The investigation [21] by the Syrian transition government into the March violence against the Alawites in Latakia [22] province has been submitted [23]—but the full findings have not been made public [24], and it apparently exonerates the government of involvement. Meanwhile southern Suwayda [25] province has seen a perhaps even deadlier eruption of violence [25]—this time pitting Druze against Bedouin, with the role of the government [26] similarly the source [27] of much contestation [28] (and fodder [29] for Internet partisans [30]). And a Damascus protest against the violence and for co-existence was attacked by goons [31]. Amid all this, Israel [25] is militarily intervening, the government looks to Turkey [32] for military aid, and both the US [33] and Russia [34] still have forces on the ground—treating the country as a Great Power chessboard. In Episode 288 [35] of the CounterVortex podcast [36], 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 [37] that began the revolution 14 years ago.
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Production by Chris Rywalt [42]
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