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Regime Change

US Seizing Panama And Greenland Aimed At China

While a recent interview with the newly confirmed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began with promising slogans, it quickly unraveled into threats of overt aggression, including outright calls to seize the Panama Canal and annex Greenland from Denmark under an implicit threat of military force. While the change in presidential administration is purely superficial, the intense urgency it pursues continuity of agenda with is not. It reflects the rapid rise of China, Russian resilience in the face of US proxy war in Ukraine, and an expanding multipolar world overwriting the US-led unipolar world order at ever-increasing speeds.

The Resistance In West Asia Is Not Dead

The coming year is promising to be a crucial one in the history of West Asia. Just weeks have passed since the ouster of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and his replacement with pro-Western leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. Syria was a key member of the so-called “Axis of Resistance” – a coalition of actors opposing Israel and its actions. What will Assad’s departure mean for the resistance against Israel, especially given Jolani’s overt friendliness with Tel Aviv? Given their new government, what is in store for Lebanon and Hezbollah now? And how about Iraq and Yemen?

A History Of Foreign Intrigue In Lebanon

Finally, after two years and two months of a presidential vacuum, Lebanon has a new president. Western media coverage misses the essential point about the presidency of Lebanon: after the reforms of the Taif agreement in 1989, officially known as the National Reconciliation Accord, the Lebanese president lost his powers. A look back at the history shows that the Lebanese president is now largely a token ruler who does not actually rule. Before the Taif accords, which ended the 15-year Lebanese civil war, the Lebanese president was an absolutist who couldn’t be held accountable for his actions and ruled by decree.

No Popular Revolution Is Launched With Imperialism’s Backing

After more than a decade of military occupation, imposition of civil war and deadly economic sanctions by U.S. imperialism and its regional allies, the legitimate government of Syria was finally brought to its knees and a rebranded group of terrorists occupied Damascus and implemented imperialism’s long-term plan for regime change in Syria; an act which could not have been possible without direct military assistance of the U.S. and Israel and support from Türkiye and the reactionary regimes of the region. The rapid collapse of the Syrian government has led many who do not have a proper understanding of imperialism’s objectives and the historical global trends — and who base their assessments and analyses only on momentary and transient events — to blame Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian government for the present defeat.

Human Rights Groups Manufacture Consent For ‘Regime Change”

In the words of the United Nations, “human rights” range from “the most fundamental—the right to life—to those that make life worth living, such as the rights to food, education, work, health, and liberty.” These rights are supposed to be “inherent to us all.” But this lofty ambition has become distorted, not only by the UN itself but by the whole of what Alfred de Zayas calls the “Human Rights Industry.” This industry, headed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), has multiple layers that include UN “expert groups” and “rapporteurs,” regional commissions like (in the Western Hemisphere) the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, international NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and tens of thousands of other non-governmental organizations.

How USAID Paved The Way For Syria’s Jihadist Takeover

As the designated terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) establishes its proto-government in Idlib, notoriously corrupt NGOs are stepping in to fill the gaps in public services, with some even defecting to work alongside the group. The United States, which spent two decades and $5.4 trillion overthrowing governments hostile to al-Qaeda, now finds itself in a paradoxical position. Modern al-Qaeda has carved out its own quasi-state in Syria, yet remains on the U.S. list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. To characterize this as a foreign policy misstep would be reductive; the U.S. has actively facilitated HTS’s conquest of parts of Syria while maintaining its official terrorist designation.

Scandal Deepens Around CNN’s Clarissa Ward Staging Syria Prison Scene

“In nearly twenty years as a journalist, this was one of the most extraordinary moments I have witnessed.” That’s how veteran CNN journalist Clarissa Ward described her foray into a Syrian prison on December 12, where she promptly claimed to have rescued a forgotten inmate after three months in jail. But there was just one problem with the “extraordinary moment”: a review of a dramatic story depicted by CNN reveals a number of glaring inconsistencies, the greatest of which is that the man stands accused of being an impostor.

From Damascus To Chaos: Assad’s Fall And Al-Qaeda’s Comeback

There are some weeks when decades happen. In just a few days, the Syrian government has fallen, President Bashar al-Assad has fled to Moscow, and Al-Nusra founder Abu Mohammad al-Julani has taken power. How could all of this have happened so quickly? Only last year, it appeared that Assad was entrenching his position internationally, being invited back into the Arab League. Assad also moved away from Russia and Yemen and towards a closer relationship with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. Two guests, Kevork Almassian and Mohammad Marandi, will join the MintCast this week to discuss Syria’s collapse and what it means for the regional Axis of Resistance.

Extremist Groups Carry Out Revenge, Sectarian Killings In Syria

Extremist armed factions across Syria are carrying out executions of civilians and soldiers amid the chaos following the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's government. Al Mayadeen reports on 10 December that a video circulating on social media shows armed militants from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Al-Qaeda offshoot that took control of Damascus on Saturday, carrying out field executions of unarmed men in the village of Al-Rabia in the countryside of Latakia. The militants referred to the men as ‘Shabiha’, a derogatory term long used to describe pro-government Syrian soldiers and civilians.

Turkey Takes Aleppo

Before it fell under 20th century Anglo-American colonialism, Syria was the core of the Levant, encompassing (today’s) Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, the site of multireligious, multicultural cities between which people traveled and traded freely. In the countryside, peasants and herders tended an agricultural and pastoral landscape of olive and orange trees, pasture, forest, and drylands. This region was under the control of the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years (perhaps Erdogan’s dream is to take some of it back. He’s been accused of “neo-Ottoman” fantasies).

Syria Falls

During and after its fight against takfiri terrorists Syria had come under heavy sanctions. Its main assets in the east were under U.S. control. Israel's airforce was bombing its military infrastructure at will. It was ripe to fall. As soon as the bogus ceasefire in Lebanon was signed Turkey unleashed its takfiri 'Syrian rebels', many of them foreigners, against Syria. These were exceptionally well armed and trained. They have (vid) night vision equipment, drones, artillery, Starlink communication and a capable, professional command. The Syrian Arab army proved to be unreliable. Some units just vanished.

Regime Change Machine In Venezuela Grinds To A Halt

The extremist sector of the Venezuelan opposition, represented by María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, suffered a new setback both nationally and internationally on December 1, when a call to protest to demand “justice” before the International Criminal Court resulted in remarkably low participation. “Today, Sunday, December 1, we already have a first task to fulfill: Venezuelans are going to raise our unanimous clamor before the International Criminal Court, where we have already provided sufficient evidence for justice to be done,” Machado said on her social networks.

Anticipating Escalation: Neutralizing Swarming’s Armed Front

In her effort to readjust the agenda of regime change and in the face of a clear mood of demobilization within her ranks, María Corina Machado has decided to publicly incorporate the concept of “swarming“ into her narrative. This decision reflects the consolidation of a path that goes beyond what is attempted to be presented as “peaceful protest” by proposing a more aggressive form of confrontation, embedded in the scope of military operations, while using the discourse on human rights to counteract the possible limitations suffered by the violent actions that the far right hopes to set in motion.

Three New Kinds Of Refugees In A World Of Migrants

One summer evening, the unrelenting sun over Niger refused to dip below the horizon. I sought out some shade with three anxious men in Touba au paradis, a small quiet restaurant in Agadez. These three Nigerians had tried to make the crossing at Assamaka, to our north, into Algeria, but found the border barred. They hoped their final destination would be Europe across the Mediterranean Sea, but first they had to make it into Algeria, and then across the remarkable Sahara Desert. By the time I met them, none of these crossings were possible. Algeria had closed the border, and the town of Assamaka had become overrun by desperate people who did not want to retreat but could not go forward.

The ‘Comanditos,’ The Terrorist Network Of Fascism In Venezuela

The “comanditos” were part of an organizational strategy promoted by the Venezuelan far-right opposition leader, María Corina Machado. The fundamental purpose was to organize society into small groups that would serve as hotbeds of violence in different parts of the country. The organizational strategy revealed different stages. The first was the dissemination of the strategy using hegemonic media. These were in charge of disseminating manipulated information, explaining in detail the masked meaning of the strategy. According to the Diario Nacional, the “comanditos” were defined as a “crucial force for the success of the opposition’s strategy of motivating citizen participation in adverse conditions.”