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This episode was filmed on Saturday, before Damascus fell.
The Syrian revolution began in 2011 as a grassroots, civil society uprising against one of the most tyrannical rulers in the Muslim World. Bashar al-Assad like his father before him, presided over a state of terror, with disappearances, secret police repression and a punitive state machinery that governed through fear. Assad styled himself as an anti-imperialist when in reality he had colluded with the West in past conflicts and after 9/11 Syria became a favourite place for the Americans to render suspects for horrific torture.
Today we have Moazzam Begg who is the senior director of CAGE and author of enemy combatant – a book about his time as a detainee first in Bagram and then in Guantanamo. He also spent time in Syria during the revolution, as part of his investigation into the Assad regimes complicity in the CIA torture programme.
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Timestamps:
0:00 – Introduction
1:41 – Assad anti-imperialist?
7:07 – Syria’s torture campaign
12:42 – The Left on Syria
16:24 – Why dismiss Syrians?
19:05 – Russia
22:48 – The opposition
27:33 – ISIS vs Opposition
31:59 – Post-Assad Syria
34:36 – Minorities
36:40 – Assad against Israel?
39:17 – Palestinian resistance on Syria
42:48 – Islamic activism
45:26 – Will we be able to visit Syria
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Please please Boycott Turkey Turkey is Allies of Israel
Do not forget about Sudan
He was toppled because he was anti-imperialist like Qaddafi, otherwise, nobody bothering other ME dictators. Wahabi molvies don't like him because he was an Alvi.
Very Interesting, what was going on in Syria prior to the Arab Spring Initiation ? Well sometimes the Choices that are made is unknown. So you've Chased away a Tyrant in exchange for a Dictator . With 15 Million displaced Syrians , how Selfish can we get. You may not have known that Whatever that thing is you call Democracy, is an illusion that lasts only about 200 years. You too late gentlemen. May Allah be Merciful to you. ❤E
Congrats to our brothes and sisters in Syria 🔻✌🏼
to bad this was a short video.
hopefully you can bring someone in about the Assad regime and the US involvement and the british.
as always, anywhere the US sets foot in, it just brings chaos to those lands.
HTS is Al-Queda in Syria. Their insurgency has been facilitated by the US & Turkey..
“The Arab Spring” … I watched it for years… unreal what Assad did to ppl & the lies he told about not doing them.
why is bibi and israel so happy about assad's fall?
Assad is NOT a MUSLIMS.
Excellent vlog 🎉😊 Very ethical and very logical 👍 talking 👄 as academics and scholars ❤ Good portrayal of Islamic culture and world 🌎 😀 👌
HTS IS THE REBRAND NAME OF ISIS AND AMERICA CREATED ISIS AND AL QAIDA TO OVERTHROW THE ASSAD SYRIAN GOVERNMENT😃👍💀😈‼️
I am VERY happy for the Syrian and this NEW leader. But I am so Worried that maybe he is been hired by the CIA…..!!!!!!!!!!
Shame on you for regurgitating US/CIA lies and propaganda all of which have long been debunked. So stop pretending you're pro-democracy progressive when it's clear you support everything Assad fought against since 2011 including Al-qaeda/ISIS/Daesh now HTS. Sure there may have been govt corruption requiring major reform but to pretend that there were no outside influences not to mention decades of illegal US sanctions played little to no role in the suffering of Syrians is either incredibly naive or incredibly disingenuous.
Im holding my breath. Because knowing the nature of Muslims, they tend to replace one corrupt ruler with another to satisfy their own tribe and please their super power overlord i.e. US, Russia, France or China.
I understand the micro utopia but what about the agenda of those who have used the rebels. What about the land grab and bombing of Syrian military sites
You’ve framed this as an either-or situation, which doesn’t fully reflect the complexities involved. If I were being overly pessimistic or harsh, I might say that the false dichotomy you've created suggests you're either not very intelligent or you have an agenda.
However, I believe your intentions are genuine, but for many of us, it's better to unite with the Shiaa than with the Z10s.
I feel that you've taken a strong stance and are now determined to defend it, but I believe you are mistaken here Jalal. Time will ultimately reveal the truth.
do not take back your WORDS after a year when world will it getting worse if russia indeed has packed up. similar opinions were flashing at Saddam regime
I used to think Sunnis were smart. Now I think a lot of them have everything perfectly backwards. (Especially this ziosunni)
The reason Assad is gone his army didn't open up another front with Israhell Israel when Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen Iraq was asking them to in 2023 when they are part of the Axis, the Syria army was too scared and weak to fight they feared what Israhell was doing to Gaza and Lebanon and invasion from the north from Turkey to help Israhell Israel and it's happend and also Israel was bombing civilian areas in Syria killing civilians to terrorize the civilian population in Damascus the Syrian Army didn't nothing and couldn't do nothing
Assad gone now history the genocide in Gaza is continuing Israhell is still bombing Lebanon when there is suppose to be a seizure fire stop moving the attention away from Palestine
21:00 – I think the dehumanisation that differs between Syrians (or Yemenis) and Palestinian for western supporters is the dehumanization of their killers. We're told Assad is a monster and he acts like it, Assad seems so inhuman that it seems like a natural disaster, a tragedy but not engaging. But Netanyahu is less dehumanised, Netanyahu is a human being doing an evil thing.
Assad and MBS seem seem like demonic monsters, trying to make them stop looks obviously futile. So nobody even tries. But we keep being told that Israel are the good guys, that inspires more anger for some and more hope for others. So they tri to do him.
the dehumanisation of the victims is the same for Syria and Palestine, that dehumanising explains the people who only care about the Israeli hostages. But not the people under ruble.
You people are misled yourselves and misleading large chunks of your followers to gullibly stand with Saudi/Turkish funded foreign mercenaries in Syria. Unsubscribed!!
21:42
Something wasn’t right with the Assad family… you can’t just tell with the amount of statues and his face being everywhere… major 🚩 they all look like jins… he was obviously playing both side and had a nice clean exit,, while Israel comes to boom all the files and Assad intel.. friends sister went missing in Egypt and an Aussie girls got gang you know,, stick you pyramids in the bin…
Israel destroy all the military facilities , Israeli Tanks are in front of Damuskus , Syria will be facing the same fate of Irak , you ara such hyprocates , on side you are talking about the genocide in Gaza
USA , Israel created another Aphganistan
Amazing podcast so much to learn. Thank you guys!
This guy is obviously a USA plant and CIA operative. The fact that the Soo called Rebels have stated Israel is their friends while Israel kills thousands of Muslims and Trump has Troops in Syria to steal the oil . TOTALLY DISCREDITS THE SOO CALLED SYRIAN OPPOSITION REBELS 😂😂😂
No country is/has been more Imperialistic than Russia (in all of its incarnations: Tsarist, Soviet, under Putin, in the Russian Federation)
Asiatic Russia was conquered by the Russian military (mostly Cossack units) that were given land (and a loose hand to "control" the
native Siberians) There would have been a land rush in Siberia, during the Tsarist era, by Europeans; akin to the land settlement in
USA, Canada and Argentina, … IF … If the land of Siberia had been arable.
[By the 1700's Europe was experiencing a population explosion and a lack of farmland to provide food for that population]
Tsarist Russia took over the Caucasus area and what is now Manchuria China. Soviet Russia fomented revolution all over the
world for control of resources and for it's most treasured desire, a year-round warm water port.
The Assads, from Hafez to Bashar, aided by other members of his extended family and associates; were tyrannical thugs who played
all sides; as it suited them and kept them in power. In 2005 ('06?) Bashar Assad gave over control of Syria to Iran with a "defense" treaty
to keep himself and his regime in power. He betrayed his countrymen. The Iranian mullahs needed control of Syria to prop up their
Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah.
Also, the Kurds in Syria, the Druze as well as the majority Sunni Arabs in Syria were second-class citizens, as were the Christians.
The Christians had been routinely slaughtered under Ottoman rule. Under the French mandate they were a protected minority.
The Druze were also periodically persecuted under the Ottomans by proxies (such as displaced Muslim Caucasus people who had
been granted asylum in the Ottoman empire)
In the Middle East, neither Christianity, Judaism or Islam have clean hands, nor do the Russians and others.
Geography! Geography! Geography! The entire Middle East (West Asia) has been a battleground and a frontier of empires for
many thousands of years!
It was the Soviets who helped to set up the Soviet Ba'athist regimes of the M.E.. They also set up Yaser Arafat. Arafat was not a friend
of the people of the Middle East, or of the so-called "Palestinians" (Arabs of the Levant). He caused havoc in Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait!
He exploited the people of Gaza! He did not help the Palestinian people! Peace was in his hands and he threw it away!
Thank you for this discussion
Thank you !