Radio War Nerd EP #527 — Syria: The Grim Sorting Out, feat. Joshua Landis

Given his support for Israel’s bombing of Iran, so much for Trump rejecting neoconservative policy in the middle east and therefore, so much for Landis’ perspective

"It's a very happy day in Syria....unless you're an Alawite" Neoliberal whiplash in a single sentence. Sums up the inherent contradictions in the entire western leadership and worldview. "Bad things happen" they cluck as they remove their own agency and support allowing the very bad things to happen. It's good to hear Landis' view and perspective, but it really brings into focus the bizzare worldview internalized by the west and why it's absolutely going drive humanity into the abyss if it continues.

Yikes. Israel just struck Iran's nuclear facilities 🫠

These post-Soviet decades are all very strong evidence that the idea of the nation-state is fundamentally violent and that it demands homogeneity in its citizenry above everything else. Hence why communism is internationalist and why Americans think communism is the enemy of all good things - well ok, today Americans hate communism because of either government propaganda or their parents brainwashing them, but 70 years ago there was a real theory of humanity guiding the rulers of america that said that internationalism was a threat to Anglo-Saxon hegemony that could only be defended against with nuclear weapons, more or less. So the crimes of communism were initially just the evidence for their argument, rather than an argument in and of itself; obviously the west not only didn't need communism to motivate their own atrocities and in fact justified their atrocities as the means to defeat communism.

Excellent progress, just keep moving forward! 🔥

Man where did you dredge up this clown? Treating genocides like a law of nature is dumb as hell when the west engineers this sectarianism for maximum leverage. Academia is cooked.

Maybe I'm missing something, but why is it optimistic for Syria in the long run? What evidence is there that there is any long term path towards a better future? Maybe sanctions will be lifted, but having a Sunni supremacist dictatorship seems far from "optimistic in the long run," even for the Sunni majority who will likely never be Sunni enough for the freaks running the government

Can’t recommend “How the West Stole Democracy from the Arabs” enough. Great book and I’m sure Dr. Elizabeth Thompson would be a great guest

I had a cursory look at the "Lyme is a biological weapon" idea. Any book with "The Secret History" gives me the historian "ick" immediately. It seems like a long standing and highly dubious claim. Firstly, studies on ticks for military applications were of course focused on the diseases they carry like plague or tuloremia. These diseases actually have high mortality rates. It makes more sense to start with a disease that will kill you and work out how to go about amplifying, controlling, storing, or deploying them. It's the same reason Covid would never be chosen as a biological weapon, not enough of a body count and not discriminate. Giving most infected people the equivalent of a flu is not an effective weapon. US biologocal warfare on Koreans was with high mortality diseases. Also, while Lyme was identified in the early 80s, Sam Telford found it was present in tick samples from the 40s and the 1890s. 5,300 year old mummy Ötzi was infected with Lyme apparently. As I said, a cursory look but it gives me the ick.

Landis's Great Sorting Out analogy really is insightful. Two excellent video talks here. 1/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoAlV2Tgr44&t=205s&ab_channel=Janux 2/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Goe1WT_WY&t=410s&ab_channel=Janux

ugh yeah the upstate NY ticks put others to shame. they are menacing little things and the horror stories. Always a great reminder to check yourself for ticks when camping in those parts.

Not to be one of these scolds but you really shouldn't let your cats outside at all, especially if you're near any kind of nature. It very clearly isn't good for them, for you, or for wildlife. I have two and they're just fine to get their thrills looking out the window.

I think Landis is correct in his analysis of the different sects within Syria and how Assads collapse relates to them. I’ve spoken to many Syrians, and it goes like this: Rural Sunni Arabs are optimistic about the future, and Kurds fear ethnic cleansing and violence. I can’t comment on Alawites, as I don’t know any, but we’ve all seen the videos… they are facing major brutality. I disagree with Landis on what he chooses to emphasize tho. The whole story about what has been toughest for Syrians is 2 things: western intervention and sanctions. The sectarian grievances didn’t collapse the healthcare system and prevent rebuilding or flood the country with foreign fighters. Syrias short term is looking more optimistic for *most* Syrians because of sanctions relief, thats the bottom line and deserves all the emphasis. No rural Sunni Arab I’ve spoken with will admit that, they all say Assad is gone and thats was the source of all Syrias problems, but thats bull. Assad may have sucked, but life was made unliveable by sanctions and foreign intervention.

Al-Sharaa reminds me of Symon Petliura

Landis does a great job, but how could you even begin to establish facts about the strength, popular support, and legitimacy of various factions in a place like Syria? There is no opinion polling, only anecdotes that get picked up by competing propaganda efforts. Who is it who is saying "اللي يخرر يقرر" ("He who liberates, decides")? Is it 70 percent of Syria, or is it wealthy Sunni expats pushing a meme on social media? Landis is probably getting the details more right than the mainstream press, but who really knows.

I didn't realize Salafi terrorists made up the "majority" of Syrians, nor that Salafis were just your regular Sunnis now lol. God, Landis is such an apologist for the U.S. and its pathetic little fascist puppets. Hey, being a lobbyist pays well, I'm sure.

Great episode, always enjoy Landis’ bucket of ice water. Would love to hear you guys interview Rob Ashlar again about the Abu Shabab gang recently enlisted by the Israelis in Gaza - seems from his Twitter that he was on top of the story before the big media outlets.

Hi mark, some unasked for advice re: ticks on the cats. I work at a Vet and we always tell people all flea and tick products will work to kill the ticks, but the seresto collar is the only one that does at least a little bit of repelling. Just make sure its the actual seresto brand as there are a lot of knock offs that dont work

Your direct link is pointing to episode 486.

Phenomenal ep!!

Haven’t listened yet, anticipating Landis beating me with the stick of hard reality