Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Syria: The Return to the Scene of Obama’s Crime
Black Alliance For Peace
11 Dec 2024
Syrian children

The US regime change campaign against Syria began after Barack Obama succeeded in destroying the Libyan state. All of his successors followed the same playbook.

Originally published in Black Alliance for Peace.

Around the world, many hoped that the Russia-negotiated agreement in 2020 between the Syrian, government and the coterie of right-wing Jihadist forces, common criminals and other forces against the government of President Bashar Al-Assad, would finally end the nightmare of war, displacement, torture, and mindless destruction suffered by the Syrian people – victims of  U.S. plans to overthrow all the major nations in the Middle-East that might challenge continued U.S. domination. However, just a few days ago, like cancer, the disease of U.S. imperialism has suddenly metastasized. The Black Alliance for Peace argues that current U.S. imperialist actions in Syria need to be placed in a historical context. It is important to remember that the vicious subversion of Syria, which began in earnest in 2011, was only one of the two criminal assaults that year on nations perceived to be obstacles to U.S. regional hegemony. The other, under U.S. assault, was Libya. In Libya, however, the Western-orchestrated assault resulted in not only the overthrow of the government but the country’s leader, Muammar Gaddafi, being raped and murdered by the right-wing Jihadist friends of the U.S.

Linking the U.S. imperialist assault on Syria to that of Libya is important because it informs how the few authentic anti-imperialist forces that still exist in the U.S. understand and articulate opposition to the moves being made by U.S. and Western imperialism in their desperate attempts to avoid the inevitable end of white world dominance. Our positionality in relationship to the Pan-European white supremacist colonial/capitalist patriarchy compels us to remind our friends and sometimes allies that they cannot pretend to be in solidarity with Palestine and then cheer on the overthrow of one of the few states in the world that has never turned its back on Palestinian people, no matter what one might think of the internal politics of the Syrian state.

Such concerns about the nature of the Syrian state became a cover for defending U.S. imperialism and were expressed by dishonest actors or those who were politically naive. Now that the U.S.-backed jihadists have emerged triumphant, hope for authentic self-determination for the Syrian people has once again been delayed. 

Trump’s absurd claim that the U.S. does not have anything to do with Syria is only a reflection of why he will never gain full control over the state and non-state apparatus that is directing U.S. foreign policy. The notion that whoever is sitting in the white house represents the final and only power of the U.S. state is dangerously naive. Just recall when Secretary of State John Kerry negotiated a ceasefire with Russia in Deir Ezzor, Syria, only to have it ignored by his generals and CIA.   

Reigniting the war in Syria will prolong the tragedy experienced by the people of Syria since 2011. The Black Alliance for Peace will continue to monitor the situation and will not hesitate to reveal the facts as we find them.

Syria
US interventions
Middle East
US foreign policy

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Dave DeCamp
Sixty-Eight Reported Killed by US Airstrike on African Migrant Facility in Yemen
30 April 2025
The detention facility appears to be the one that was previously targeted by the US-backed Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
Ramzy Baroud
Politics or Empty Rhetoric? Examining Trump’s Call for Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza
12 February 2025
Donald Trump recently made several statements declaring his intent to commit a full-scale ethnic cleansing of Palestine's Gaza Strip.
Alexander Rubinstein
Black Money, Black Flags: How USAID Paved the Way for Syria’s Militant Takeover
22 January 2025
The United States leverages soft power through NGOs such as USAID.
John Perry
How the Human Rights Industry Manufactures Consent for “Regime Change”
08 January 2025
The international human rights apparatus comprises a web of organizations, task forces, committees, and the United Nations itself.
Essam Elkorghli
Syria’s Fall and Anti-Imperialist Lessons
18 December 2024
Similar to a predator realizing it is losing a fight and is reaching its end, the U.S.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
War Propaganda and the Fall of Syria
11 December 2024
A succession of U.S. presidents have been committed to regime change in Syria.
Ramzy Baroud
‘Genocide’ vs ‘Bigger Genocide’ in Gaza: Time to Decolonize Our Minds
11 December 2024
Regardless of conditions, Palestinian people have agency of thought and will not see themselves through the prism of colonization.
Aseel Saleh
Terrorist Groups Take Control Over Key Areas in Northwestern Syria amid Fierce Clashes with Government Forces
04 December 2024
The United States has escalated its proxy war in Syria with the help of jihadist allies and continues destabilizing the entire West Asia region
Black Alliance for Peace
Afghanistan News Update #24
20 November 2024
In its usual pattern of pillaging and plundering, the U.S.
Essam Elkorghli , Matteo Capasso
Unity Against Imperialist Sectarianism
16 October 2024
Imperialist powers maintain a toolbox of tactics they employ to maintain dominance and pursue their interests. Among them is propaganda.

More Stories


  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 30, 2025
    30 May 2025
    In this week’s segment we talk about jails and prisons in New York City and State and the end of city control of the infamous Rikers Island jail. But first a Washington DC activist analyzes how the…
  • Democratic party where are you
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Afeni on Fighting the Bipartisan Fascist Consensus
    30 May 2025
    Afeni is an activist and lead organizer with Herb and Temple in Washington, DC. She joins us from Oakland to discuss politics in the U.S. and how the people can fight the fascism produced by the…
  • Rikers protest
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Eric Adams Loses Control of Rikers Island to Federal Receivership
    30 May 2025
    Our guest is Melanie Dominguez, Organizing Director, New York with the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice. She joins us from New York City to discuss the federal takeover of Rikers Island…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Charles Rangel and the End of Black Politics
    28 May 2025
    The late Charles Rangel served as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus for more than 40 years. But the goals of Black politics and electoral politics are not necessarily the same.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The Intellectual Origins of Imperialism and Zionism, Edward Said, 1977
    28 May 2025
    “In theory and in practice, then, Zionism is a degraded repetition of European imperialism.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us