CEOyria

by liberal japonicus

Sure that I'm reaching too hard in the title, but the juxtaposition of the bloodlust invoked when celebrating a white guy gunning down a CEO and the editorial tut-tutting that is taking place in talk about the various forces that are now in the ascendancy with Assad out is, well, interesting. I guess the difference is that those guys are jihadists and our guy was a white guy with a bad back. Or that fighting against a 50 year old dictatorship requires proportionality but dealing with health insurance means never having to say you're sorry. Of course, Syria was run by an eye doctor, so it gets complicated.

This politico article suggests that Eric Hobsbawm's 1959 book Primitive Rebels points to an explanation for why we like bad boys so much, but I think his book Bandits might be better, the former (as the title suggests) really leans into the agricultural, but Bandits looks more at the opposition to goverment control. However, as he argues that banditry develops out of an agricultural context and banditry is in danger of being eliminated as the state displays a greater concentration of power, it seems he's in thrall to a Marxist historical argument that imagines a historical progression. The shooting of a CEO in broad daylight, the politico article suggests, is indicative of an "absence of a strong and responsive government". However, that leans into the idea that 'strong and responsive' are obviously positive terms. But it looks like, if you think of those terms as negatives, government is stronger and more responsive than ever, and the shooting a reflection of that. Historical materialism? Or an indication that the US, despite whatever strengths it has, can't organize a single payer system to save itself.

But beyond the terrible pun, the bulk of this post is stuff I've been reading about Syria and my thoughts.

This discussion from the Council on Foreign Affairs is generally interesting and I like the frame of 'catastrophic success' in describing what has happened, even though I think Eliot Abrams' contributions, especially towards the end, are shot thru with the kind of thinking that brought you Iran-Contra. An interesting pull graf

...this is a recurring problem in Turkish foreign policy. They think they have some sort of cultural affinity with the Arab world and they understand these people better than anybody else, and then they get involved in something and they realize that they actually have no control and no influence, and they’re going to be in the middle of a mess in the middle of Damascus if, in fact, that’s what Erdogan thinks he’s doing, is recreating a government in, basically, Turkey’s image. That was the goal when Erdogan was out there publicly demanding that Assad must go, and privately asking the Obama administration to invade Syria but from Jordan. So it’s entirely believable that the Turks have been deeply, deeply involved in this, especially after Aleppo went from limited operation to catastrophic success.

The round table consensus of Erdogan's support makes me wonder about the Kurds, since there is no love lost there, but this link reports about Erdogan's recent moves with the Kurds. I'm not sure what the word is, but it reminds me of Flem Snopes in Faulkner's Wild Horses, who is always able to stay on top, despite the fact that everyone doesn't trust him. Bizarrely enough, there is a strong relationship between Turkey and Japan, based on the Japanese helping the Ottoman frigate Ertugrul, something that always gets trotted out when Turkey comes up.

There isn't as much discussion about Russia, except to laugh at them, but I'm really curious what Russia will do to keep the naval bases they have. There is this Atlantic article that is behind a paywall, however, the premise, that the Russians would try and set up an Alawite state is not really in the cards which makes me wonder if it was a trial balloon that got shot down. Israel has been striking the Syrian naval bases in Latakia and airfield in Tartus, which were Russian bases, and it sounds like Russia is just trying to negotiate with the interim government to retain those bases.

Reading about Alawite minority is quite interesting. Assad was a member of the group and the family's ascension to power was at the expense of Sunni believers, and some reports suggest that the infrastructure for control of the state was dependent on installing Alawite into particular positions. This link was written by a high school senior(!) but following the links, it looks good. The page mentions a fascinating Alawite practice of taqiyya, which is one reason why information on Alawism is not readily available. It is not unique to Alawites, but they do seem to take it further. The wikipedia page has this quote from TE Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

The sect, vital in itself, was clannish in feeling and politics. One Nosairi (=Nusayri, a self appelation of the group) would not betray another, and would hardly not betray an unbeliever. Their villages lay in patches down the main hills to the Tripoli gap. They spoke Arabic, but had lived there since the beginning of Greek letters in Syria. Usually they stood aside from affairs, and left the Turkish Government alone in hope of reciprocity

Alawism is supposed to be an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, and Assad pushed that, which is why Hezbollah (Shi'ite Islam) and Iran were backers along with Russia, and when Russia (because of Ukraine) and Hezbollah (because of Israel) were weakened, it had the effect of knocking out the supports, which is also why Sunni countries like Egypt and the rich Gulf states are not saying much.

The whole situation in Syria is even more interesting because of the number of Syrian refugees. This UNCR doc says it is 14 million and other sources say that Turkey has 3 million, Lebanon and Jordan have another 1.4 milllion. Germany has 500,000, but since Merkel allowed Syrians fleeing the civil war to not close the border, this BBC article says that there are a million, which is turning into fodder for the rightist parties.

It's also going to be interesting to see how Trump squares this circle. Maybe he'll send Tulsi Gabbard there.

The curse of interesting times. Have at it.

 

 

Comments

[Hartmut]

Why not a triummulierate made of MTG, Kari Lake and Anne Coulter?
Gabbard will have enough to do dealing with Russia. And Assad is there, so she would be at hand in case of need.
Btw, that Independent piece refers to her as congressman.

[novakant]

Eliot Abrams' contributions, especially towards the end, are shot thru with the kind of thinking that brought you Iran-Contra

Little wonder. This guy has managed to be wrong on just about everything and also downright evil for some 50 years now.

Is there now accountability whatsoever in this line of work? In most other jobs you can be grateful if you get one second chance after messing up something big, but that's it.

[novakant]

that should be: no accountability

[liberal japonicus]

Don't forget, maybe Noem could get in on the action. But I'd like to see Gabbard go if only to see how she would explain this

Although the trip took place nine years ago, one exchange has stayed with Moustafa. Two Syrian girls described suffering severe burns when aircraft bombed their displaced persons camp.

“She asked them, ‘How do you know it was the Russians and Assad who did it and not ISIS?’” Moustafa said.

Gabbard’s question shocked Moustafa, as the lawmaker did not say anything else to the children. And Gabbard’s intervention showed how badly informed she was, he said. ISIS had no air force.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/democrats-republicans-congress-worried-gabbard-032356249.html

[wj]

It's also going to be interesting to see how Trump squares this circle.

As long as Israel is winning, there's no reason for him to abandon isolationism. Especially since he's utterly transactional, and there nothing obvious that anyone would give him for getting involved.

I suspect even his support for Israel is transactional. First, the big evangelical group among his supporters are strongly pro-Israel, so it helps keep them onside. Second, Jared has dreams of building Mediterranean beachfront resorts in Gaza.

[wj]

Btw, that Independent piece refers to her as congressman.

Standard English (certainly until recently, and probably still) regards some job titles as gender neutral: congressman, fireman, chairman, policeman, etc. The enthusiasm for replacing "man" with "person"** in these is rather niche -- it just happens to be the niche we all move in. Not to say the language won't evolve that way. But it's not nearly there yet.

** With pushback sometimes taking the form of "Don't you mean 'perchild'??"

[Tom H.]

> Eric Hobsbawm's 1959 book Primitive Rebels

Apropos of nothing, his wife Marlene passed away recently and I helped a little bit with organising her music library; most of the London Pro Musica editions are now in pride of place on my shelf. Small world!

[Nigel]

I think Germany accepted around 900k refugees.
Whatever the exact figure - and like war casualties, or the number murdered in the regime’s prisons, no one will ever really know - and extraordinary percentage of the population are either overseas refugees, or internally displaced.

There are tentative signs that the new government might be considerably better than the fifty year Assad dictatorship, but what happens next, and whether they remain as socially permissive as they are currently signalling, is highly uncertain.

Trump is probably the least of their worries. Which makes them unusual.

[nous]

Standard English (certainly until recently, and probably still) regards some job titles as gender neutral: congressman, fireman, chairman, policeman, etc. The enthusiasm for replacing "man" with "person"** in these is rather niche -- it just happens to be the niche we all move in. Not to say the language won't evolve that way. But it's not nearly there yet.

Qu'est-ce que c'est this "standard English?" Most current style guides for publication favor gender neutrality, as do most governmental style guides. Not doing so pretty much singles one out as a contrarian and a bit of a dick. "Congressmen" is not the sort of thing I would comment on in casual conversation (the callout itself being a bit of a dick move), but I'd absolutely flag it for change as an editor, and it would color my opinion of a writer if they were to insist on retaining it.

From a style perspective, simply replacing "-man" with "-person" usually ends up making things sound awkward, so I usually encourage my writing students to cast about for other descriptors that are both accurate and neutral: representative, firefighter, chair, police officer, etc.. But really, there is absolutely no good reason to continue to insist upon using "-man" as a gender neutral descriptor when this useless and demeaning holdover can usually be avoided entirely.

[hairshirthedonist]

Even "congresswoman" would have been better if still a bit antiquated, especially for a major news outlet. I would be surprised if "congressman" could be attributed to it coming from a British source.

[Michael Cain]

Syria is in the fourth year of an historic drought. Turkey has been releasing far less water into Syria than required in their old agreement. There are current reports of the SNA (Turkish-backed) and the SDF (Kurds) fighting around the major dam and water pumping structures on the Euphrates River. One of Turkey's long-term goals has been to cut the Kurds off from water supplies.

It's not clear that the return of millions of refugees is going to go well.

[Hartmut]

I think 'congresswoman' is the regular term used in interviwes.

[Michael Cain]

Vaguely related to the -man, -woman, and -person gender thing, when I worked for the state legislature I had to speak publicly in front of the budget committee on a regular basis. Depending on who was chairing the committee, they were either "Mr. Chairman" or "Madam Chair". I was told (during training) those were in someone's official protocol rules going back many years.

[Hartmut]

In German there was once a major dispute about how to properly gender official titles. E.g. some universities considered to introduce 'doctrix' for female graduates (which would the correct Latin form). Trouble started with terms that contain specific male or female terms. 'Nurse' in German is Krankenschwester (sister for the sick). The equivalent male term (Krankenbruder) never caught on and it became Krankenpfleger (caregiver) instead which in turn spawned the term Krankenpflegerin (caregiveress, so to speak).
The bailiff in German is an Amtmann (agency man). For some time the official term for female holders of that office was Amtmännin (agency maness) until it became the less ludicrous Amtfrau (agency woman). The official regulation was rather funny to read.
Luthers Bible translation also has something in that regard (he may even be the inventor of 'Männin' to translate the Hebrew term applied to Eve in Genesis), e.g. Hurer (whorer) for men prostituting themselves (for real or metaphorically).

[Michael Cain]

I think 'congresswoman' is the regular term used in interviwes.

When I was speaking to or about members of the state legislature here, the titles were "Senator" and "Representative". I don't know about Congress critters officially, but I would be inclined to do the same for a particular member of Congress until someone told me differently. "Representative X" or "Senator Y", never "Congresswoman Z" or "Congressman Z".

[Michael Cain]

And completely off topic, one of the things I learned as a staffer who had to take the roll for a House committee was how to say "representative" very fast and very smoothly. An outsider who had to listen to the live stream for House Appropriations once asked me how the staffers all learned to say it that way.

[liberal japonicus]

In German there was once a major dispute about how to properly gender official titles. E.g. some universities considered to introduce 'doctrix' for female graduates

Given that Trump was elected primarily because liberals started using latinx to replace latino/a, they better be careful...

/sarcasm font/

[Hartmut]

The impression I get is that in interviews female representatives are adressed as congresswomen, senate members of both sexes as senators and that representative is used for absent persons 'Congresswoman, is it correct that representative X and senator Y have told you ...?'

[Snarki, child of Loki]

I suggest we just go with "Congress-critter" and stop with all the gender- and species-centric terms.

Unless you know that the Congress-critter in question is a fungi, so not a critter.

[Hartmut]

I propose 'mould'. Slime optional.

[liberal japonicus]

On Syria, this is very interesting

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/13/syrian-rebels-reveal-year-long-plot-that-brought-down-assad-regime

This post seems to support the reportage

https://acleddata.com/2024/12/11/syria-which-groups-have-been-fighting-each-other-and-where/