Imagine turning one economically challenged and environmentally troubled middle eastern state into a complete theater of politics and war.

Imagine producing every element in that state and managing the same for political gains in the world beyond its borders.

Then put a label on the production:

Assad vs The Terrorists
&
Assad OR The Terrorists

Why put on such a show?

• To assert the power of absolute power and demonstrate the maniacal ability to visit suffering on innocents with impunity.
• To produce a terrorism center that helps goad the west toward patriotic but autocratic and xenophobic nationalism in a way that divides states and encourages the abandonment of core values, especially cultural pluralism and religious tolerance.
• To blackmail the west toward choosing to having in power a tyrant as opposed to an equally criminal and tyrannical movement.
• To threaten the west — the European Union and NATO — with the monetary, security, and social costs associated with mass migration infused with criminal elements.
• To produce a useful tool — “The Terrorists” / ISIL and other al-Qaeda type bands and organizations — with which to demonstrate military prowess in line with a fascist state script.

Herewith, a brief listing of citations building up to the image, quite correctly, of a murderous totalitarian mentality in action in Syria.

BackChannels

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2015/10/02/syria-assad-vs-the-terrorists-how-isis-defends-assad/

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/09/14/isil-groomed-for-a-role-in-assad-vs-the-terrorists/

International Business Times

The regime continued losing ground over the summer of 2015, provoking a direct Russian intervention in September 2015 that was explained, quite falsely, as an effort to destroy IS. Moscow trained its firepower on the mainstream armed opposition, systematically targeting the parts of the opposition supported by the West, which actually opened space for IS to expand. In July 2016, Russia even attacked US-supported forces that only fight IS.

Rather than counterterrorism, the actual Russian intention was to secure Assad militarily and then extinguish all workable alternatives, thereby rehabilitating Assad politically. To disguise this fact and rewrite the narrative of the intervention as one of anti-extremism, Russia’s ruler, Vladimir Putin, sought to end the major offensive phase of the intervention in March 2016 by pushing IS out of Palmyra.

Orton, Kyle W.  “We should not be shocked that Isis took Palmyra – Assad and Putin cannot hold back the jihadi hordes.”  IBTimes, December 12, 2016.

Newsweek

Bennetts, Marc.  “Putin’s War in Syria: Why Russians Don’t Seem to Care About It.”  Newsweek, October 10, 2016.

Cordall, Simon Speakman.  “How Syria’s Assad Helped Forge ISIS.”  Newsweek, June 21, 2014.

Hebbo, Mahmoud.  “U.S. Accuses Assad of Aiding ISIS Through Airstrikes.”  Newsweek, June 2, 2015.

Moore, Jack.  “ISIS’s Multimillion-Dollar Deals with Assad Regime Uncovered in U.S. Special Forces Raid.”  Newsweek, April 26, 2016.

The Daily Beast

Gutman, Roy.  “Assad Henchman: Here’s How We Built ISIS.”  The Daily Beast, December 1, 2016.  Part II: “How Assad Staged al Qaeda Bombings.”  The Daily Beast, December 2, 2016.   Part III: “How ISIS Returned to Syria”, The Daily Beast, December 5, 2016.

Weiss, Michael.  “Russia’s Double Game with Islamic Terror.” The Daily Beast, August 23, 2015

The National

Sands, Phil, Justin Vela, and Suha Maayeh.  “Assad regime set free extremists from prison to fire up trouble during peaceful uprising.”  The National, January 22, 2014.

The Tower

Decker, Benjamin T.  “Iran is More Deeply Tied to ISIS Than You Think.”  The Tower, December 2015.

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Syrian_Civil_War_barrel_bomb_attacks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Syrian_Civil_War_barrel_bomb_attacks

Miscellaneous

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2016/06/21/al-tanf-bombing-russia-assisted-isis-attacking-us-backed-fsa-group-cluster-bombs/ – 6/21/2016.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/01/politics/john-mccain-cia-russia-airstrikes/ – 10/1/2015

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russia-strikes-more-u-s-backed-rebels-in-syria/ – 10/21/2015

Twitter

YouTube

Update on Orwell’s (Putin-Assad-Khamenei’s) Regressives

Orton, Kyle.  “The Coalition isn’t Defeating the Islamic State — But It’s Empowering Iran.”  The Henry Jackson Society, October 6, 2017.

Orton, Kyle.  “The Syrian Regime’s Funding of the Islamic State.” The Henry Jackson Society, October 28, 2017.

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