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The John Batchelor Show

S8 Ep381: Jonathan Schanzer analyzes Syria as a failed state regardless of Ahmad al-Sharaa's leadership, arguing the country lacks functional institutions and faces insurmountable challenges to achieving genuine stability or governance.

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Society & Culture, Arts, News, Books

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2026

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jonathan Schanzer analyzes Syria as a failed state regardless of Ahmad al-Sharaa's leadership, arguing the country lacks functional institutions and faces insurmountable challenges to achieving genuine stability or governance.
1863 NYC

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm John Bachel with my good colleague Jonathan Shancer. We go to Iran where we can see nothing.

0:22.1

As the last report that I had was we're looking at the internet down, the telephones down, now and again,

0:27.3

the Starlink's jammed. There is information coming out in packages, nothing profound. The stories are

0:33.4

horrible. They're the worst of the red guards plus a massacre of like night of the long knives.

0:39.8

People going door to door looking for the wounded and then killing the wounded.

0:44.9

We're talking about the Iraqi-Iraqi Hezbollah brigades being turned loose on a population where they don't speak to language.

0:52.0

They have no sympathies whatsoever, and their killer is incorporated.

0:56.3

Automatic weapon fire opening up on crowds and continuing to shoot after people were on the ground.

1:02.6

There are horror stories of the arrest.

1:04.4

The executions are continuing.

1:06.2

That's enough.

1:07.5

Jonathan, you've heard the same stories and worse.

1:09.5

We could tell details.

1:11.5

Executions are commonplace, hangings everywhere.

1:15.5

And meantime, the White House is looking to negotiate.

1:19.5

Negotiate what, Jonathan?

1:21.6

Well, I think that's the big question.

1:23.6

But first, let me just say, John, that what we're seeing, the limited amount that we're

1:27.1

able to see out of Iran suggests that now the death toll could be as high as 33,000 people.

1:32.8

That's an enormous number because right now we're looking at less than a month of this uprising,

1:38.8

this revolution that has been launched by the protesters, unarmed protesters by and large inside the regime.

1:45.7

So 33,000, and that does include the number of arrests.

...

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