Jacobin Radio: Collapse in Syria w/ Gilbert Achcar

Jacobin Radio

Jacobin

Socialism, History, News, Left, Jacobin, Alternative, Socialist, Politics

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2024

⏱️ 61 minutes

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Summary

Suzi talked to Gilbert Achcar just before the spectacular collapse of the Assad regime that has ruled Syria for more than fifty years.

Achcar, author of many books on the region, explains Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)’s origins, what is behind the lightning offensive that toppled Assad's government, and how that overthrow was prepared by Israel’s war on Lebanon and Gaza. We will also get Gilbert’s take on the collapse of the political center and rise of the far right worldwide, including in France and the US. What new dangers does Gilbert see for the Middle East with Trump’s election? The conversation was recorded December 5.

Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Jacobin Radio. I'm your host, Susie Wiseman. On today's show, we talked to
0:27.3	Gilbert Ashkar to get his views of the catastrophic, destructive, and escalating wars in the Middle
0:34.0	East from Gaza to Lebanon and now to Syria.
0:43.2	Gilbert Ashkar has written many books on the region, and we'll ask him to explain what is behind renewed hostilities in Syria, how it relates to Israel's terroristic war on Lebanon, and
0:49.9	its continued shocking obliteration and ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
1:02.7	We'll also get his take on the collapse of the center and continued rise of the far right worldwide, including France and the U.S.
1:09.4	What new dangers does he see for the Middle East with Trump's election, which Netanyahu hoped for and actively helped?
1:16.1	Stay tuned for Gilbert Ashkar's analysis on all this and more when our program returns in just a moment.
1:28.9	Welcome to Jacobin Radio.
1:41.7	I'm Susie Wiseman and very pleased to have Gilbert Ashkar with us to get his expansive views on the dreadful, deteriorating and spreading wars in the Middle East from Gaza to Lebanon and now to Syria.
1:48.0	Shilbert is probably the best person to try to tie together the Israeli destruction of Gaza,
1:53.0	its terroristic war on Lebanon, and now the renewed hostilities in Syria.
2:00.0	I'm speaking to Jalbert in London, where he's Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at SOAS.
2:02.5	That's the University of London. I think it's the School of Oriental and Asian Studies. Oriental and African Studies. African Studies. I should
2:09.0	have remembered that. Thank you. And Gilbert is the author of many books, translated into numerous
2:14.4	languages. His most recent published by Haymarket books here in
2:19.0	2023 is the new Cold War, the U.S., Russia and China, from Kosovo to Ukraine. And before
2:26.3	that, he published morbid symptoms relapse in the Arab uprising 2016. Before that,
2:33.3	the people want a radical exploration of the Arab uprising, which was reissued in 2022,
2:40.2	and many other books.
2:41.9	Just look him up.
2:42.7	You'll want to read his work.
	...

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