A last-minute "permanent ceasefire" may mean that northeast Syria is back from the brink of Arab-Kurdish ethnic war. But ceasefires have repeatedly broken down since fighting resumed earlier this year, with Damascus demanding disbandment of the Rojava autonomous zone [13], and the integration of its institutions—including its military wing, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF [13])—into the central government. While the new pact sets a more "gradual" pace for this integration, the Kurdish aspiration to regional autonomy and the central government's insistence on centralization [14] may prove a long-term obstacle to peace. In Episode 315 [15] of the CounterVortex podcast [16], Bill Weinberg weighs the odds for avoiding a conflict that holds the potential for escalation to genocide, with the connivance of the Great Powers that so recently backed the SDF to fight ISIS.
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Production by Chris Rywalt [20]
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