Vijay Prashad – Syria and the missing Context

We are currently in our annual crowdfunding campaign. If you want our independent and non-profit media network to continue in 2025, please participate in this campaign by clicking here.

In this episode of The Source, our senior editor Zain Raza has an in-depth conversation with historian, journalist and author Vijay Prashad about Syria. Their conversation covers the history of Syria in the context of the region, the rise of the Assad family in the 1970s, and Syria’s collaboration with the United States, focusing on the post-9/11 period when the CIA utilized the country’s extensive torture apparatus. They then examine the period of civil war in Syria after 2011 until the fall of Assad in December 2024. They discuss German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s recent visit to Damascus and assess whether the West is really interested in protecting minorities and human rights in Syria. Finally, they assess the recent escalation of the war in Ukraine, in particular the recent Ukrainian offensive in the Russian region of Kursk, and whether this would improve Ukraine’s negotiating position vis-à-vis Russia in the future.

VIDEO: Vijay Prashad – Syria and the missing Context

To watch more of our videos on this topic or with other experts such as Edward Snowden, Noam Chomsky, Abby Martin, Yanis Varoufakis, Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, Jill Stein, Daniel Ellsberg, etc, please visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking here.

Donate today to support independent & non-profit media!

Click here or on the picture below:

ABOUT VIJAY PRASHAD

Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian and journalist. Prashad is the author of thirty books, including Washington Bullets, Red Star Over the Third World, The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World, and The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South. He is chief correspondent for Globetrotter and a columnist for Frontline (India). He is the editor-in-chief of LeftWord Books (New Delhi). He has appeared in two films – Shadow World (2016) and Two Meetings (2017).