The guy is a literal ISIS/Al-Qaeda terrorist. Trump joking around with him after he invited the literal terrorist to the White House isn't very funny if you ask me.
Because he's the new leader of a nation. Syria has always been very cozy with Russia, the US would like to reduce that. They also don't want China moving in either.
If you want the US to get out of the Middle East? You want to go the Obama/Biden route? Just pull up stakes like in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan & let chaos ensue? Or a more orderly withdrawal?
What would you suggest? Making it known the USA hates him and will not even speak with him? Just send China an invitation to walk right in, eh? Great idea!
Well, in post-Assad Syria's case it's the Druze & Alawite (Assad's own sect, generally regarded as an Islamic heresy) massacres. While some Christians have definitely been killed by the victorious Islamists, the number is much lower than those other two sects: about seven confirmed Christian dead in the same coastal massacres in springtime where 1,500-2,000 Alawites were killed, and a slightly higher number in the summer massacres of Druze in Suwayda (I remember reading an article about a Christian preacher & his family being murdered in their home).
Still horrific of course, but it's a fact that (so far, anyway) Christians have avoided being targeted in large-scale massacres unlike the other two. Most likely has to do with a combination of Christians not being as hated by the Syrian jihadis because they kept a pretty low profile under Assad (and thus aren't viewed as 'sectarian butchers' against whom sectarian butchery would be fair game, unlike Alawites) and Al-Sharaa thinking that treating them with a lighter hand will win him some goodboy points with the Christian element of the GOP (probably why he made a PR stunt out of putting Christmas trees toppled by his most fanatical fighters back up when he first conquered Aleppo).
As for the Druze & Alawites, of course they're primarily hated for being heretics from 'true' Islam in the eyes of the Islamists, as is the default. However the Druze are especially hated now because they're seen as Mossad pawns - Hikmat al-Hijri, their theocratic leader who was previously loyal to Assad but started shifting sides around 2021-23 as the Syrian economy declined even further, has been shilling really hard for Israeli intervention & the creation of a Jewish-backed Druze state, while his men literally raised Israeli flags over their territory after the IAF bombed Damascus. Alawites are extra-hated because obviously they were Assad's sect, it's like a religious version of how Zimbabweans would look at Rhodesians or how the EFF regards Boers in South Africa.
In southern Syria right now it's looking like the Jews have managed to set up a win-win: the optimal outcome for them would be to fracture Syria entirely and establish that Druze client state Al-Hijri wants among other things. (The Druze are 100% reliant on Israel for survival atm, they've proven to be lousy fighters who can't win long term even with Israeli air support - which is why Bibi suddenly approved pushing for a ceasefire about 2 days after bombing Damascus supposedly to save the Druze from a genocide - and Jordan's border with them is still sealed because Al-Hijri is also a huge captagon trafficker.) But even if Al-Sharaa wins, he's made it clear that he doesn't want to fight for the Golan Heights (which Israel is deadset on keeping) anyway and the inevitable ethnic cleansing of Druze will allow Netanyahu to resettle them in Israeli-occupied Quneitra Governorate in far SW Syria (it's been largely depopulated since the 6 Day and Yom Kippur Wars) to lock that buffer-for-his-buffer down. It wouldn't terribly surprise me if we later find out that both Al-Sharaa and Al-Hijri are Mossad agents, or at least assets lmao.
On the larger scale and more relevant to America, I think the American defense establishment just wants to get out of the Middle East and finally pivot to contend with China in the Pacific, it's something they've been going on about since the Obama years. Betting on Al-Sharaa to be another one of their Sunni satraps and making the minimum effort to rein Bibi in from actually blowing up Syria (thereby destabilizing the region even harder) is probably another move in that direction, unsavory as it may be. (Especially for Trump, a New Yorker breaking bread with a 'former' AQ emir is as unimaginable even five years ago for me as other New Yorkers voting in a Muslim jeet, but here we are...)
The guy is a literal ISIS/Al-Qaeda terrorist. Trump joking around with him after he invited the literal terrorist to the White House isn't very funny if you ask me.
Yeah I have yet to hear a good coherent reason as to why having him at the White House to yuck it up with him was a good thing.
Because he's an Israeli agent.
He was never part of ISIS and openly fight them when al‑Baghdadi offered a merge, he refused.
And distanced himself from Al-Qaeda, and made he own faction.
Basically, he's a terrorist but one willing to play ball, US agencies and policymakers like these types for all sorts of reasons.
Because he's the new leader of a nation. Syria has always been very cozy with Russia, the US would like to reduce that. They also don't want China moving in either.
If you want the US to get out of the Middle East? You want to go the Obama/Biden route? Just pull up stakes like in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan & let chaos ensue? Or a more orderly withdrawal?
What would you suggest? Making it known the USA hates him and will not even speak with him? Just send China an invitation to walk right in, eh? Great idea!
This is the most boomercon strawman take I have ever heard. Yeah, because I am absolutely terrified of China becoming close with Syria of all places.
Just ignore their close affection (under Assad) with Russia, eh? Reading comprehension is so "old fashioned" these days. Or racist? I forget.
You actually believe China doesn't operate around the world? Building relations and eroding the influence of other nations? Tanker.
And after the Druze and Christian massacres? We can't even get the guy to protect the lives of his own people and he gets a White House photo op?
Well, in post-Assad Syria's case it's the Druze & Alawite (Assad's own sect, generally regarded as an Islamic heresy) massacres. While some Christians have definitely been killed by the victorious Islamists, the number is much lower than those other two sects: about seven confirmed Christian dead in the same coastal massacres in springtime where 1,500-2,000 Alawites were killed, and a slightly higher number in the summer massacres of Druze in Suwayda (I remember reading an article about a Christian preacher & his family being murdered in their home).
Still horrific of course, but it's a fact that (so far, anyway) Christians have avoided being targeted in large-scale massacres unlike the other two. Most likely has to do with a combination of Christians not being as hated by the Syrian jihadis because they kept a pretty low profile under Assad (and thus aren't viewed as 'sectarian butchers' against whom sectarian butchery would be fair game, unlike Alawites) and Al-Sharaa thinking that treating them with a lighter hand will win him some goodboy points with the Christian element of the GOP (probably why he made a PR stunt out of putting Christmas trees toppled by his most fanatical fighters back up when he first conquered Aleppo).
As for the Druze & Alawites, of course they're primarily hated for being heretics from 'true' Islam in the eyes of the Islamists, as is the default. However the Druze are especially hated now because they're seen as Mossad pawns - Hikmat al-Hijri, their theocratic leader who was previously loyal to Assad but started shifting sides around 2021-23 as the Syrian economy declined even further, has been shilling really hard for Israeli intervention & the creation of a Jewish-backed Druze state, while his men literally raised Israeli flags over their territory after the IAF bombed Damascus. Alawites are extra-hated because obviously they were Assad's sect, it's like a religious version of how Zimbabweans would look at Rhodesians or how the EFF regards Boers in South Africa.
In southern Syria right now it's looking like the Jews have managed to set up a win-win: the optimal outcome for them would be to fracture Syria entirely and establish that Druze client state Al-Hijri wants among other things. (The Druze are 100% reliant on Israel for survival atm, they've proven to be lousy fighters who can't win long term even with Israeli air support - which is why Bibi suddenly approved pushing for a ceasefire about 2 days after bombing Damascus supposedly to save the Druze from a genocide - and Jordan's border with them is still sealed because Al-Hijri is also a huge captagon trafficker.) But even if Al-Sharaa wins, he's made it clear that he doesn't want to fight for the Golan Heights (which Israel is deadset on keeping) anyway and the inevitable ethnic cleansing of Druze will allow Netanyahu to resettle them in Israeli-occupied Quneitra Governorate in far SW Syria (it's been largely depopulated since the 6 Day and Yom Kippur Wars) to lock that buffer-for-his-buffer down. It wouldn't terribly surprise me if we later find out that both Al-Sharaa and Al-Hijri are Mossad agents, or at least assets lmao.
On the larger scale and more relevant to America, I think the American defense establishment just wants to get out of the Middle East and finally pivot to contend with China in the Pacific, it's something they've been going on about since the Obama years. Betting on Al-Sharaa to be another one of their Sunni satraps and making the minimum effort to rein Bibi in from actually blowing up Syria (thereby destabilizing the region even harder) is probably another move in that direction, unsavory as it may be. (Especially for Trump, a New Yorker breaking bread with a 'former' AQ emir is as unimaginable even five years ago for me as other New Yorkers voting in a Muslim jeet, but here we are...)
Great post, thanks.
yep. all the ISIS committing rapes and mass genocides..