you would act during the Holocaust, you are doing it now.” That is something the corrupted antiwar & socialist movements should take to heart since their support for this slaughter condemns them & places them on the side of the oppressors. “US regime-change operation,” my ass! We are looking at a Syrian & Russian holocaust of civilians.
This little girl just survived (albeit with considerable physical & psychological trauma) heavy shelling by Syrian forces on civilian neighborhoods in Khan Shaykhoun, Idlib. When she is recovered enough to understand, we are certain she will agree with the corrupt antiwar & socialist movements that her trauma was, as Madeleine Albright would put it, “worth it” to defend the Assad dictatorship’s right to self-determination.
Stop the bombing of Idlib. All foreign military forces & mercenaries out of Syria.
This little guy is one of 300,000 Syrian civilians displaced in nearly three months of Syrian & Russian bombing in Idlib. Better to show the photo of a child who survived than to show those of children mutilated by bombing & buried in rubble.
They are civilians, not terrorists.
Stop the bombing of Idlib. All foreign military forces & mercenaries out of Syria.
