If it were possible to die from cognitive disjunction, there would be few of us left to record the true course of recent events. And if the snapshot above doesn't cause you some sort of paroxysm, welcome to your new world of invented reality! The extraordinary meeting between Britain's notorious war criminal 'Sir' Tony Blair, and an equally notorious Salafist head-chopper Asaad al Shaybani aka Zaid al Attar was set to take place at the WEF meeting in Davos the day after Trump's inauguration, as noted in a memorandum - here posted on X by David Miller. The meeting, and the bizarre presentation of it by transitional media like Al Jazeera and TRT Turkish news appeared in news reports from January 22nd - 22 years after the Iraqi assault, and here conveyed by Al Jazeera's correspondent Mohammed Jam Joum.
While it may be hard to imagine that such a meeting - 'the first time a Syrian Foreign Minister has gone to Davos' - was arranged before Shaibani was selected by the 'General Command' of Hayat Tahrir al Sham, it would hardly come as a surprise to anyone paying attention. Blair and his ilk have been working with and supporting the Salafists of Al Qaeda, Al Nusra and HTS since back in 2005 - or even 2003, when Blair's UK joined Bush's America and John Howard's Australia to attack Iraq on behalf of Israel. This history of collaboration and treachery is nicely analysed in the current context by the Cradle, and while the article focuses on Jolani/Ahmed al Sharaa, the partnership with and between the takfiri terrorists in the 'Salvation Government' of Idlib is the essence of what we must now confront in Damascus. Despite all the assurances, and smooth-talking from Blair (does he have any other?), the reality is horrifically different - and thus the cognitive disjunction. And who could forget this image, which despite Blair's 'dislocation' - from a group of soldiers to a burning oil field, proved very popular in 2013:
When that photo was created ten years after the attack on Iraq, public and political opinion had shifted, and of course Blair was no longer in power - but had power of a different order, following the war on Syria. Looking at the scene there now, one might be forgiven for thinking we have somehow returned to 2013, when the Syrian Arab Army was fighting against the 'rebels' of Jabhat al Nusra and ISIS in the southern suburbs of Damascus. An illustration of this altered reality came yesterday in a report from France 24's correspondent in the former Syria, where there is little difference from 2013 other than the absence of any government forces. Presented as a unification of two groups - HTS and 'Southern Command' which would set the scene for the Syrian Army to come, this report actually highlights the violent divisions in Syria, and the 'pogrom' being conducted against anyone who resists their Salafist ideology.
The feeling that there is a plan, and that it has been brilliantly prepared and executed to meet the agenda of Syria's enemies and Israel's friends, has been further strengthened by the dramatic developments in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank, seemingly coordinated with those in Syria. Not only was the Gaza 'ceasefire' delayed and delayed until it could be declared on the day before the US inauguration, but what then followed completely negated the 'hostage deal' for Palestinians while also simply transferring Israel's 'fire' to the West Bank and city of Jenin. There were warnings of what was set to transpire, in the bizarre crackdown from Palestinian Authority forces on local militias supporting Hamas and the Resistance, and in the sudden and early pull-out from Gaza. At the same time, and despite expectations, 2400 trucks of food, water and medical aid came into Gaza, including to the devastated North, and thus muffling some of the anger and fear over the fate of the starving population. The result of this is that the wind is taken from the sails of those demanding aid be allowed in, such that the focus has changed onto the actual conditions in the ruined cities, where Israel's destruction of every necessity of life means that food aid is no longer the problem. And however insane it seems - another case of acute cognitive disjunction - countries and media and UN bodies all started talking about 'reconstruction', and who might pay for it. Ludicrously it was claimed that just clearing up the rubble would cost a billion and take 25 years. Nowhere was it suggested, or noted, that the Israeli Occupation Forces and their aircraft caused all the destruction, and that it might be better to stop them doing more of the same in the West Bank before talking about reconstruction. At the same time, the number of Palestinians 'detained' in raids in the OWB along with the dozen or so killed and scores injured, completely obliterated any ransom Israel had paid for the return of its three citizens. Just because this happens every time doesn't make it reasonable. It was also said that some of the 90 Palestinians released in the swap had been released in the previous swap in November 2023, and subsequently re-arrested. Even when 'Israel' is finally forced to concede to one of Hamas key demands - the release of prisoners - it doesn't honour its commitment. This is in contrast to the code of honour that is so important in Islam and in Arab society in general, and which Hamas and Hezbollah would not break. At every stage in this long hostage crisis, Hamas has shown unreasonable patience and tolerance, while Israel has shown none - always breaking ceasefires and going back on agreements while blaming the other. Such moral behaviour was also demonstrated repeatedly by the Syrian government in its long and just war against the violent insurgency. Most poignantly, if that is the right word, we were reminded recently by Dan Cohen of what happened in Syria back in 2011, when pressure from the West and 'humanitarian groups' persuaded Bashar al Assad to release over a thousand prisoners from Saydnaya. Many were kept there since being hounded from Iraq around 2005, and went on to become the core of Al Nusra and then HTS. And now they have come home to roost. "Syria's Foreign Minister" Zaid al Attar was likely amongst those prisoners, along with Ahmed al Sharaa aka Mohammed Jolani, as this photo - below left - fighting with Al Nusra - demonstrates:
DM 24th January 2025