THE FORGOTTEN 20-YEAR WAR: #Syria: 2/4: Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. .
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 21 August 2023
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
@Batchelorshow
THE FORGOTTEN 20-YEAR WAR: #Syria: 2/4: Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. .
CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad’s recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy.
But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad’s spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.
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| 0:00.0 | Peloton has loads of supermotivating classes. I did an invigorating cycling class just this morning, |
| 0:06.8 | but Peloton is also indoor running on the tread, and an app for yoga in the park, |
| 0:12.1 | dance cardio in the kitchen or boxing, well, we're of your fancy. I'm now trying a Peloton |
| 0:17.6 | sleep meditation. I wonder how long it takes to... Peloton, for anyone, anywhere. Internet |
| 0:24.6 | connection and Peloton all access membership required age, height and weight restriction supply, |
| 0:28.1 | see one Peloton.co.uk. |
| 0:35.5 | This is CBSI in the world. I'm John Batcher with David McCloskey, former CIA analyst for the |
| 0:41.0 | Middle East, now a novelist, a thriller novelist. It's a spy novel. It's a profile of the Middle East |
| 0:49.5 | as we live through it these last 10 years, and with no clarity, many of the instances in David's |
| 0:55.2 | book are extremely convincing. Anything can happen in Damascus. Our hero is named Sam Joseph. |
| 1:03.3 | David presents him as a man from Minnesota who has a talent for gambling. Probably has |
| 1:08.9 | a gambler's weaknesses, doesn't know when to leave the table. He quickly establishes himself |
| 1:15.6 | as a man who makes a mistake as a CIA officer. He falls in love with his asset. David, |
| 1:22.9 | this is such a violation of what I know to be the CIA's recommendations about how you handle |
| 1:30.9 | assets. I was charmed right away. My goodness, Sam, you don't deserve to be an officer very long. |
| 1:38.6 | What do you want the readers to know about Sam's temptation and about Miriam? |
| 1:44.0 | Yeah, well, you hit a lot of the high points there, John. I mean, he is not out of the Ivy League. |
| 1:53.9 | He is a pretty quote-unquote normal guy when he is recruited to join the agency. He's in midwestern |
| 2:00.4 | areas, had a spell in Vegas. He is very good at reading people and understanding their motivations. |
| 2:08.1 | He's lived, I think, a life outside of the profiles of many case officers that get recruited |
| 2:16.2 | out of Morally universities where he's been out in the world doing things. He's a bit of a |
| 2:21.7 | assault of the Earth guy. He makes mistakes, as you mentioned, violates one of the cardinal rules |
... |
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