Radio War Nerd EP #509 — Jolani & The Making of Syrian Sunni Ethno-Supremacism, feat. Cyrus

What a breadth of knowledge by Cyrus - where can we follow his work?

Cyrus says nobody in Syria supported Assad - I spent 6 weeks in Syria in 2008 and I met tons of Assad supporters. Syrians hated the US and Israel and rightly pointed out that Assad was the only Arab leader who stood up to them.

I wonder what Cyrus's mother tongue is -- can't pin that accent.

Awesome stuff! 👏🌈

Cyrus says “I think we saw how angry - or how afraid - the Israelis were of the regime collapse and of who took over.” This is a “just so” statement & meant to elicit a nod without justifying itself (he doesn’t go on to make the case). Contrary to this, you have - yes - the “ceasefire” in Lebanon, which was basically a net operational victory for Israel on the heels of Nasrallah’s assassination + several thousand Lebanese civilian deaths; the periodic blocking & attacks on transport systems between Lebanon & Syria; the relentless bombardment of Syrian military & civil infrastructure (where does this fit in Israel’s “fear” of who would take over, in Cyrus’s mind?); and most ostentatiously Netanyahu’s explicit, televised threat that Assad was about to meet his maker. The Russian delegation was most likely delivering the Israeli/US ultimatum, and since the apparatus in Damascus did hinge so much on Assad’s position at the top, this ultimatum also explains the strangely sudden instructions of his military leadership (what was left of it) which saw even fewer prospects for the individual survival of themselves & their families should they resist, vs should they “transition” the country on the new terms. In short: the suddenness of these dominos falling speaks clearly to the new recklessness of both the Israeli establishment & the Biden administration in its final days, to effect an ‘irreversible’ change in Damascus while they still had the opportunity - in direct contravention of unspoken (& spoken) “status quo” preferences of people in the NED/State Dept. crowd. In short, the hawks won that, and Russia simply delivered their warning. Cyrus’s blasé dismissal of Israel’s new political priorities is almost astounding. Afraid..? Who tf are they afraid of, if not a resistance that will survive the current Netanyahu gambit? Does Israel actually LOOK afraid of HTS & their satellites? Does Israel not have a clear record of cooperating/assisting AQ in Syria going back years? I’m surprised Cyrus got no pushback.

The discussion reminds of something that Justin Podur was saying. That causing chaos is the point. The Axis of Zionism doesn't want a stable submissive ally, they want the middle east broken, disorganized, chaotic. From there, it's ideal to exploit there resources, and expand Israel's borders.

if canada is invaded, should I just join the army on the spot? what do you recommend? I know dying by being shot at sounds bad but what the US is doing to itself is pretty close to exactly the opposite of what I want in any conceivable metric. Opinion?

Patrick Seale’s book Assad is a great recommendation from Cyrus, provides a really good overview of Syria and Hafez himself from the 50s through the 80s as well as the region in general during that time.

So basically it’s the worst imaginable scenario: not exactly just a few extremists lording it over the population, but a broadly popular anti Alawite pogrom?? I thought all the assholes who felt that way were already in Idlib?? You’re saying there were even more potential killers just waiting for the tide to turn to blow off some steam and participate in a genocidal “team building” exercise? Please make this one free.

A wealth of knowledge and insight, but Cyrus not knowing the word for kosher and yet presenting himself as an authority on Jewish religious history portends the fundamental trouble of podcasts: get a microphone and your hubris is off to the races

An excellent book on Syria is “Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics” by Hanna Batatu, a Palestinian Marxist historian at Georgetown. The book explores the involvement of peasants in politics, especially land reform, in Syria from around the end of WWI until the rise of the Ba’ath and Hafez. It is a fantastic, informative book if one is interested in learning about Syria.

As I recall it was Simon Tisdall. Not Simon Jenkins.

Cyrus is an incredible guest

Cyrus is great. Got so much from this ep.

Honestly think Cyrus is up there with Annibale for my favorite RWN guest. Encyclopedic, concise, and always insanely insightful. Great episode.

I think it makes sense to rush to recognize any new government in Syria, for stability’s sake and especially if you think it’s a ruling group you think you can make dependent on you for support and survival. It seems like the HTS takeover went down in a way similar the cia coup in Guatemala went, in the 50s. That said, with the massive number of soldiers just disbanded, makes me think there is a ripe opportunity for an insurgency, like Iraq 2003

All this talk about middle eastern identities turning more ethnic sounds like they're just metabolizing western brain rot about Blut und Boden in my opinion, which fits with the assertion that western "civilization" became more Nazified after 1945

Wow, here i thought Qassam had some fight left in them. You're saying they're totally impotent now?

regarding timing: didn't Netanyahu time the restart for the day he was due in court?

Could anyone share a link to Cyrus’s writing? He is always fascinating

Where can we read more from Cyrus. I really appreciate his blunt and clear headed analysis

this was an incredible episode, thank you so much for your time and knowledge Cyrus!

Damn that picture really makes him look like John Turturro in Big Lebowski