Reuters reports: Bashar al-Assad confided in almost no one about his plans to flee Syria as his reign collapsed. Instead, aides, officials and even relatives were deceived or kept in the dark, more than a dozen people with knowledge of the events told Reuters. Hours before he escaped for Moscow, Assad assured a meeting of about 30 army and security chiefs at the defence ministry on Saturday that Russian military support was on its way and urged ground forces to…
The New York Times reports: Senator Mitch McConnell, the former Republican leader and a survivor of polio, issued a pointed statement in support of the polio vaccine on Friday, hours after The New York Times reported that the lawyer for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has petitioned federal regulators to withdraw the vaccine from the market. Without naming Mr. Kennedy, Mr. McConnell suggested that the petition could jeopardize his confirmation to be health secretary in the incoming Trump administration. “Efforts to…
The Hill reports: Tulsi Gabbard is struggling through her meetings with senators this week, sources told The Hill, highlighting the difficult path she faces in winning confirmation to be director of national intelligence. Nearly a half dozen sources, including senators and individuals close to the situation, indicated that Gabbard is having trouble during meetings with lawmakers, with one source familiar describing the sit-downs as “not going well.” “She was proving to be a little shallow, like a House member talking…
The New York Times reports: President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East adviser, Massad Boulos, has enjoyed a reputation as a billionaire mogul at the helm of a business that bears his family name. Mr. Boulos has been profiled as a tycoon by the world’s media, telling a reporter in October that his company is worth billions. Mr. Trump called him a “highly respected leader in the business world, with extensive experience on the international scene.” The president-elect even lavished what…
The Wall Street Journal reports: The Trump transition team has started to explore pathways to dramatically shrink, consolidate or even eliminate the top bank watchdogs in Washington. In recent interviews with potential nominees to lead bank regulatory agencies, Trump advisers and officials from his newfound Department of Government Efficiency have, for example, asked whether the president-elect could abolish the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., people familiar with the matter said. Advisers have asked the nominees under consideration for the FDIC, as…
The New York Times reports: Just last week, Pete Hegseth was twisting in the wind. President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to lead the Pentagon was battered by damaging headlines: Drinking. Extramarital affairs. An allegation of sexual assault, which he denied. Republican senators — emboldened after tanking Mr. Trump’s first choice for attorney general, the scandal-ridden Matt Gaetz — were going public with their concerns. Mr. Trump was getting sick of hearing about it all, and he told confidants he was…
The New York Times reports: President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday night chose Kari Lake to lead Voice of America, aiming to put a fierce loyalist who has called journalists “monsters” in charge of a federally funded news outlet that reaches hundreds of millions of people around the globe. Mr. Trump was accused of using his appointees to try to turn Voice of America, whose aim is to offer unbiased news to audiences around the world, into a pro-Trump propaganda…
Farah Stockman writes: After more than a decade of war, everything about Syria’s political landscape has changed in the space of 72 hours. Now U.S. sanctions policy must change with it. In 2019, Congress passed the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, which cuts non-Americans off from the U.S. financial system if they do business with the Syrian regime. Even normal activities, such as building bridges, drilling for oil or distributing humanitarian aid after an earthquake, risk being criminalized by the…
Mark Leonard, co-founder and director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, writes: February 2022 and November 2024 were two successive hammer blows to what remained of the post-Cold War geopolitical order in Europe. If it was not already abundantly clear that the continent has entered a new era, it is now. Voters in the United Kingdom and the European Union grasp this, and are rethinking old geopolitical assumptions. One of the most striking shifts concerns the relationship between the…
Syrians gather in the heart of Damascus on Dec. 9, 2024, to celebrate the fall of the Assad regime. Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto via Getty Images By Wendy Pearlman, Northwestern University Millions of Syrians are feeling hope for the first time in years. The authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad fell on Dec. 8, 2024, after a 12-day rebel offensive. Most commentaries on this stunning reversal of a conflict seemingly frozen since 2020 emphasize shifts in geopolitics and…
By Gilbert Achcar, December 10, 2024 While observing the amazing historical events that unfolded since last Friday, the first thing that came to mind was relief and joy at the images of detainees being freed from the hell of the carceral society that Syria had become under the Assad family’s regime. Our feelings were also overwhelmed by delight at the sight of Syrian families suddenly able to return from nearby exile, whether from another area within Syria or from Jordan,…
The New York Times reports: The rebels who are now Syria’s de facto rulers have started to make their mark on the country’s government. They took control of Aleppo just two weeks ago, but already police officers are in the streets sporting new uniforms, administrators are busy in the halls of government and there are posters on lampposts with QR codes directing people to updates on government policy. Gone are the ubiquitous photos of President Bashar al-Assad, whose visage, like…
The Guardian reports: A new study of children living through the war in Gaza has found that 96% of them feel that their death is imminent and almost half want to die as a result of the trauma they have been through. A needs assessment, carried out by a Gaza-based NGO sponsored by the War Child Alliance charity, also found that 92% of the children in the survey were “not accepting of reality”, 79% suffer from nightmares and 73% exhibit…
The Guardian reports: Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel for almost 60 years, will remain part of Israel “for eternity”, amid growing criticism of an Israeli takeover of a previously demilitarised buffer zone in Syrian-controlled territory. Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem, the Israeli prime minister said Israeli control of the high ground “ensures our security and sovereignty” adding “the Golan will be part of the State of Israel for eternity”. Over the weekend,…
Politico reports: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is poised to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, punctuating a huge generational shift in the party’s power centers amid a sudden overthrow of senior leaders. Ocasio-Cortez, 35, and Rep. Gerry Connolly, 74, have been canvassing the entire Democratic Caucus as they compete for the ranking position on Oversight next year — making calls, meeting with influential blocs in the party and laying out their vision for the high-profile panel. But according…
The Times of Israel reports: Following a major 48-hour bombing campaign in Syria, the Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday said it had destroyed most of the former Bashar al-Assad regime’s strategic military capabilities, in an effort to prevent advanced weaponry from falling into the hands of hostile elements. In a statement, the IDF said that its Air Force and Navy had carried out over 350 strikes against “strategic targets” in Syria since the fall of the Assad regime over the…