All the Lilliputian socialist cults & sects that supported Assad, campaigned for his right to self-determination, & applauded Syrian & Russian bombing of civilians are facing their imminent demise. They weren’t in very good shape politically when they began their eclipse into Assadism by aligning with fascism. The antiwar showboaters like Code Pink & Cindy Sheehan who supported Assad (as well as Maduro & the Iranian regime) will only last as long as Medea Benjamin will keep bankrolling their stunts. But it won’t be long after they’ve lost their authority that they will lose their audience. Stunts always require an audience. The ‘retired’ State Department, FBI, CIA, & military officers (like Ray McGovern, Ann Wright, Colleen Rowley) who lead the antiwar movement in collaboration with their previous agencies (by the public admission of Ray McGovern) have it just where they want it: in its last throes as a result of betraying the Syrian Arab Spring uprising.

Some may see this denouement as a catastrophe. As an antiwar activist for now 53 years, I see this as necessary for rebuilding a principled antiwar movement rooted in grassroots organizing & without government agents functioning as leaders to betray it. It will not be easy to rebuild the antiwar movement but it remains the most imperative political task of our times.