Doesn’t matter. Banks are evil but forced on us by capitalism. There’s no ethical bank afaik. They wouldn’t survive competition.

Smuggling through Iran, then often times through Egypt

What does pro-Assad mean? Are they coordinating with him? They wanna put him back in power? What’s your proof?

Or you mean they simply like him?

it doesn’t seem like this is just them suddenly deciding to stop the “extra judicial murders”

It’s not sudden. This isn’t the first act of resistance, but this is the most organized we’ve seen. They have been complaining for months about these killings.

There’s certainly enough alawites armed or military trained to do this. They’re more military trained than any other group ever since the French occupation days.

Being organized doesn’t justify the falsehoods in the reporting. They’ve been getting murdered for 3 months now, surely they had enough time to organize.

Thanks for pasting excerpts from Wikipedia and confirming what I said, but what exactly is your point now? How does this relate to this group being an assadist group and not alawites putting an end to the daily murders of their people?

I would appreciate if you lead with your point / argument then justify it.

They want to justify killing them more. Depressing.

You’re speaking about Ibrahim houija. That guy was head of air force intelligence in the 80’s and 90’s. Do research before believing propaganda.

They’re not Assad linked. They’re fighting against the almost daily extra judicial murders and violence against the alawite minority in the coast.

Assad is gone.

Not exactly forced, but there are people (often in camouflage uniform) in the streets calling (sometimes on megaphone) for women to cover their heads, and calling for men and women to stand separately in separate spaces rather than mix. Sometimes they give out scarves while asking them to cover their hair. However I haven’t seen or heard of any violence or forcing on this matter (though Idk if anyone tried to disobey either).

This is likely individuals doing it and not a state policy thing yet.

Syrian here. Unfortunately most Syrians are celebrating. There is an immense mountain of propaganda in Arabic, more so than English speaking ones.

Rojava served their US-requested role of suffocating Syria and paving the way for the fall of Assad regime and victory of HTS. Rojava’s role was to hold the longest frontline with the fallen regime’s forces, be a host for US military bases and a launchpad for US attacks on Syrian gov forces, and most importantly hoard Syria’s most viral resources such as oil, wheat and drinking water (which also yields electric power).

When HTS launched their offensive, Rojava attacked Syrian government forces in Deir Ezzor, only to retreat a week later and hand it over to HTS.

Watch my words, the US will abandon Rojava in 2025 now that their job is done, and you will see that they were nothing but useful idiots for the empire.

Iran is unfortunately not painting the right picture.

Most of Iran’s military help withdrew from Syria months before this happened, especially after the large attacks by Israel against Iran in Syria, like the embassy attack.

Although I don’t have confirmation or evidence, but I rly doubt Assad would refuse Iran help. I could believe that he maybe didn’t request it though, but still unsure.

Pezeshkian has been aiming for normalizing and de-escalation with the West, and we’re seeing the effects of that.

It is true that Assad was also seeking to normalize with Arab states such as UAE and Saudi in attempt to break the suffocating sanctions. This may have made Iran more weary of support, but ultimately they were doing the same thing.

Unfortunately, as a Syrian vehemently against what is happening, most Syrians are celebrating.

Some of them are Syrians I spoke to a week before the regime fell and they held a position similar to mine.

I suppose for some it is fear of persecution from new regime, or a cope given that we’ve reached a point of no return. But it still terrifies me. Have we accepted Al-Qaeda rule of our country?

You know you’re white your country has an official Twitter account for drama posting.

They chickened out and didn’t carry through… For now

if a group of people were to head to a developing country

Although not essential to my point, I am not encouraging people to move anywhere. This is under the assumption that the people of that specific country gather to do this, not for people to immigrate for it.

a more concrete arrangement and place within the local economy, etc. would be more ideal (and probably necessary for survival/viability) IMO.

Can you please expand this point? I don’t quite understand what this “more concrete arrangement and…” is exactly, and why it’s needed.

when those with such resources to start such a thing could also genuinely create the foundations for something even more broadly-reaching and potentially, politically/etc. potent.

I don’t necessarily agree with this. A capitalist state is much more likely to persecute someone doing this, but much less likely a commune. And when you’re just starting out, you’re quite vulnerable to the state, especially the mass surveillance and hyper militarized police states of today.

pursue a trade surplus with the wider world

I just don’t see why that’s needed. Capitalists trade to accumulate capital, whereas a commune is interested in growing its ability to produce in a self sufficient manner.

Why not try to create a mini-China?

That’s… Actually kind of what I’m getting at. And maybe you phrased it better than I could have.

but I don’t see why remaining a commune

Not intended to stay that way, which is why I called it a starting point!

Why shouldn’t it compete with private industry

The goal is to produce what the members of the commune need. If that can be produced locally, I don’t see a need to compete.

Why, especially in developing (ie. colonized) countries, should the focus be on a limited commune’s development rather than promoting industrial and economic development in the broader region

If I understood you correctly (sorry English isn’t my native), you’re asking why only serve the limited number of members of the commune, and not other people in the same region not part of the commune.

If so, the commune would have a goal to expand. It would promote people to join it, participate, and then it can cover the needs of more and more. Growth is part of the plan.

Why is trade necessary? Is it because the commune would not be able to produce everything it needs and wants? What if it can cover all needs and good enough portion of the wants?

It could be a stepping stone for better political change. You have to start somewhere, and right now the state is way too powerful. If a revolution does start, the commune can act as a safety net for revolutionaries, and possibly supply the revolutionaries with what they need.

I agree that it has to industrialize. Does it have to compete with private industry from the get-go? The commune’s goal in the beginning is to build up its ability to satisfy the needs of its members, and the industry will build up slowly. No need to compete with private industry.

The events of Lebanon makes way less optimistic about the armed struggle. Hezbollah is the most powerful non-state actor, but it took a massive blow from Israel in such a short time. Israel can watch them 24/7 from satellites, can compromise their supply chain, and can even compromise their communication. Their technical and logistical superiority is so great, it is difficult to imagine beating them.