Syria today

[Barbara]

Syrian Girl posted this funny pic of al-Sharaa [al-Jolani]
Apparently he used to hide out next to chickens in his... less civilized days

She writes :

"Can confirm, Jolani has left Damascus. There's talk of assassination attempts.

Perhaps he's putting on his old camouflage again to hide in some chicken coups.<[Notice the spelling, is that a mistake or a hint that another coup COULD later occur ?]

The funniest part was when people thought the syrian war was over."

[Barbara]

Mitred Archpriest Gregory William's [+2016] pamphlet on Metropolitan Philip II of Moscow - still orderable, it looks like, from the St John of Kronstadt Press

I haven't watched the whole video below but it looks to be similar to another I did see which helps shed a lot of light on the entire situation about Is not real attacking Syria on the Feast of Metropolit Philip's Translation of Relics, July 16, 2025.

Note that Metropolitan Philip of Moscow was outspoken in chastising the powerful leader of his era, Tsar Ivan Grozhny.

So also, one could say that the current Iranian is a collective voice in the same vein. Thus, it's trounced by every Western and Western-backed news outlet with tons of fake horror stories over the entire course of its existence [since 1979]

Even the so-called Arab station, Al-Jazeera, is far from being even remotely objective; it mostly takes the Western viewpoint, but just toned down to some degree.

Professor Sayed M. Marandi is a wonderful explainer of many nuances in the relations between all the countries of the Levant, to his own country, Iran, and even as far as Pakistan.

It's useful to hear what he has to say so as to gain a balanced viewpoint on a difficult part of the world, where, honestly, just about zero American or British commentators have any true grasp.
Worst of all are the BBC, Sky News [Yalda Hakim is particularly horrible in this regard], all major American networks.

[Barbara]

Syrian Girl sums up the entire situation since December 8 2024 :

"Jolani supporters and the "Syrian revolution" retards opened the gates of hell in Syria for Israel to exploit."

[Barbara]

Kevork Almassian, Armenian Christian from Syria but apparently living in Berlin, gives a useful interview with RT.

Despite all the negative things said about the latter, this interviewer is so much more -

Alert
Aware
Informed
Genuine-sounding
Energetic, animated
Articulate, like his guest also is

than any other major media outlet today

8 min, a useful perspective

https://x.com/i/status/1945890102699327945

[Barbara]

Comic relief :

Syrian Girl

"This creature was spotted running around Damascus and Sweida.
It resembles a prehistoric man."

[Barbara]

Syrian Girl was given an award by the Australian National Review this month for her independent reporting on Syria, is not eal, and even identifying the zi on ist-backed coup that overthrew Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd [mentioned earlier here]



She probably deserves the award, as someone observing the entire scene on social me dia wrote :

"No matter which sect or relg , 90% people I met care about themselves only. They don’t [care] about Syrian politics !

"Look at Twitter , apart from noisy Syrian girl , I don’t find anyone advocating for anyone than themselves !"

[Barbara]

Post from Kevork Almassian recommending an apparently good expose of the manipulations of Syria over these years and how the campaign was crafted to appear as though the opposition was completely secular !

Instead of who they really were

He adds mention that this author does NOT include the role of Turkiye in organizing that onslaught in December 2024

"For over a decade, the war in Syria has been presented to the world as a simple narrative: a popular revolution against a dictator, a fight for freedom and democracy, a heroic struggle of “moderates” against tyranny. That is the story repeated endlessly by Western officials, echoed uncritically by corporate media, and amplified on social platforms.

But what if that story was false? What if the so-called Syrian “uprising” was, from its very beginning, shaped, manipulated, and engineered by the world’s most powerful intelligence agency?

This is the central argument of William Van Wagenen’s Creative Chaos: Inside the CIA's Covert War to Topple the Syrian Government, a book that anyone serious about understanding the modern Middle East must read.

@WVanwagenen

When the protests began in Syria in 2011, many—including myself—were hopeful that the Arab Spring might open doors to political liberalization. But the events on the ground told a different story. Within months, armed groups with sectarian agendas were killing soldiers, police, and civilians. Far from a democratic movement, the reality looked increasingly like an externally sponsored insurgency.

@WVanwagenen
’s book meticulously documents how the CIA, in collaboration with regional allies such as Qatar, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, orchestrated one of the costliest covert operations in its history: the deliberate destabilization of Syria. He demonstrates how Washington framed these operations as support for “freedom fighters,” while in reality funneling weapons, money, and logistical support to al-Qaida and affiliated groups.

This is not speculation. It is grounded in documented evidence, declassified materials, and a decade of investigative research.

Challenging the Official Narrative
One of the most valuable contributions of Creative Chaos is its ruthless dismantling of the mainstream narrative. Van Wagenen shows how self-styled “human rights” organizations, often funded by Western governments, played a critical role in obscuring the Islamist nature of the insurgency. He demonstrates how carefully chosen activists and opposition figures were elevated in the media to give legitimacy to a project that was, at its core, a CIA-led regime change war.

For years, Western analysts acted as little more than extensions of intelligence apparatuses, legitimizing Washington’s dirty war and smearing anyone who dared to question it. Creative Chaos pushes back, providing the history and context necessary to see past propaganda.

A Personal Connection
This book also carries special meaning for me. I had the honor of writing the foreword, where I reflected on my own journey from cautious optimism about the Arab Spring to a sobering recognition of foreign intervention in Syria.

As the descendant of Armenian genocide survivors, I grew up surrounded by the memory of atrocities, by lessons of resilience, and by a deep sense of justice. Those memories returned in 2011 as I documented the sectarian violence of insurgent groups in Syria, supported openly by the same powers responsible for the invasion of Iraq and the oppression of Palestinians.

Creative Chaos validates what many of us saw and reported, often at personal risk: that Syria’s agony was not the spontaneous uprising portrayed on television screens, but a carefully engineered project for geopolitical ends.

William Van Wagenen has written one of the most important books on Syria to date. If you want to understand how covert wars are waged in the 21st century, if you want to know how intelligence agencies manipulate media narratives, and if you want to grasp how billions of dollars in weapons ended up arming extremists, then this book is essential reading.

I cannot recommend it highly enough."