As the chief representative of Corporate America, President Obama has repeatedly expressed support for “democracy” around the world, including in Syria. A report in today’s Wall St. Journal shows the real meaning of this. Entitled “U.S., Allies Reach out to Syria’s Islamist Rebels”, the report explains that the Obama administration and its allies are reaching out to the “Islamic Front” in Syria. This is an Islamic fundamentalist group that the Obama administration and others, such as the Saudi regime, consider to be more moderate.

What does this moderation consist of?

For one thing, they don’t believe in attacking the Saudi regime, as opposed to al Qaeda-linked groups in Syria such as the Nusra Front. And why should they? After all, according to the WSJ article, they have received steady donations from rich backers in Saudi Arabia.

How “moderate” is the Islamic Front?

According to the WSJ article, one of their chief leaders, Zahran Aloush, has supported torture of Shiite Muslims, they call for a religious council to run Syria (vs. a popularly elected regime), and according to Human Rights Watch they were guilty of killing women and children in one battle on August 4. And that says nothing about their views on the rights of over one half of the Syrian population – the female portion.

Clearly, neither side in this war has the slightest thing to offer the masses of Syrians. On the one side is the corrupt and dictatorial Assad regime, which was vigorously privatizing and carrying out the neo-liberal agenda in the years leading up to the “Arab Spring,” and is backed by the right-wing regimes in Iran and Russia. On the other side are largely foreign armies, mainly led by reactionary religious fanatics and backed by reactionary regimes like those of Saudi Arabia and Turkey. What started out as a rebellion from below has largely been transformed into a wary by proxy, carried out over the heads (and the homes) of the masses of Syria.

A clearer view of exactly what is happening inside of Syria, including amongst those who first sparked the rebellion there, would be extremely helpful. Meanwhile, it seems that the rebellions elsewhere in the region, including amongst the workers of Egypt, could play a regional role including in Syria. For some background on these developments, see this article from this web site.