- independent nations globally? Video
9 Jan 2026
https://beeley.substack.com/p/syria-podcast-was-syria-the-lynchpin

Mike Robinson of UK Column and I sit down to consider the wide-ranging
ramifications of the fall of Damascus in December 2024. As the HTS unelected
regime led by Al Qaeda co-founder in Syria, Jolani (rebranded Ahmed Al Sharaa)
edges close to normalisation with "Israel" - Al Qaeda and Israel agreed to form
a joint, US-supervised group to share intelligence and pursue military
de-escalation, Washington said after talks in Paris. At the same time, over the
last few days, the HTS militias are attacking unarmed Kurdish civilians in
northern and central Aleppo (Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh) leading to the usual
videos of dehumanisation and sectarian violence across social media channels. We
discuss how everything is connected from Syria to Iran to Burkina Faso and
Nigeria to Venezuela.