In Episode 165 [11] of the CounterVortex podcast [12], Bill Weinberg notes the simultaneous 12th anniversary of the start of both the NATO intervention in Libya and the Syrian revolution. The NATO intervention was at root a bid to control the political trajectory [13] of the Arab Revolution, and bring about a Thermidor [14] in which Western-backed technocrats would be ascendant. The Syrian people seized back the initiative with their popular uprising against the Bashar Assad dictatorship. But, following the precedent set in Libya, the Great Powers have intervened [15], seeking to impose their own order—over the heads of the Syrian people [16]. This time, however, the principal interventionist power has not been the West seeking to coopt the revolution, but Russia seeking to prop up the genocidal ancien régime [17]. Listen on SoundCloud [11] or via Patreon [18].
Production by Chris Rywalt [20]
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