The investigation [19] by the Syrian transition government into the March violence against the Alawites in Latakia [20] province has been submitted [21]—but the full findings have not been made public [22], and it apparently exonerates the government of involvement. And meanwhile southern Suwayda [23] province has seen an even deadlier eruption of violence [23]—this time pitting Druze against Bedouin, with the role of the government [24] similarly the source [25] of much contestation [26] (and fodder [27] for Internet partisans [28]). And a Damascus protest against the violence and for co-existence is attacked by goons [29]. Amid all this, Israel [23] is militarily intervening, the government looks to Turkey [30] for military aid, and both the US [31] and Russia [32] still have forces on the ground—treating the country as a Greet Power chessboard. In Episode 288 of the CounterVortex podcast [33], Bill Weinberg argues that the Syrian Revolution is poised on a razor's edge, ready to descend into ethno-sectarian war and authoritarianism unless political space can be kept open for the secular-democratic civil resistance [34] that began the revolution 14 years ago.
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Production by Chris Rywalt [40]
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