Since Assad fled – nearly six months ago – we have, through Kassioun, repeatedly said:
US sanctions will not be lifted anytime soon, and let’s work to relaunch the Syrian economy, whether the sanctions are lifted or not, while continuing to demand lifting them.
Over the past week, media reports, mostly in the West, have discussed the possibility of Syrian normalization with “Israel”. This discussion has taken place within several contexts, including Trump’s visit to the Gulf states and the link between lifting US sanctions on Syria and normalization with the Zionist entity.
The trend of decline and retreat among Western powers in general, and the US in particular, is rapidly growing at all levels: economic, political, military, and cultural. This is something that Kassioun has repeatedly emphasized, proactively, over the past 25 years. It has now become a tangible reality, the effects of which are constantly being revealed. Its major impacts, in the historical sense, are still only a few steps away, and have significantly affected and will continue to affect our Syrian situation.
Even before Trump moves into the White House, the general features of the amendments that will be introduced to American strategy within the ongoing Western struggle against the birth of a new world, and to hold on to the crumbling hegemony and unipolarity, are gradually crystallizing.
The two long stages Syria has experienced since 2011 – that is, the stage of fighting and military attrition, following by the stage of economic attrition that continues until now – have laid the foundation for a situation that is simultaneously extremely dangerous and fragile. This has made preserving the unity of Syria and preventing turning the de facto partition into a permanent one, the top priority of patriotic action.
These days, the market is thriving with expectations regarding the directions that US policy will take in the upcoming Trump era, and implicitly expectations regarding what will happen in our region and in our country.
In 1960, before the US elections on November 6 of that year, Fidel Castro was asked which candidate he preferred, Nixon or Kennedy? He replied: “You cannot compare two shoes worn by the same person”.
Kassioun’s last editorial focused on the main dangers threatening Syria, and presented an initial vision of “how do we protect Syria?” What is certain this week is that threats are increasing, and their indicators and warnings are becoming clearer.
Our entire region, and the wider world, are living on the verge of a major escalation and many dangerous possibilities. The direct driver of this situation is the American / “Israeli” behavior primarily towards Palestine, and secondarily towards all the region’s files, especially with the clear transition to adopting systematic terrorism policies represented by successive political assassinations.
Before talking about the new sanctions law and its objectives, it is worth recalling that American sponsorship of the drug trade in South America, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world is proven not only by political facts, but also by the confessions of American officials. Perhaps the most prominent of these is the role of the CIA in the drug trade in Colombia, and financing itself and its dirty operations from that trade. Likewise, under the American occupation in particular, Afghanistan went from producing 5-10% of the global opium to producing 90% of it.
