Have for a long time been saying that what we are seeing around us in many fields is the creation of cults. Climate Change the first, then Brexit, Covid, and now Ukraine.
A word on Assad. My stepdaughter spent six months in Damascus, leaving just after the trouble started. My wife visited a couple of time. Both loved it. My stepdaughter said the felt safer there as a single young woman than she did in much of London, and much more so than Morocco where she felt the evil eye when out on her own.
50 years ago, I spent a couple of months in Morocco, with a friend and his girlfriend. She was able to wear shorts and no hair cover, with no problem whatsoever.
We were sold much spin on Assad. He was popular, and the economy was moving when the West decided Syria was the next to go. They had for the first time a professional middle class, and their GDP growth was better then here. He was starting to deal with what is a constant problem in ME/Third World countries - bureaucratic corruption.
His dad of course was excoriated for the massacre in Homs. Actually, that did us all a huge favour, as he wiped out a large encampment of the Muslim Brotherhood, the fons origo of Islamic terrorism. Similarly, there was NO civil war, rather an uprising by extremists funded by the West and (Sunni) Saudi Arabia. Those all trapped in Idlib after Assad won were all such.
Syria was also the last secular country in the Middle East. Rather than turning on them, realpolitik would suggest that we should have engaged with Assad to support this last bastion, and prompt him into being more moderate.
The notorious gas attacks 1) The only Chlorine in the country has long been in the hands of extremists. 2) The OPCW reports on this have been found to have many falsehoods. At no point has Assad turned on his own. Another reason for his popularity.
So what have we there now? As Daniel notes, a country in a far worse state than it was before Assad fell.
I spent 4 months in Syria in 1977 and had a wonderful time. Damascus itself was very secular. However, visiting other places like Homs, Hama, Aleppo and even the outskirts of Damascus, it was very different. The uprising in Hama in 1982 did not come as a surprise at all. Syria was like 2 completely different societies trying to co-exist.
Thanks for that detailed reply Jeremy. I have zero doubt on two things-Assad could be brutal, and what’s replaced him is almost certainly worse. I think if the Globalists succeeded in removing Putin it would be the same., only a lot more dangerous given Russias nuclear arsenal.
An Arab friend of mine said that Bashir Assad's main problem was pissing off the Saudis from right after his father's death and then embracing the ayatollahs in Iran. His father Hafez was careful to stay in the Saudis' good graces and not to entangle himself with the ayatollahs in Iran.
Excellent. The ancient injunction, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” can be modified to “Don’t let the ideal be the enemy of the not-as-terrible-as-it-could-get”.
The late Poul Anderson, a giant in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, talked about mature idealism. The idealists you are describing are immature ones. Mature idealists set realistic goals. They also understand the power of archetypes... one of his last novellas was a Time Patrol story that examined the underpinnings of assimilation of minorities into Christianity.
In our world, Arminius (Hermann) betrayed Rome and ordered the torture and murder of multiple Roman legions in the Black Forest in the early First Century CE. Though inland Germans eventually embraced Christianity, this hideous event was a darkness in German history that lasted all the way to Nietzsche... and Hitler. By comparison, coastal Germans were peacefully assimilated into Christianity and the Dutch and Flemish perceive a difference between themselves and other Germans that goes back all the way to Roman times.. they're the "good" Germans that embraced civilization and the inland Germans were the "bad" Germans that rejected it in both the First and Twentieth Centuries CE.
A Dutch high priestess of a benevolent sea goddess, Waleda, whose archetype in our world was assimilated as the archetype of Mary, Star of the Sea, was wavering toward violent resistance to Rome back in the First Century. It turned out that she personally had to decide the future of Europe and its people by deciding between assimilation and violence... and a male colleague of hers had sworn vengeance against Rome. Two Time Patrol agents were sent back to the proto-Dutch First Century CE to investigate and try to stop her from changing her mind. The female agent, who was a Twentieth Century CE Dutch woman, ended up becoming Waleda in the eyes of the locals, including the high priestess. Because the priestess was a mature idealist, she was able to choose assimilation even though it cost her her friend, who committed suicide. On her deathbed, the agent came back and comforted her as she died... and then felt guilty for having lied to her. The other agent, who was the protagonist in most of the Time Patrol stories, told her that her lies were closer to the truth than she had realized, and that her priestess choosing assimilation preserved her Goddess's legacy as an archetype for future generations.
Have for a long time been saying that what we are seeing around us in many fields is the creation of cults. Climate Change the first, then Brexit, Covid, and now Ukraine.
A word on Assad. My stepdaughter spent six months in Damascus, leaving just after the trouble started. My wife visited a couple of time. Both loved it. My stepdaughter said the felt safer there as a single young woman than she did in much of London, and much more so than Morocco where she felt the evil eye when out on her own.
50 years ago, I spent a couple of months in Morocco, with a friend and his girlfriend. She was able to wear shorts and no hair cover, with no problem whatsoever.
We were sold much spin on Assad. He was popular, and the economy was moving when the West decided Syria was the next to go. They had for the first time a professional middle class, and their GDP growth was better then here. He was starting to deal with what is a constant problem in ME/Third World countries - bureaucratic corruption.
His dad of course was excoriated for the massacre in Homs. Actually, that did us all a huge favour, as he wiped out a large encampment of the Muslim Brotherhood, the fons origo of Islamic terrorism. Similarly, there was NO civil war, rather an uprising by extremists funded by the West and (Sunni) Saudi Arabia. Those all trapped in Idlib after Assad won were all such.
Syria was also the last secular country in the Middle East. Rather than turning on them, realpolitik would suggest that we should have engaged with Assad to support this last bastion, and prompt him into being more moderate.
The notorious gas attacks 1) The only Chlorine in the country has long been in the hands of extremists. 2) The OPCW reports on this have been found to have many falsehoods. At no point has Assad turned on his own. Another reason for his popularity.
So what have we there now? As Daniel notes, a country in a far worse state than it was before Assad fell.
I spent 4 months in Syria in 1977 and had a wonderful time. Damascus itself was very secular. However, visiting other places like Homs, Hama, Aleppo and even the outskirts of Damascus, it was very different. The uprising in Hama in 1982 did not come as a surprise at all. Syria was like 2 completely different societies trying to co-exist.
Thanks for that detailed reply Jeremy. I have zero doubt on two things-Assad could be brutal, and what’s replaced him is almost certainly worse. I think if the Globalists succeeded in removing Putin it would be the same., only a lot more dangerous given Russias nuclear arsenal.
And I think brutality is the only language that Johadis understand.
Yes. Better the Devil you know... And now the besuited Jihadis who took over are taking out the Alawites...
An Arab friend of mine said that Bashir Assad's main problem was pissing off the Saudis from right after his father's death and then embracing the ayatollahs in Iran. His father Hafez was careful to stay in the Saudis' good graces and not to entangle himself with the ayatollahs in Iran.
From one pragmatist to another — perfect. Thanks.
Thanks. 😀😀
You verbalize my thoughts. It’s amazing how “history rhymes”. Is cognitive dissonance part of DNA in 50% of us?
It’a certainly present in a very large percentage.
Excellent. The ancient injunction, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” can be modified to “Don’t let the ideal be the enemy of the not-as-terrible-as-it-could-get”.
Thanks, and yes it can.
The late Poul Anderson, a giant in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, talked about mature idealism. The idealists you are describing are immature ones. Mature idealists set realistic goals. They also understand the power of archetypes... one of his last novellas was a Time Patrol story that examined the underpinnings of assimilation of minorities into Christianity.
In our world, Arminius (Hermann) betrayed Rome and ordered the torture and murder of multiple Roman legions in the Black Forest in the early First Century CE. Though inland Germans eventually embraced Christianity, this hideous event was a darkness in German history that lasted all the way to Nietzsche... and Hitler. By comparison, coastal Germans were peacefully assimilated into Christianity and the Dutch and Flemish perceive a difference between themselves and other Germans that goes back all the way to Roman times.. they're the "good" Germans that embraced civilization and the inland Germans were the "bad" Germans that rejected it in both the First and Twentieth Centuries CE.
A Dutch high priestess of a benevolent sea goddess, Waleda, whose archetype in our world was assimilated as the archetype of Mary, Star of the Sea, was wavering toward violent resistance to Rome back in the First Century. It turned out that she personally had to decide the future of Europe and its people by deciding between assimilation and violence... and a male colleague of hers had sworn vengeance against Rome. Two Time Patrol agents were sent back to the proto-Dutch First Century CE to investigate and try to stop her from changing her mind. The female agent, who was a Twentieth Century CE Dutch woman, ended up becoming Waleda in the eyes of the locals, including the high priestess. Because the priestess was a mature idealist, she was able to choose assimilation even though it cost her her friend, who committed suicide. On her deathbed, the agent came back and comforted her as she died... and then felt guilty for having lied to her. The other agent, who was the protagonist in most of the Time Patrol stories, told her that her lies were closer to the truth than she had realized, and that her priestess choosing assimilation preserved her Goddess's legacy as an archetype for future generations.