Al Jolani (centre) and HTS "Red Band" elite brigade members in Idlib 2024.
Extraordinary events have taken place on the borders with Lebanon and Syria over the last few days. It is very unlikely that this will be reported in Western media, still slavishly erasing the terrorist crimes of HTS members and self-elected President of "New Syria", Abu Mohammed Al Jolani (Ahmad Al Sharaa).
Jolani's Asaib al Hamra (Red Bands) Special Forces entered Lebanese border territory in Hermel under a spurious pretext of preventing smuggling operations between Syrian and Lebanon. This can easily be interpreted as collaborating with the Zionists to shut down all weapons smuggling routes for Hezbollah in Lebanon. The area between Homs, Al Qusayr and Hermel is a well known Resistance stronghold and a target for HTS operations since the Zionist-Turkish-US coup succeeded in toppling Syrian leadership back in December 2024.
On February 7th the Red Bands and so-called former ISIS factions launched their assault on the Beqaa region. The attacks were not only repelled by the Lebanese clans that reside in this area of Lebanon but the HTS elite terrorist forces were humiliated.
The attacks coincided with the arrival of President Trump's deputy special envoy for Middle East peace, Morgan Ortagus. Ortagus outraged many in Lebanon when she visited newly elected Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at Baabda Palace where she thanked the "great US ally for defeating Hezbollah". Ortagus went on to demand that Hezbollah should be excluded from the new Lebanese government. This, despite, the party having secured the highest vote count in the preceding two parliamentary elections with a significant majorty over the second and third-placed parties. The following is a report from Vocal Politics:
In defiance of US diktats, the new Lebanese government has five Shia Muslim ministers approved by Hezbollah and the Prime Minister:
Rakan Nasser Al Din - Hezbollah - Health Minister
Mohammed Haider - Hezbollah - Labour Minister
Tamara Al Zein - Amal Movement - Environment Minister
Yassin Jaber - Amal - Finance Minister
Fadi Maki - Amal - Administrative Development
Ortagus had to send a letter of apology to President Aoun for what was said on the podium of Baabda Palace.
So, while the US agenda, which is in lock-step with the Zionist project in the region, was effectively blocked - the local tribes of Beqaa were simultaneously derailing Zionist plans using HTS as their proxy to secure border areas between Syria and Lebanon.
The main clans or tribes involved are the Al Jaafar, Al Mekdad and Al Zaiter. Journalist Nour Samaha wrote in 2012:
Originating from Arab tribes in the region, the clans of Lebanon are considered to have a rich history, and whose bonds can never be broken. From the fifth century until the 18th, the clans were based between Tripoli and Beirut, and then subsequently moved to Lebanon's Bekaa region where they continue to reside.
What is important is that the tribes, alone, confronted HTS forces in the early stages of the incursion into Lebanese territory and defended their people against HTS shelling of farms and villages in the area. At least three Lebanese civilians were killed during the initial attacks and others were kidnapped by HTS - the tribes also killed a number of HTS elite forces and took others captive. Below is a video of the Beqaa tribes responding to HTS aggression against the border farms:
While Jolani's captive media outlets and Telegram channels tried to dismiss the clashes as a drug gang-war, Resistance channels were countering with videos of the heavily armed clansmen proudly displaying HTS drones they had shot down over Lebanon. They issued threats that the road to Homs was now open and they would re-take Homs from HTS. At the same time, Resistance channels were publishing videos of ambulance convoys heading to Homs hospital with injured HTS elite fighters. A media censorship of photos of the injured was declared. The numbers of HTS dead and injured was mounting rapidly according to multiple sources in Syria and Lebanon.
Social media was buzzing with the news that HTS had called for reinforcements from Idlib to join the battle against the tribes. At one point it appeared that Jolani called for a ceasefire. All the time, reinforcements were arriving from the tribes in Beqaa bringing with them heavy weapons, artillery and new troops - I was told many of the weapons had been traded by the Syrian Arab Army since 2011 - in answer to a question on X that asked how on earth "farmers" got hold of such weapons.
On February 8th the HTS toll was announced by various Telegram channels to be 22 HTS dead, 80 wounded, 4 tanks out of operation and 7 drones destroyed.
HTS doubled down and extended the fight to include other sections of the Syria-Lebanon border.
"Coincidentally" while these conflicts were raging, Israel expanded its own aggression in southern Syria. A local Syrian source informed Al Mayadeen that the Zionist forces infiltrated the village of Ein Al Nuriyyeh in Al Quneitra's north-eastern countryside.
The Zionist forces destroyed the remnants of two Syrian Arab Army artillery brigades close to the strategic hill of Ein Al Nuriyyeh. The occupation forces positioned themselves on the main road connecting Quneitra (near Golan territory) with Damascus countryside. Townspeople described a state of panic as Zionist military extended their incursions and patrols deeper into Quneitra countryside and the areas surrounding the Zionist-captured Mt. Hermon.
The Al Akhbar correspondent reported that HTS targeted the mountainous area of Qald Al Sebaa close to a Lebanese Army base. Based on directives of President Aoun, the Lebanese Army top brass issued commands to the forces on the northern and eastern borders to respond to HTS aggression. Ultimately the tribes withdrew to allow the Lebanese forces to take control of the border areas.
Israel targets Damascus during Lebanon border clashes.
Not only did Israel expand ground operations in southern Syria. They also began an intensive bombing campaign in Lebanon and Syria. They targeted the Deir Ali area in the Damascus countryside, hitting an abandoned military warehouse - civilian deaths and injuries were reported. The Zionists claimed they had targeted a Hamas weapons depot "based on intelligence information". Local sources said the building was part of a former military housing complex and had been used as a clinic.
There was no comment or condemnation from the HTS Junta in Damascus.
Zionist forces then turned their attention to Daraa, south of Damascus. They penetrated the Yarmouk Basin area west of Daraa to greater depth than previously.
Syria was not the only target. Despite the faux ceasefire in southern Lebanon, Israel increased attacks on Lebanese towns and villages in the region. Israel also began bombing the Beqaa region targeting the tribes that were defending their families against HTS. This was a clear example of Israel working in collaboration with HTS forces - there have been many such examples over the last decade.
In response to the Israeli violations, HTS militants increased their line of attack on the borders with Lebanon and conducted a campaign of arrests and raids in the Syrian village of Al Zaina in the Masyaf countryside - in the Homs region.
The Syrian border with Lebanon is 394 km (245 miles) long. Israel has taken control of Mt Hermon, the highest vantage point in the south. It also plans to maintain control of the five highest points in southern Lebanon (discussed in last week's UK Column News) despite the looming deadline of complete Zionist withdrawal from the south of Lebanon on the 18th February - an extension of the previous deadline of 26th January.
Five high points in southern Lebanon that Israel covets under the pretext that it will enable the Zionists to protect settlements in northern occupied Palestine.
HTS role is to act as a outreach agent for the Zionists and to take control of the Syria-Lebanon border to fully close down all potential weapons supply to Hezbollah and Hamas. HTS is ignoring Zionist overreach in Syria to focus on achieving the Zionist project to starve Hezbollah of resupply. It cannot be any clearer that HTS and Israel are hand-in-glove to extinguish the Resistance against Zionist occupation and oppression, in Palestine and the region.
However, the end result may be more of a blow to Jolani's power base than to the regional Resistance. The recent border clashes have been an undeniable humiliation for Jolani. He sent his elite forces but they were unable to defeat Lebanese tribes unaided by Hezbollah or the Lebanese Army in the first days. Until now, Hezbollah has not joined the battles.
Jolani was forced to consider a ceasefire. His forces were unable to make inroads and were forced to call for reinforcements. Even with Zionist air support, the campaign was a disaster. It also demonstrated to the new Lebanese government - the dangers of excluding Hezbollah from the defence of Lebanese sovereignty.
Jolani is a warlord. He depends on the loyalty of his close circle and the military dominance of his elite forces to continue holding sway against the members of HTS that are constantly on the look-out for a chink in his armour. Despite all the Tony Blair, MI6 veneer and rebranding, Jolani is never going to keep control of disparate militias and foreign mercenaries operating across Syria, no longer confined to Idlib where Jolani also had major issues in keeping competitors on a tight leash.
Since these events, Syrian social media channels are reporting that HTS members are defecting to the newly formed Syrian Coastal Shield Resistance groups - consisting former Syrian Arab Army soldiers who refused to surrender their arms and would rather die fighting than in an HTS prison or under HTS torture.
From a personal perspective, speaking with friends in Syria, there is a sense of hope that HTS is not going to be around for long. The fact that Lebanese "farmers" have routed Jolani's special forces who were overwhelmed despite superior fire power and equipment will inevitably have a domino effect among the Syrian people, especially the minorities that have suffered terrible persecution since Jolani came to power.
A new Iraqi Resistance group calling itself the Awliya Al Haqq Brigades has issued a statement expressing readiness to support the Alawites in Syria and to confront HTS.
Time will tell but Jolani's first serious attempt to tackle the border with Lebanon did not end well for him.
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I sit down again with one of my favourite analysts and journalists, Fiorella Isabel, to unpack Trump's most recent foreign policy and domestic policy moves - including USAID, the federal worker scandal, Tulsi Gabbard, Gaza and Lebanon. We also touch on the alleged upcoming "Putin-Trump summit" that may happen in UAE or Saudi Arabia.
Further reading:
Catherine Austin Fitts - Trump Administration: Digital Control Grid coming together at High Speed
Dennis Kucinich - Firing America: The Federal Worker Purge and the Illusion of Efficiency.
Follow Fiorella on Substack, X and Telegram.
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I will be writing a report on my trip to the south of Lebanon over the next few days. I do cover it in my UK Column reports. Here are a few of the photos taken in Khiam:
You can watch the news at UK Column webpage on Monday, Wednesday and Friday 1pm UK time.
I recommend reading this earlier report from Lebanese journalist Myriam Charabaty who also accompanied me on Monday:
On January 26, 2025, the people of southern Lebanon, the people of Jabal Amel, marched toward their Israeli-occupied border towns after the 60-day period agreed upon by the Lebanese government as part of a ceasefire agreement had expired.
Hundreds of residents returned to their towns, joined by compatriots from the Beqaa Valley, the two central hubs of Hezbollah's Islamic Resistance community. They marched despite the continued presence of Israeli occupation forces, who barred them from entering their own lands. United with the Lebanese Army—and in many cases, even leading the way—the people stormed their villages and forced the occupiers to retreat. Yet, even today, some villages remain under occupation, a blatant violation of the agreement and a grave aggression against the people, the land, and the will of the martyrs who ascended during battles in which the enemy failed to seize these very towns.
During this time, Christian regions were systematically isolated from the pride of liberation. While history has shown that the enemy never retreats without force and never honors agreements, the people of these towns were urged to remain calm and let diplomacy take its course. But 60 days had already passed—60 days in which diplomacy and agreements should have been resolved. These people had a right to return. They were not armed aggressors; they were civilians and residents reclaiming their homes. (And even if they had been armed, it would have been their right in the face of a genocidal occupation.)
After two days of continuous tensions in Jabal Amel and a glaring lack of action from Christian political parties or leadership in defense of the people, the land, and the honor of those who had ascended during the two-month war on Lebanon—and the year-long support front launched in defense of humanity and the Palestinian Resistance—my friend and I decided to take matters into our own hands and journey south.
Our decision to participate in what was dubbed the Third March of Liberation for our people in Jabal Amel was not a fleeting act of solidarity, nor was it a narrow ideological stance confined to partisan, sectarian, or identity-based considerations. Rather, it was a profound commitment to a historical path that unites the free across all times and places in the struggle against oppression, occupation, colonialism, and domination.
At this critical juncture, when the resistance community faced blatant abandonment by Christian political parties and movements—where short-sighted political interests and opportunism overshadowed the moral imperative and strategic necessity of an existential war—we found ourselves at a crossroads. The choice was stark: remain silent and complicit in this betrayal, or take a stand, even on a personal level, in defense of a cause we deeply believed in.
For us, resistance is not merely a political stance; it is an existential necessity to safeguard our heritage, land, and dignity. It is about honoring the sacrifices of martyrs and ensuring the survival of our nation—its legacy, history, present, and future—regardless of religious or ethnic background. It is a call to uphold the values of justice, freedom, and humanity in the face of tyranny and oppression.
This was not just a march; it was a declaration of our unwavering commitment to the path of resistance, to the land, and to the people who have given everything for its liberation. It was a reminder that the struggle for freedom is not bound by sect or party but is a collective responsibility shared by all who believe in justice and dignity.
Continue reading here.
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A lone official photograph shows Syria's new leader Ahmed Al Sharaa (right) and Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov posing for a picture during their meeting in Damascus - 29th January 2025.
According to my sources, the Belarus delegation ( led by Foreign Minister Maxim Vladimirovich Ryzhenkov ) that headed to Damascus on the 24th January had a mission to request permission for the high level Russian delegation to meet with the Al Qaeda-rebranded, unelected 'President' of Syria.
Fiorella Isabel and I discuss the implications of such an apparent misstep by Russia - to meet with the terrorists they fought against for almost a decade on the terrorist terms.
For background, Fiorella published the following at her Substack:
NATO and Israel's chosen puppet in Syria Jolani, met with the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov at the People's Palace in Damascus to discuss various political and bilateral issues. The visit was set to aim at strengthening historical relations between the nations based on common interests. The usual diplomatic jargon yes but inside there's much more at play.
During the meeting Jolani and Bogdanov reportedly covered a variety of hot topics, from Syria's reconstruction and political reforms to the crucial role of Russian support in stabilizing the country. Both sides reportedly stressed the importance of keeping their bilateral ties strong and nurturing cooperation across different sectors, including Russia's potential role in Syria's economic recovery, with a focus on investments in infrastructure, energy, and trade. This despite the giant elephant in the room: That Russia has been fighting these exact terrorist factions for years, and much like the CIA, most terrorists don't ever reform one hundred percent.
Speaking to RT, Bogdanov said that "Russia is keen on the unity, independence and territorial integrity of Syria, as well as achieving reconciliation and social peace in the country." This follows recent talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Qatari counterpart Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani, where they expressed support for Syria's sovereignty and stability, emphasizing a comprehensive settlement that benefits all Syrians. Except of course the one being killed and persecuted by the new "Free Syria" regime. This also follows a meeting between the Belarusian Foreign Minister and Jolani on the sidelines of Minsk's Presidential elections.
A Syrian source told Reuters that new leader, Jolani, had requested that Moscow hand over former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia and is under humanitarian asylum. Syria's new leadership also demanded compensation from Russia during this meeting. "The discussions highlighted Russia's role in rebuilding trust with the Syrian people through tangible actions like compensation, reconstruction, and recovery. The new government also emphasized that restoring relations must address past mistakes," said a statement from Damascus.
The statement, however, did not clarify the exact form of compensation being demanded, nor did it mention Russia's two key military bases in Syria. Bogdanov acknowledged that no progress had been made on this issue, stressing that further negotiations are needed. When asked to confirm whether Russia had been asked to return Assad and pay compensation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment.
This comes as a video circulated by members of HTS Syrian regime shows Russians angry at the HTS searching their vehicles in front of Russia's bases, while the video gloats about "humiliating" them.
What This Means?
There appear to be contradictory elements to this that would inadvertently discredit everything Russia has done for a long time in Syria, fighting against the terrorists factions now in power. Some of this, like asking for Assad, has not been fully commented on by Russian officials.
However the quick pace of Russia to recognize the new Syrian leadership indicates a desire to maintain their naval base in Tartous and Hmeimim air base near the port city of Latakia. Having their bases in a vulnerable position, leaves them out of Syria. Losing these doesn't seem like something Russia wants however they have moved some resources to Libya. The question of Russia giving up Assad, a strong ally seems out of the question but there's also the reports that this is the only way to keep their bases. While unlikely, such an action would be seen as entirely negative by the Global South, not just Assad's former allies but other counties watching closely and betting if their alliances will matter or receive protection if such events like ever-present US-backed coups were to occur with them.
Not only would working in line with its former enemies seem a blow to Russia but it would put them once again even more reliant on Turkey and NATO. Russia truly doesn't need Syria as before but what this does point out is how far Turkey, Erdogan, and to an extent NATO have gone to manipulate Russia via the Black Sea Grain Corridor. Russia is still fighting a war with Ukraine and the collective west that backs and directs it, so it cannot lose sight of this very thing. Now these events bring back the conversation as to what was achieved during the infamous DOHA meeting before the fall of Damascus.
Turkish and Gulf media for their part have brazenly alluded to something happening between Russia, Turkey and US/Israel. In one recent interview with an Arabic channel Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, referred to this specific relationship between Turkey and Russia, saying Ankara was essential for Moscow and this would further polarize Iran which would also benefit Turkey as a NATO member. He went as far as to say Russia no longer needed Syria and made the pragmatic revision to abandon the relations with the former government.
While all of this develops and there's much to wait and see, it is once again pointing to the fact that the non-aligned axis remains very much behind the actions of the NATO Bloc and collective West. While yes the latter are sinking, Europe is a mess and the US is no longer the unilateral dominating power with China's undeniable rise technologically and economically, Beijing, Russia and Iran while powerful are being hugely pressured in various ways. The actions and decisions they make will and have affected their relations with the rest of the non-aligned axis in the Global South, who are not a powerful or poised to make take on these pressures without a formal alliance.
Once again I reiterate, the non-aligned axis is fighting an uphill battle when they're not in cohesion like their counterparts in the NATO Collective West, leaving them one step behind. The phrase you don't negotiate with terrorists exists for a reason. I truly hope the red flags are as visible to others in leadership positions as they are to those of us closely watching.
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My reports for UK Column yesterday.
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On Thursday I am going to record a conversation with Moscow-based journalist and friend, Fiorella Isabel. You can follow her excellent analysis at her Substack.
We are going to focus on the direction of travel of Russian foreign policy since the Ottoman, Zionist, Nazi, US, EU, UK, Wahhabi coup finally succeeded in plunging Syria into a terrorist vacuum post-Assad.
I found this article by another esteemed colleague, Eric Zuesse, to be very insightful. As Eric says:
My main field of specialization, within meta-science (my major field), has always been ideology. It's a field in which no university offers a Ph.D or other doctoral degree, but I have been studying it intensively on my own ever since the 1960s. The closest existing field to it is political psychology, but unlike that, it includes also ethics (the analysis of moral beliefs); and, unlike philosophical ethics or the religious sub-category of that, it's purely scientific, which means that it is based only on all of the empirical evidence about it and excludes as being evidence anything that is not derived from trustworthy historical records; so, all mythological 'evidence' is excluded from being considered in it.
If I were briefly to define the field, it is scientific ethics, but anyone who would interpret that phrase to mean "ethics of science" would get it wrong. It's instead entirely non-philosophical, non-speculative, ethics. It is only ethics that is 100% empirically (meaning historically — not at all mythologically) based. It might also be called "post-philosophical ethics," because all of philosophical ethics is based only on opinions, not on any empirical studies, it's not rooted purely in historical accounts but also in other people's opinions and in myths.
I highly recommend reading the article in full but here a couple of relevant excerpts:
Trump always seeks win-lose games so that he can come out on top (he is a "supremacist"), but tries to do that by negotiation first, and only if the opponent won't negotiate about a particular matter will Trump resort to physical coercion (military war) in order to achieve his aim. He never likes win-win games or lose-lose games, but ONLY win-lose games, and he always demands that he must come out on top. That is the essence of Trump, as Lukyanov describes him. All of Trump's decisions and actions (not his mere promises) have been consistent with that.
However, Lukyanov (like Putin himself) doesn't quite understand the implications of this; he says "Trump's 'America First' policy focuses on national interests, which opens the door for pragmatic deals based on mutual benefit." That is win-win, so Trump isn't like that; Trump will instead demand that America (its billionaires — that's all he, just like his recent predecessors, really cares about) must win more than Russia (and, for Putin, that means the Russian public must win — NOT necessarily that Russia's billionaires must) win.
If Trump can't get a deal in which "America" (its billionaires, who control its largest corporations and especially its military manufacturers, who derive their profits from selling to the U.S. Government and its colonies' Governments) beats "Russia," then Trump will want to use America's diplomatic and military power in order to achieve by coercion what he wants.
The aggressor is intrinsically America's Government, NOT at all Russia's (and this has been the case ever since the war in Ukraine first started), because Russia has real national-security needs, and America always ignores them. So, unless Trump will suddenly change his basic ideology (change win-lose to win-win), those negotiations will fail and Trump will increase his threats to Russia, which will only strengthen — not reduce — Russia's resolve to reject Trump's "deal."
Putin (like Lukyanov) does not understand this, because Putin's underlying ideology is to maximize win-win games (which ideology is progressivism), not win-lose games (which ideology is conservatism — supremacism).
Putin even thinks that conservatism is (as Lukyanov put it) "driven by national interests and pragmatic calculations," and that the opposite, which he mis-calls liberalism (the mixture of progressivism and conservatism) instead of progressivism, is not. However, actually, win-lose, in this case, helps ONLY America's Billionaires, who control America's armaments-manufacturers and extraction companies (basically, the war-industries — and America's armaments-manufacturers have been America's most profitable corporations ever since the Soviet Union ended in 1991).
This analysis which I largely agree with adds another dimension to my suspicion that Moscow was already working on a 'deal' with Trump before his inauguration. A potential deal that led to Russia effectively abandoning Syria to a hellscape of sectarian violence and extremist Islamist law in a country renowned for its historical pluralism.
A recent Arabic channel interview with Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, revealed (again) that Turkey is essential for any future relationship between Russia and Syria ( recent conversation with Lavrov) and that Russia made a pragmatic strategic decision to abandon Syria.
Fidan went on to speak about future Turkey-Iran relations post-Syria-coup:
The fall of the Assad regime will positively impact our relations with Iran, especially as the polarization in Syria ends.
Iran is no longer in Syria and is not part of the negative situation for Türkiye.
There's an opportunity to improve Türkiye-Iran relations and for Tehran to realign its foreign policy. I hope Iranian officials seize this opportunity.
Satellite images from 18th and 27th January reveal that Russia has removed the bulk of its military hardware from its bases in Tartous on the Syrian coast. Dozens of military vehicles had been stored in Tartous after the closure of Hmeimim Airbase and Tartous Naval base. The HTS terrorist Junta had refused to renew the agreement for a continued Russian presence in Syria.
I will also be looking closely at the Russian Iran Strategic Partnership that was signed by Presidents Pezeshkian and Putin on 17th January, evaluating risks and benefits for both parties:
Strategic and Security Cooperation:Article 1: Russia and Iran will enhance their relations in all areas of mutual interest, including security and defense. They will coordinate their actions at both regional and global levels under a long-term strategic partnership.
Article 4: Both nations will bolster their national security by combating shared threats. This includes information and experience exchange between the Russian SVR and the Iranian VAJA.
Article 5: They commit to conducting joint military exercises in both countries and internationally.
Similar to the Russia-China Agreement, Russia and Iran will collaborate in dealing with common military and security threats both bilaterally and regionally
Article 6: Defense cooperation will be strengthened with annual meetings to review and advance bilateral agreements.
Article 12: Cooperation will focus on preventing third-party intervention in the Caspian Sea, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East.
Economic and Energy Cooperation:
Articles 17-21: Economic ties will be expanded, focusing on joint investments, infrastructure projects, banking cooperation, and creating trade corridors through Iran.
Article 22: Both countries will cooperate in the oil and gas sector, sharing technology and expertise for production, processing, and transportation, aiming to influence global oil and gas markets.
Article 23: They will engage in joint projects related to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, including building nuclear facilities.
Scientific and Technological Collaboration:
Article 30: Extensive scientific cooperation is planned.
Article 31: Cooperation in space technology will be strengthened.
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We cover what might Syria's future look like short and mid-term as the dust settles on a CIA MI6 Mossad coup that finally overthrew the Syrian leadership.
UK Column website
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A really succinct and pertinent message from Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh . You can also follow the Professor at Qumsiyeh: A Human Rights Web.
The Choice is Ours
Both Netanyahu and Trump have visions of building empires and discarding the remnants of international law and the UN. Will they succeed to lead us to a World War or will we have peace?
Trump immediately acted with executive orders to dismantle the US's connection to the world with a triumphalist inaugural speech full of classic colonialist language of manifest destiny, frontiers, pioneers and so on. But this is only more open empire building that was happening under his predecessors.
His fascist billionnaire supporters are pardoned or even give Nazi Salute (like Elon Musk) while common people (inluding Jews) who speak for Palestinian human rights are dubbed "anti-semitic" by Zionist groups like the ADL. The US is completing its second largest so-called "embassy" (in Beirut, the first in Baghdad). Each accommodates tens of thousands of personnel and the world is bullied to submission.
The world all looks at this stronger push to expand the big genocidal empire (USA) and the small genocidal empire (Israel) with trepidations. But theb reaction has been an expansion of the BRICS group of nations and the lineup for a global war is becoming clearer.
We in the global South were never in doubt that imperialism is deep state and that the only difference between Genocide Joe and lunatic tRump is style of bluster of character. But since the 1962 assassination of John Kennedy, the transfer power in the USA was from one Zionist puppet to another Zionist puppet. The US system of federal elections has slowly and methodically been consumed by moneyed interests of the billionaires. The democrats and republicans become two sides of the same coin which is a Public Relations campaign to give the illusion of democracy while dragging the world to the abyss in service of moneys interests.
Different faces but the essence is the same: making the rich richer and the poor poorer and pardoning criminals wearing different masks. Money flows whether from Edelson and Musk to republicans or Saban, Soros and Streyer to democrats.
In all cases indigenous people and people of color are sacrificed on the altar the new Golden calves (and the chief being the Zionist sacred cow).
Here in the occupied Palestinian territories, pogroms by Jewish colonial settlers and soldiers accelerated after the "ceasefire" agreements in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. The apartheid regime only intensified: lockdown of the cantons/bantustans that we are restricted in. Home demolitions and confiscation of more Palestinian lands, and increase in Jewish colonial settler buildings (squatters on our land).Torching vehicles and homes is now almost a daily occurence supported by the fascist Netanyahu government (a government of settlers).
Without going into a detailed analysis, the trends are clear and could lead to catastrophic outcomes. To reverse this direction requires a global uprising, a global unity of all affected people. What the global imperialist elites want us to think is that our interests and causes are separate or even contradictory. But the struggles of immigrants in the US, of Alaskans, of Californians, of Panamanians, of Syrians, of Palestinians of hundreds of other people are all one struggle against those elites profiting from their hegemony whether they are called Biden, Trump, Modi, or Netanyahu.
By realizing the unity of our struggle can we defeat the greed that causes millions misery and that leads us to mass extinction. For all with eyes to see and brains to examine, the data is now available and the choice is clear. We either allow them to destroy humanity and the environment or we reclaim our humanity and our earth. The choice is ours.
Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh previously served on the faculties of the University of Tennessee, Duke, and Yale Universities. He and his wife returned to Palestine in 2008 starting a number of institutions and projects such as a clinical genetics laboratory that serves cancer and other patients. In 2014, they founded (initial personal donation of $250,000) and run (as full time volunteers) the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS) at Bethlehem University. Qumsiyeh published over 160 scientific papers, over 30 book chapters, and several books on topics ranging from cultural heritage to human rights to biodiversity conservation to cancer. Currently leading the effort to produce the new National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan for Palestine. He serves on the board of a number of Palestinian youth and service organizations and oversees many projects related to sustainability of human and natural communities. His many published books include "Bats of Egypt", "Mammals of the Holy Land", "Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle" and "Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment". He also published hundreds of articles and letters to the editor and has an activism book published electronically. He gave hundreds of talks in 45 countries around the world. He especially believes in youth empowerment towards social and environmental causes. The programs he & his wife created impacted thousands. He also serves on the board of a number of Palestinian youth and service organizations. PIBS-BU has become an oasis for visitors to Palestine from around the world. He was selected in March 2008 to be honored among "the writers who have enriched our pages with their creative writings and enlightened us with their progressive thinking" by Arab World Books
For his service, community and non-violent resistance he received many awards including American Arab Anti-discrimination Committee (ADC) Alex Odeh award, the American Friends Service Committee AFSC Connecticut chapter 2004 award, the 2011 Social Courage Award from the Peace and Justice Studies Association at the Joint Conference of PJSA and the Gandhi King Conference in October, 2011 at the Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee and in 2021 the Paul K. Feyerabend Foundation and Takreem awards. For these same actions, Qumsiyeh was harassed and arrested. He and his wife and dozens of other volunteers and staff at PIBS continue to have "Joyful participation in the sorrows of this world" and make a real difference for sustainability of nature and human communities.
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In August 2016 a US-funded terrorist group beheaded a 12-year-old Palestinian, Abdullah Issa in Al Mashad Square, Al Insari district, Aleppo. Nour Al Din Zenki, the terrorist group responsible, later featured in a Channel 4 report "Up Close with the Rebels" which Channel 4 tried to remove from the internet after their terrorist-promotion was pointed out.
Despite statements from Palestinian Resistance factions in Syria, the BBC went with the terrorist pretext that Issa was actually a "child fighter", not just a child taken from his hospital bed, tortured and decapitated, his severed head displayed as a gruesome trophy.
It is worth noting that the MI6-Al-Qaeda White Helmets headquarters were less than 200 meters from the square where the execution took place. the alleged "humanitarians" didn't intervene.
According to Mohammed Jajeh on X, one of the Zenki child killers has appointed "advisor" to HTS Junta chief, Jolani.
This is an article that I wrote back in 2018, after an extensive on-the-ground investigation into the White Helmets proximity to the execution. Further reading here:
LAST MEN IN ALEPPO: Al Qaeda Presented as 'White Helmets' for the Annual Terrorist 'Oscar' Nomination"A lion from Jabhat Al Nusra (Al Qaeda in Syria) died today and went to Paradise, I pray that God will accept his soul."
No, that is not a quote from a terrorist group member in Syria. It is a statement taken from the Facebook page of Hasan Kattan, the Assistant Director of the latest White Helmet promotional blockbuster, Last Men in Aleppo. Shortly after this Facebook post was exposed, Kattan scrambled to remove this and all other incriminating images from his page or made them private/invisible to public view. The full testimonial attributed to this Al Qaeda militant, written by Kattan in 2014, is even more gushingly poetic:
" His beautiful smiles that illuminated his face still existing in my tired memory. He wasn't like any other Mujahid (fighter). He loved fighting and dying under the Islamic flag and he already did. He was, among the others, the most fine and religious , had piety and a sense of humour. A lion from Al Nusra Front died today and went to Paradise . I pray that God will accept his soul."
Below, is the image of this "Lion of Nusra Front" on Kattan's Facebook page. There is also a comment from Fadi Al-Halabi, director of photography for Last Men in Aleppo. Halabi's comment reads:
"This is Jaloud who died , he went to paradise."
Post from Hasan Kattan facebook page, including the comment from Last Men in Aleppo's director of photography, Fadi Al-Halabi.
Kattan is described, by CNN, as being "Executive Director" of the Aleppo Media Centre (AMC) a largely French Foreign Office-incubated and subsidized media centre that produced much of the Western media narrative during the Nusra Front-dominated occupation of East Aleppo, for almost five years. A media centre that, like so many, was exclusively embedded with the various terrorist and extremist militant factions and never deviated from the war-lobby-aligned "exclusives" that were sanctioned by Nusra Front aka Al Qaeda, who gave the green light for any video footage production in the districts it controlled.
Kattan was responsible for the AMC iconic footage of Omran Daqneesh. The notorious dishevelled and dusty image of Omran almost changed the course of the war in Syria in favour of the US Coalition of proxy terror as the UN teetered on the brink of No Fly Zones and further faux-humanitarian intervention on the pretext of rescuing more Omrans from the "brutality of the Syrian regime" and its allies, principally Russia.
Only after the liberation of all districts of East Aleppo from its terrorist stranglehold, in December 2016, did we discover the truth behind the Omran chronicle that had been so skilfully manipulated by the AMC, White Helmets and assorted NATO-aligned media outlets worldwide. Kattan had produced a lie packaged as an 'incontrovertible truth' in order to, yet again, swing public opinion against the Syrian government, Syrian Arab Army and allies. It almost succeeded until the family of Omran Daqneesh spoke out, in 2017, against this weaponisation of children which has been a common theme in the information war being waged against Syria by the colonial media in the West and Gulf States.
Even after the purge, Kattan's Facebook page still reveals his allegiance to the Syrian "revolution" and the now-debunked "moderate" extremists in the Free Syrian Army (FSA). Have the audiences of the Last Men in Aleppo simply forgotten that the FSA has been proven to be allied with the more extremist factions inside Syria, such as Nusra Front, and is committing appalling crimes against the Syrian people on a daily basis? Have they also forgotten the White Helmet claims of impartiality and neutrality, their statement that they 'adhere to no political ideology in Syria'?
A number of scenes in Last Men in Aleppo show the White Helmet 'heroes' celebrating and demonstrating enthusiastically with the supporters of the "revolution" in East Aleppo. These 'supporters', of the phony "revolution", incarcerated and brutalised Syrian civilians during their terrorist reign in these districts. They brought nothing but death, poverty, suffering, destruction and misery according to the Syrian civilians who have now returned to their homes since the SAA liberated these areas and the White Helmets departed on the green buses, with Nusra Front, to Idlib in December 2016.
Idlib is the ultimate terrorist front-line and the White Helmets have resumed their role as human shields and producers of the "last hospital" narratives to trigger the cries of "humanitarian disaster" from the BBC and the UN, among others. The Guardian's Kareem Shaheen has even cited the self-proclaimed terrorist supporter and leader of the White Helmets in Khan Sheikhoun, Mustafa Al Haj Yusef, in his eagerness to promote the terrorist perspective from Idlib while, again, condemning the Syrian people to prolonged suffering, in this Nusra Front-occupied province.
Emphasis has been added to demonstrate the indiscriminate hyperbole used by these White Helmet newshounds:
"The bombing is constant. It's not daily but hourly, on the whole region, and it seems to be completely random," said Mustafa al-Haj Youssef, a rescue worker for the White Helmets in charge of Idlib. "The thing that hurts us most is the double-tap strikes, when the regime bombs an area, and we go to it after receiving emergency calls, and then they bomb it again. The displacement [of refugees] is usually out of fear of indiscriminate bombing," he said.
So, to complete the Kattan chapter. This is a French Foreign Office-bankrolled and media-trained operative who has eulogized the death of an Al Qaeda terrorist in Syria. Kattan has already produced one of the most memorable lies of the seven-year-long Syrian conflict – Omran Daqneesh – and hot on the heels of this short-lived propaganda "triumph", he is involved in the second Hollywood blockbuster to glorify the Nusra Front-affiliated White Helmets.
The White Helmet Centre in Al-Insari, East Aleppo
The former White Helmet centre in Al-Ansari, East Aleppo. January 2018. (Photo: Vanessa Beeley)
While in Aleppo over the New Year 2018, I visited the White Helmet centre that features in Last Men in Aleppo, with local journalist, Khaled Iskef. Iskef had identified the Al Insari area as being the correct location prior to my arrival. We had also previously visited this area in July/August 2017 and ascertained that it was a frontline for Nusra Front and a number of other extremist brigades, all financed by the US Coalition, including the client-states of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Like so many of the buildings occupied by the White Helmets and their Nusra Front associates, this building had been a school prior to its conversion to a centre for "Nusra Front's Civil Defence". The Fenon school for girls and the Abu Ayoub Al Insari school are now being restored to their original use and will be open very soon to continue providing secular education for the children of Aleppo.
Below is a very revealing screenshot taken from a BBC Arabic video report, filmed in December 2016, published in April 2017, three months after Last Men in Aleppo had scooped the 2017 Sundance Film Festival award on the 28th January 2017. Extraordinarily, the BBC made no connection between the footage of terrorist activity they had produced and the footage featured in Last Men in Aleppo even though the BBC report was clearly in the same location and filmed just prior to the Last Men in Aleppo win at the Sundance Festival.
It will become clear later in Part Two of this article, quite why the BBC may have been reluctant to make that critical connection that would expose the White Helmets as the terrorist affiliates they really are. However it is clear when you compare the two photographs – 1. My photo from January 2018 and 2. The BBC screenshot – that they are both of the White Helmet centre featured in the Last Men in Aleppo movie, located in the Al-Insari district of Nusra Front-occupied East Aleppo.
The first important point to be made about the location of the White Helmet centre is its proximity to Al Mashad Square, just 200 metres from the Al-Insari centre. It was in this square that the extremist group, Nour Al Din Zenki, publicly tortured and beheaded 12 year old Palestinian child, Abdullah Issa in July 2016. Issa begged his torturers to shoot him, but he was decapitated and his head was held aloft by his executioner standing on the back of a pick-up truck.
Hasan Kattan who raced to feed the photographs & video of Omran Daqneesh to Western media, did not seem so eager to produce images or video footage of the murder of Abdullah Issa commited one month prior to the incident involving Omran. One can only conclude that Kattan was not keen to portray the White Helmet neighbours as de facto terrorists committing atrocities against the Syrian people under their control. That would raise all sorts of awkward questions and speculation as to why the White Helmets would permit such crimes to be carried out on their watch & in their neighbourhood.
I filmed the following video during my visit to the Al-Insari White Helmet centre, while walking from the centre to Al Mashad Square. Watch:
Then lets take a look at the neighbours of the Al-Insari White Helmets. In the adjacent buildings we could identify the previous presence of Nusra Front, Khatib Abu Amara brigade (Nusra Front protection corps), Free Syrian Army, Free Syrian Police, Aleppo Media Centre and Aleppo Today media buildings. How do we know this? Because of the graffitti on the walls and the signage that has been covered up by the Syrian authorities, keen to erase all trace of these US Coalition-backed terrorists that oppressed, starved, raped and tortured Syrian civilians in East Aleppo for the duration of their occupation.
One of the buildings next door to the White Helmet centre in Al-Insari. January 2018. (Photo: Vanessa Beeley)
When I first mentioned that I had visited this area of East Aleppo and had identified the location of the Last Men in Aleppo footage, the director of the film, Firas Fayyad commented publicly on my Facebook post that I published while still in Aleppo. He tried to protest that I had mistaken the area as so many buildings, especially 'governmental "Ba'ath" buildings look identical':
"This is not where I shoot the film and there are several places in Aleppo look like that colour, and all Colours of Ba'ath headquarters or any governmental places look like each other in Syria. There are no linked or relations between the White Helmets and this group of fighters or Al Qaeda. […] you attack the White Helmet who is the most human group on Earth, and they are Syrian and people who give everything for their society"
Really Fayyad?
Screenshot from Last Men in Aleppo outside the Al-Insari White Helmet centre.
Screenshot from Last Men in Aleppo. Behind the main actor is the Syria Civil Defence sign in Arabic.
Photo of the same street, with White Helmet centre on the right. January 2018. (Photo: Vanessa Beeley)
I think we can safely say that Fayyad was lying when he tried to throw me off the scent. Does Fayyad feel so confident that his international backers will protect him, no matter what evidence is brought to light in Syria that will condemn the White Helmets as an Al Qaeda support group financed by the same governments who are also arming, equipping & lining the pockets of the terrorist entities that still operate in Syria.
Finally lets take a look inside one of the buildings a little upstream from the former White Helmet centre and on the other side of the road:
In this building, which also features in Last Men in Aleppo, we find the Tamkeen logo on the walls. Tamkeen is the UK FCO financed project,managed by Adam Smith International and Integrity Consulting which was analysed at length in my previous article asking if "Global Britain" is bankrolling terrorist organisations & individuals in Syria. Clearly, Tamkeen had a presence or an influence in the Al-Insari district that was infested with a variety of terrorist groups and their affiliated organisations.
White Helmets & 'Local Councils' – Is the UK FCO Financing Terrorism in Syria with Taxpayer Funds?
We've spent £200m in Syria – for nothing. It is now clear that British backing for the 'rebels' in the Syrian civil war was not just a mistake, it was a disaster. The policy made a horrific war much worse, and facilitated the growth of ISIS. Though the Government said we were helping 'moderates', the main beneficiaries were Al-Qaeda and other jihadists…" ~ Peter Oborne
Second Oscar for Al Qaeda?Yes, the Last Men in Aleppo has been propelled to the second Oscar nomination for what is little more than an Al Qaeda promotional flick. The first Academy award for the Netflix Documentary on the White Helmets was in 2017, now the Last Men in Aleppo has been nominated for 2018. How on earth have we arrived at such a place in our existence where our Governments can finance both ends of the terrorist spectrum and not be in prison?
Nusra Front and all other rebrands of the terrorist factions are simply the other side of the coin to the White Helmets. One cannot operate without the other and our Governments are arming, funding and equipping both sides.
Sputnik correspondent, Denis Bolotsky, told me that Fayyad likened himself to Shakespeare during his recent speech at Davos:
"We would have never heard about the conflict of Hamlet without Shakespeare" – he says – "We would have listened to a small part of the 15th century. With Shakespeare we understand what kind of lives these people lived, what kind of conflict they lived through. So this here is not to bring them as White Helmets, it's to bring them as humans, I didn't want to make these people as heroes."
Bolotsky went on to describe, to me, how organised groups of children from Davos middle-school were brought to the screening of Last Men in Aleppo. This is a disturbing aspect surrounding the marketing of this latest White Helmet enterprise. Children, aged between 12-14 were subjected to imagery that is surely not suitable for impressionable minds – the flinging of decomposing, dismembered limbs from buildings to White Helmets standing below, the parading of dead, excavated babies for the camera, the endless invective against the Syrian government and its allies.
"Fayyad doesn't flinch from the gruesome details. We see hands, feet and other body parts in the rubble, as well as children's gaping head wounds: there's little break from the tears and desperation." ~ The Guardian review of Last Men in Aleppo.
This is brainwashing and social engineering on an industrial scale and should never have been allowed.
Hanna Elvira, an Academic, who specialises in Psychology, gave this evaluation.
"Through observational learning, children's exposure to media violence leads to increased aggression, emotional desensitization to violence, dispositional and behavioural changes, in both the immediate and long term context. Even after the single viewing of a violent film, short term effects occur that involve children demonstrating an immediate drop in sympathetic attitudes and less concern for and awareness of aggressive acts. Long term psychological effects in both children and adolescents involve chronic sleep disturbances, depression, anxiety, and a desensitization to violence that increases the likelihood of modeling the aggressive behaviours they observe."
Here is the interview I gave to Sputnik regarding the screening of Last Men in Aleppo at Davos.
Who is Promoting 'Last Men in Aleppo'?Unsurprisingly, the Guardian tops the league table of unquestioning support for the White Helmet feature film. Olivia Solon's recent media-lynch-mob hit piece attempting to discredit all evidence against the White Helmets as produced by Russian trolls, bots and social media dregs, has bombed. Eva Bartlett, one of the Solon-designated "trolls" has written a consummate deconstruction of Solon's transparently biased and singularly unresearched slander, so I won't waste my time going over old ground. Evidence against the White Helmet organisation is mounting beyond all attempts to slur those who expose their criminal, terrorist links.
So, the latest fawning admiration for the White Helmet construct emanates from the Guardian's film reviewer, Charlie Phillips – "A bit doccy, a bit politic, vegan, withering #lufc fan. Head of Documentaries at The Guardian" according to his Twitter profile. Phillips began his review with the bold statement:
"The bravery of the White Helmets in Syria is beyond dispute"
Not true Phillips, the "bravery" of the White Helmets has been disputed multiple times, not by "Russian trolls", but by the Syrian people whose voices the Guardian systematically erases from our consciousness in the UK.
Other voices are also muted by the Guardian. Censorship is rife at the Guardian when comments do not comply with their UK State-sanctioned narratives. Comments were not activated on the Solon hit-piece, comments were closed on the Phillips glowing review of the White Helmet movie when the majority proved to be dissenting. Comments were almost universally deleted and eventually closed when the Guardian shamelessly lobbied for the White Helmets to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016. Do we see a pattern here?
Here is a cosy Twitter exchange between the Director of Last Men in Aleppo and Phillips who says " I work for the Guardian, I'm used to it". Charlie Phillips is 'used' to abuse for blindly amplifying the narratives that serve the "Global Britian" neocolonialist policies and practices but that is as far as it goes.
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it." ~ Upton Sinclair
Phillips obviously missed some of the more subtle signals contained within the film:
In this section, the "hero" has pulled into a makeshift garage to repair the radiator of the White Helmet vehicle. In the same garage is parked a vehicle displaying a terrorist flag used by a number of brigades in the East Aleppo district but often identified as the Caucusus Emirate that then morphed into ISIS. This would tie in with the identification of the terrorist buildings connected to the Al-Insari White Helmet centre.
This is a curious inclusion in the Last Men in Aleppo movie. Why depict a man throwing tyres onto an already blazing pyre of burning rubber? Particularly, when this has been identified as a tactic employed by the "opposition"- embedded "citizen journalists" and terrorist-friendly "activists" to create the impression of recent attacks from Syrian Arab Army planes or even Navy as in the case of the fraudulent claims of warship attacks on Lattakia's coastal town in 2011:
"It reminds me of August 2011 news reports of warships shelling the coastal city of Latakia. Three separate sources – two opposition figures from the city and an independent western journalist – later insisted there were no signs of shelling. It was also the first time I learned from Syrians that you can burn rubber tires on rooftops to simulate the after-effects of exploded shells." ~ Hollywood in Homs and Idlib, by Sharmine Narwani
I could spend hours going through the Last Men in Aleppo footage to take out the glaringly condemnatory material but I recommend that everyone watches it with a more critical eye. Why would a first responder fling decomposed limbs down from one floor of an already destroyed building to a White Helmet on the ground amid the rubble? Why would these 'first responders' then spend, what feels like forever, discussing the size and age of the toes on the limb, on film. Why film this? It is a macabre and disrespectful scene to present to a public who seem to show no horror at this exploitation of the very real suffering of the Syrian people in East Aleppo. Where is the context? Who caused this severing of a limb from the body of a human being under terrorist occupation?
The filmaker gives you no option, it is the Syrian "regime" or the 'Russian warplanes' – never does this film describe the horror of life under Nusra Front and associates, in fact they are never mentioned! Why not, and why is nobody questioning this omission? Anyone watching Last Men in Aleppo will assume Nusra Front simply never existed in East Aleppo. Those children who were forced to watch this propaganda will walk away with history rewritten for them. Rewritten by the most predatory forces in the world that are trying to ensure their generation inherits an "Empire of Graveyards".
As John Pilger said in his 2012 article, History is the Enemy as 'Brilliant' Psy-ops Become the News
"How much longer must we subject ourselves to such an "invisible government"? This term for insidious propaganda, first used by Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud and inventor of modern public relations, has never been more apt. "False reality" requires historical amnesia, lying by omission and the transfer of significance to the insignificant. In this way, political systems promising security and social justice have been replaced by piracy, "austerity" and "perpetual war": an extremism dedicated to the overthrow of democracy. Applied to an individual, this would identify a psychopath. Why do we accept it?"
Never in history will a more glittering prize be given to the parade of 'psychopaths' on the Academy's red carpet, as for the second year running, the White Helmets are nominated for an Oscar.
The BBC, Channel 4, Guardian, CNN Cabal Defending Terrorism in Syria
In Part Two of this article, I will delve deeper into the connections that link the BBC, Channel 4, the UN, CNN, Al Jazeera, The Guardian and yes, Walt Disney into the apparatus that is promoting the White Helmet-Al Qaeda community in Syria, a network whose majority shareholder is none other than "Global Britain", the 100% neocon-approved UK FCO.
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I am slow to get articles written at the moment due to a bad fall in Beirut which means my left arm is fairly useless for a few weeks. Apologies. Very frustrating, typing with one hand.
On Saturday I will be speaking with Mike Robinson of UK Column - Syria Podcast 5 - more details on the events that led to the shocking fall of Syria. I will try to compensate with more audio interviews with guests in the next few days.
Thank you for your patience.
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Vanessa Beeley is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.