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Remarkable interview with Walid Jumblatt from Al Arabiya: AA: We’ll begin with regional files specifically Syria. Eight years after the Syrian revolution, Bashar al-Assad is still on the chair. Was there a mistake in calculations or something huge happened and half a million people were killed and 12 million Syrians were displaced. WJ: It’s not a matter of a mistake in calculations but there is a people that wanted life and freedom. Some powers came and intervened in favor of the regime. First it was the Islamic Republic of Iran then Russia. At the same time, the West abandoned the Syrian people. It abandoned the Syrian people and did not help them in the civil revolution or even in the armed revolution when it was national. Later, outsiders and extremist members entered Syria so the regime temporarily succeeded in saying it’s either me or ISIS, either me or extremism, and the West just abandoned the people. AA: Do you think it was possible to topple Bashar al-Assad? WJ: I think in 2012, yes, but after the chemical agreement was reached, you remember, the chemical agreement in Pittsburg between Obama and Putin, they completely stopped supporting the Syrian people and the semi-secular national powers. AA: So the price of the nuclear deal between the West and Iran was Syria, or it was one of the prices. WJ: I think back then, revolutions were at their peak. You remember, Bill Burns in Oman and others. AA: So Bashar al-Assad will stay for 20 or 30 years? WJ: He cannot stay. Stay to rule what? Syria’s rubble? People who are displaced in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and across the world? Stay on what? He has stayed as a result of armies present in Syria, the Russian, the Iranian army but then what? AA: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir killed half a million people and there’s an arrest warrant issued against him, and the international community embraced him. WJ: Did not embrace him. AA: Would it be possible that the international community will embrace Bashar al-Assad and he returns to the Arab League? WJ: The people’s revolution does not have an accurate calculation. When people revolt, they just revolt. They do not have accurate calculations. In Syria, the people revolted in Daraa. This is why Bashar does not want all refugees to return, and I do not think he can resume this path. Fine, Bashir ruled for 30 years. Bouteflika ruled for 30 years too. Then people spoke out and said enough. There will come a day when the Syrian people will say enough and the displaced people outside Syria are already saying enough. AA: Most of the Sunnis in Syria are with Bashar al-Assad. WJ: This is not true. Some of the cities’ Sunnis are. This was Hafez al-Assad’s plan to gain the Sunni and Christian bourgeois and others in businesses, and they left the countryside. But people in the countryside and those who were displaced from Ghouta, Daraya and other areas from Homs and Aleppo, you think they’re all with Bashar? AA: But let’s talk frankly. If you look today at the Syrian political scene, is there anyone whom you think can lead Syria. Who is the alternative to Bashar al-Assad? WJ: Is it forbidden to have a civil regime in Syria or a civil government? Must there be a dictator ruling since 1970, one person governing Syria? Is this reasonable? There’s no alternative, a democratic alternative, alternative for freedoms, parties exchanging, etc. I reject this logic. AA: What do you tell the Druze in Syria? WJ: I tell the Syrian people that one day they will have freedom. Druze there are actually Syrian, they are part of the Syrian people. My relation is with the Syrian people and their uprising, not only with the Syrian Druze. It’s a relation with the Syrian people based on a principle. Full interview: https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2019/05/02/Walid-Joumblatt-President-of-the-Lebanese-Progressive-Socialist-Party.html _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
