1/ For 7 decades, the United States ruled unchallenged. But no empire lasts forever.

What happens when China, scarred by its WWII sacrifices yet rising under Xi Jinping, takes its place on the world stage? 🧵 2/ History has a way of whispering into the present. The 21st century is not simply another chapter in human history. It is the pivot, the point on which the balance of power turns, the moment when yesterday’s world order collides with tomorrow’s uncertainty.

THREAD: Fear was the fuel of pandemic politics.
Now it’s the fuel of war politics.

From corona to Russia, the ruling elites have found a method: govern through urgency, sell security above all, and leave prosperity behind.

Here's why you should be concerned 🧵 1/ At the Poland–Belarus border, Ursula von der Leyen declared: “Putin is a predator.”

The message is simple: only “strong deterrence” can keep him in check.

The subtext is simpler: Europe is remaking itself around war.

🚨🏴What’s happening in Syria today isn’t democracy.

It’s a grotesque parody—parliamentary “elections” scripted by Abu Muhammad Julani, where ballots are props and citizens are subjects.

A third of seats handpicked.
Millions disenfranchised.
10,000 dead. 🧵 1/ For 14 years, Syrians were told the destruction of their state—their economy, schools, hospitals, and livelihoods—was the price for “freedom.”
Instead, they got chaos, repression, and staged elections.

1/ The Washington Summit, following the Trump-Putin meeting, revealed less “Western unity” than the quiet shifts already underway.

Sanctions? Off the table.
U.S. troops in Ukraine? Not happening.
NATO membership for Kiev? Effectively dead.
Everyone knows it — no one says it. 🧵 2/ The Washington summit, following Trump’s meeting with Putin in Alaska, revealed less about Western “unity” than about the quiet but decisive shifts already underway.

1/ In 1979, Washington, Riyadh & Islamabad lit a fire which birthed the world’s first "global jihad".

From CIA cash to Saudi sermons to Pakistani training camps, the machine was built.

One man’s journey through it all: Ahmad Zidan, the new advisor of Abu Mohammad al-Julani🧵 2/ In the shadows of the Cold War, far from the marble halls of Washington, Riyadh, and Islamabad, a quiet plan was being drawn—a plan that would outlive its creators and morph into something far more dangerous than anyone imagined.

🇦🇲🇦🇿 The “peace deal” between Armenia & Azerbaijan is being sold as a historic breakthrough.

In reality, it’s a geopolitical jackpot for Turkey & Azerbaijan, a strategic win for the US, and a dangerous trap for Armenia.

Here’s why the Zangezur Corridor could be a time bomb 🧵 1/ The ink is barely dry on the so-called “peace deal” brokered in Washington between Armenia and Azerbaijan, yet the celebration in Ankara and Baku is already in full swing.

🇱🇧 1/ Lebanon is being pushed to disarm Hezbollah.
Backed by the US and Israel, some inside the country say it’s time. But beneath the surface lies a deeper, more dangerous question: What fills the vacuum?

Here's what's really happening in Lebanon 🧵 2/ Beirut is once again at a crossroads. An all-too-familiar place for a country that has spent decades navigating existential dilemmas, foreign interference, and internal division.

1/ Egypt is under immense pressure from Muslim Brotherhood forces, because the only remaining strong Arab army in the region and the last major obstacle to the Israeli expansionist plan in the Sinai is the Egyptian army.

Here's why you should care about Egypt 🧵 2/ Let’s talk honestly—and yes, bluntly—about the Muslim Brotherhood and the broader regional game that’s unfolding around them.

1/ The empire installed an al-Qaeda regime in the heart of Syria, and now, when their Frankenstein murders civilians, they blame the corpse of the Assad state or conjure up the ghost of ISIS as an excuse.

Here are some of the imbeciles who whitewashed Al-Qaeda 🧵 2/ In a world that prides itself on democracy, transparency, and human rights, it is nothing short of Orwellian how the very same Western powers that bombast about “freedom” and “liberation” have enabled, empowered, and installed a jihadist regime in the heart of Syria.

1/ While Iranian officials hope that negotiations can forestall confrontation with the US and Israel, Tel Aviv is building the scaffolding for encirclement in the Middle East and South Caucasus.

Here is how Israel is taking strategic moves against Iran 🧵 2/ The headlines paint a portrait of confusion. Western media outlets clumsily talk about a "misunderstanding", as if the recent massacres in Suwayda were the result of a miscommunication between Julani, Israel, and Washington.

1/ American and British normalization of al-Qaeda in Syria reveals the true colour of the empire, stripped of the niceties.

And make no mistake—this isn’t a bug in the system; it is the system. 🧵 2/ So, David Lammy strolls through Damascus, shakes hands with Abu Mohammad al-Julani—a known terrorist, former deputy to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and architect of countless civilian deaths in Syria and Iraq—and suddenly, it’s called “diplomacy.”

1/ Donald Trump didn’t lift sanctions on Syria out of concern for starving Syrian children. He did so to facilitate Julani’s cooperation with Israeli and American demands.

Here's what's really happening 🧵 2/ There’s something viscerally wrong about watching President Donald Trump—a man once cheered for his supposed “anti-war” instincts—quietly lift U.S. sanctions on known war criminals and extremist factions in Syria.

1/ Pashinyan’s war against the Armenian Church is only the final act in a much larger play.

Here's what's happening in Armenia 🧵 2/ Since 2018, Pashinyan has functioned less like a national leader and more like a local manager for foreign interests. One by one, he has gone after the pillars of Armenian nationhood — the national identity, the sovereignty of Artsakh, and now, the Armenian Apostolic Church.

1/ Israel rolls into Syrian territory almost daily, but instead of resisting occupation, Julani’s goons were busy shooting and bombing Churches this week.

Here's what's happening in Syria 🧵 2/ In December 2024, something surreal happened. The media machine — backed by think tanks, NGO mouthpieces, professional "activists," and state-approved experts — pulled off a stunt straight out of Men in Black.

1/ There’s a deeper layer to the U.S. and Israel's war against Iran, and that layer is China.

Here's why Beijing should be worried 🧵 2/ In the theater of geopolitics, narratives are often constructed to mask deeper realities. One such narrative—that Israel's war on Iran is only about nuclear weapons—is a convenient façade that conceals a far more strategic and imperial motive.

1/ As the US and Israeli war on Iran intensifies, Qatar continues playing the role of the wolf in Palestinian clothing, doing business with Israel while preaching resistance.

Here's what's happening 🧵 2/ Qatar loves to wrap itself in the Palestinian flag. Whether through Al Jazeera’s 24/7 pro-resistance narrative or its open-door policy to Hamas officials, Doha has marketed itself as the "defender of Palestine" in the Arab world.

1/ Iran's reported successful intel op inside Israel isn’t just a flex; it is also a dangerous crossroads.

Here’s what’s unfolding 🧵 2/ In a world where psyops masquerade as diplomacy and where the line between sabotage and sanctions has long disappeared, Iran has just dropped a geopolitical bombshell.

THREAD: The speed at which the Syrian Army disintegrated raised eyebrows even among its most ardent opponents. Many knew a military operation was underway, but few understood the invisible war happening behind the frontlines.

Now, we may do. 🧵 1/ What happened in Aleppo on November 27, 2024, was not just a battlefield event—it was a political earthquake. The rapid fall of the city, and with it the backbone of the Assad regime’s military presence in northern Syria, sent shockwaves through the region.

For years, Robert S. Ford posed as a diplomat. In reality, he was laying the groundwork for Syria’s destruction through rebranding Julani, a former al-Qaeda leader, as a political asset.

A thread 🧵 1/ I don't use words like "hate" or "despise" lightly. But there are individuals in our modern political theater whose actions warrant such condemnation—not out of emotional impulsivity, but out of moral clarity.

In the early 1960s, Israel achieved one of its greatest espionage feats when it infiltrated the highest echelons of the Syrian government.

Here's the story of Eli Cohen 🧵 1/ Eli Cohen, posing as the affluent Syrian businessman Kamel Amin Thaabet, befriended Syria’s political and military elite and fed Tel Aviv invaluable intelligence that reportedly shaped the outcome of the Six-Day War in 1967.

Under Julani’s approach with Tel Aviv, there are no Syrian demands. No red lines. Only one goal: US and Israeli recognition of his regime.

And in return? Everything.

THREAD 🧵 1/ In the smoldering ruins of post-war Syria, a dangerous narrative is being sold: that normalization with Israel is not only inevitable but also beneficial.