Putin Back on Track

Stefan H. Heuer, M.A.
February 23, 2025

Vladimir Putin, the superhero of the European pseudo-patriotic bourgeoisie, is back in Syria – by phone.

After the fall of Damascus into the hands of the mass murderers of the Al-Qaeda branch HTS, supported by the West, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, “Israel” and – in fact – Russia, Syria has been plunged into the deepest and darkest abyss that humanity can imagine.

The whole world was able to watch as the anti-Islamic Wahhabi scum poured over the country and its defenseless inhabitants and has been living out an orgy of the most perverse violence ever since. The Bitchute channel “Orestes Dervos” shows videos from Syria that cannot be watched without the risk of acute shock and nightmares. The channel aims to document the bestial violence of these uninhibited creatures. I do not promote these videos, which were obviously filmed by HTS bandits themselves, nor can I verify the content.

The Western press is painting a rosy propaganda picture of a liberated Syria, while in reality the butchers of the HTS are brutally torturing and murdering people based on their religion or political beliefs. Threats, intimidation, kidnappings, extortion of protection money, and extrajudicial executions by the bearded lynch mob are the order of the day and are documented by courageous Syrians. Meanwhile, Syrians who have not yet been murdered by the HTS are suffering from hunger, cold and abject poverty. The United Nations (UN) candidly states in a study: “90 percent of Syrians now live in poverty, a quarter are unemployed and GDP has shrunk to less than half of what it was in 2011.”

The Kremlin, otherwise never embarrassed to blast Russian policy to the world through grandiloquent propaganda from its subordinate media and the usual (naïve or money-hungry) useful idiots, became unusually tight-lipped about Syria. It was obvious to everyone that the Russian conspiracy with Syria’s enemies Turkey and “Israel” had produced the results desired by Syria’s enemies (see Fairy Tales from Moscow). The champagne corks certainly popped in Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, and Tel Aviv (the rulers in Ankara, Doha, and Riyadh may have toasted with tea).

That was a bit embarrassing. So they tried to either mute the issue or sweep it off the table with outright lies. Uncharacteristically short and conspicuously loveless justifications for the Russian betrayal of its most loyal ally, which was obvious to the whole world, have alternated over the past two months. We are all still ringing with the breathtakingly audacious claim by Putin that his Syria mission was successful because the West has now taken HTS off the terror list. This assertion is such a brutal lie and so stupidly illogical that I will henceforth use the term “Putinization” for this kind of perfidious intellectual pollution and introduce the “Putin Scale”. The Putin Scale grades the extent of malicious distortion and deliberate untruths in the statements of the man from St. Petersburg as well as of his entourage: “One Putin” is the lowest level, let’s say an implanted inaccuracy. “10 Putins”, on the other hand, are the maximum of perfidious deception. I rate the aforementioned statement by Putin at 9.5 on the Putin Scale.

But now the period of restraint is finally over, and the great Russia under the leadership of Putin is back on track. Now humanity can breathe a sigh of relief and hope. At least that part of humanity that still believes in fairy tales.

We learned from the media that Putin called Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on February 12. Well, that’s practical, isn’t it? You don’t even have to leave your secure sphere of influence and possibly face adversity such as bad weather or the dressing sight of a destroyed country. The fact that with this step, a direct contact at the presidential level, Putin has virtually elevated the head of HTS, who until recently had a bounty on his head for terrorism, to the level of president, without this gentleman ever having been authorized by any Syrian in a constitutional procedure, deserves a special mention. Naïve minds like mine could easily come up with the idea that this was deliberate.

The HTS, which was voted into power by the united Western-Turkish-Israeli-Arab-Russian conspiracy, had made its desired relationship with Russia clear at an early stage: while Lavrov was trumpeting that Russia would return to Syria, the new regime had clearly expressed its desire to get rid of Russia:
“Syria’s new transitional authority, appointed by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) extremist group, has said there is no place for Russian troops in the country, calling on Moscow to reconsider its presence.
‘I think that Russia should reconsider its presence on Syrian territory as well as its interests. Their interests were linked to the criminal Assad Regime. They can reconsider and take the initiative to reach out to the new administration to show that they have no animosity with the Syrian people and that the era of the Assad regime is finally over”.

That’s a clear statement. In Moscow, however, it was winter, and perhaps the fur hat was tight on the ears…

But the Kremlin is already promising “high-level contacts” with the moderate head-choppers. You just have to stay in contact – if necessary even with the bearded men in Damascus. With this announcement, Lavrov has admitted that Russia currently plays no role in Syria.

One has to ask oneself what the whole Syria adventure has actually achieved, and there is an answer: Besides the deaths of several Russian soldiers, the fall of a cultural nation into the darkest abyss of barbarism, hundreds of thousands of Syrians killed, millions of refugees, fear, hunger and cold, a terrible impoverishment of the people, destroyed infrastructure and housing, a shattered economy, a whole generation of traumatized Syrian youths without a real chance of a future and a destroyed country under the reign of terror of a heinous gang of murderers, the possibly imminent end of the Russian military bases in Tartus and Latakia.

What did the Russian soldiers in Syria fall for? What brain acrobatics will the Putin admirers use to gloss over this absolutely unforgivable betrayal by Putin against Syria and his own people?

But I digress. Now the task is to have hope, to look forward, to forget the past and, of course, to always hang faithfully and believingly on the lips of our superheroes. So, onwards:

“This discussion is pivotal as it underscores Russia’s ongoing involvement in Syrian affairs and its intentions to support the nation in various capacities. […]
During the call, President Putin expressed Russia’s willingness to assist in enhancing the socio-economic conditions in Syria. This includes the provision of humanitarian aid, reflecting the country’s commitment to support its ally in navigating the ongoing challenges faced by the Syrian populace.
• Putin’s call with Ahmed al-Sharaa is a continuation of Russia’s diplomatic efforts in the region.
• Russia aims to solidify its military presence in Syria through naval and air bases.
• The Kremlin is focused on humanitarian initiatives to improve living conditions in Syria.
[…] In summary, the recent phone call between President Putin and Ahmed al-Sharaa is a clear indication of Russia’s ongoing commitment to Syria.”

On the Putin Scale, that’s a solid 5 Putins, would you agree? Let’s take a closer look:

1. Putin declares his willingness (this is nothing but an announcement) “to assist in enhancing the socio-economic conditions in Syria” – and why didn’t Putin do so when Syria was not yet in the hands of his HTS friend in Damascus? When Syrian women did not yet have to veil themselves? When Christians and Alawites had not yet been massacred? When Syria had a Syrian president constitutionally authorized by the people in direct elections and not a turkish-citizen controlled by “Israel” and Turkey? When Syrians had not yet burnt their books either for fear that the HTS might find them or for heating their homes due to the complete lack of gas and fuel?
2. Putin sees it as his duty to “to support its ally in navigating the ongoing challenges faced by the Syrian populace”. Did we get that right – Putin declares the HTS murder gang an “ally”? Is this the explanation for his grotesque statement that Russia had achieved its goals in Syria?
3. The Kremlin dreams of having a future in HTS-ruled Syria and “to solidify its military presence in Syria through naval and air bases”. To what extent does this fit in with the advice announced by HTS that Russia should say goodbye to Syria before it could be kicked out (see above), only time will tell; in any case, there is a contradiction between the official statements from Damascus regarding the future of a Russian military presence in Syria and Moscow’s propagated aims.
4. “The Kremlin is focused on humanitarian initiatives to improve living conditions in Syria.” Arabi Souri (www.syrianews.cc) recently has quite rightly raised the question of why Russia and Iran, two countries swimming in oil and gas, have not been willing to help Syria overcome the energy crisis triggered by Western sanctions and the occupation of oil wells by the US army, but have instead been doing gas business with their common enemy, Turkey: “what could happen when empowering an enemy over an ally?“ (Read: https://www.patreon.com/posts/all-syria-needed-118263983). Distant Venezuela has been supplying Syria with oil.

Considering the bleak initial situation, which was made possible by him, the little man from St. Petersburg has taken on a great deal. The UN estimates the period required for Syria’s economic recovery (to pre-war levels) at 55 years: “[…] at current growth rates, Syria’s economy will not regain its pre-conflict GDP level before 2080”.

In other words, that makes another two generations of Syrians who, until the economic status quo ante of 2010 is restored, will be condemned to live in poverty and hardship, exposed to a level of humiliation and misery that the ignorant, wealth-deprived masses of Westerners cannot even imagine in their nightmares – even if they wanted to. If this UN projection is correct, behind the Syrians of 2080 will then lie a whole 70 years of war, suffering, misery, terror, destruction, poverty, fear, and the toil of reconstruction. Let us be aware of this!

On the other hand, if we look at the so far anti-Syrian approach of the Russian leadership, we can probably bet that the announcements will perhaps not always be followed by implementation.
A comment on Putin’s chat with his “ally”, usurping the presidency in Damascus, sums it up in my opinion:
“And a few weeks ago Lavrov was calling Jolani a terrorist. Russia does not deserve compliments about what they supposedly did but mostly not did in Syria which was supposed to back the Syrian people. Who wins in all this by this duplicity from the part of Russia who did not really was that big help to Syria? ISRAEL. Got blocked on RT for mentioning that Russia was indeed playing a dirty game to Syrians. See the results of Russian foreign policy? Thousands of km of Syrian territory are now occupied by ISRAEL and Syria is de facto becoming a Zionist colony. We call this double-crossers.“ – Rabelais.

The highly experienced analyst and author Iurie Rosca has summarized it much better than I ever could:
“Syria has been betrayed by the masters of Kremlin politics. And we have enough elements to suspect that they are far from Russia’s borders. To establish their identity is enough to ask ourselves who the collapse of Syria serves. Certainly, Israel. And its two proxy states, the US and Turkey.”

We can be sure that Putin will continue to justify this flexible “Kremlin policy” with highly creative excuses that may one day cause the Putin Scale to shatter…

Let us end this story with a possibly conciliatory outlook.

In 1869, Mark Twain published his travel report “The Innocents Abroad, or, the New Pilgrim’s Progress“. He wrote about Damascus:
“We shall remember … Damascus, the ‘Pearl of the East’, the pride of Syria, the fabled garden of Eden, the home of princes and genii of the Arabian Nights, the oldest metropolis on Earth, the one city in all the world that has kept its name and held its place and looked serenely on while the Kingdoms and Empires of four thousand years have risen to life, enjoyed their little season of pride and pomp, and then vanished and been forgotten.”

Stefan H. Heuer, M.A.
Historian, born in 1964, has worked as a lecturer in adult education and, among others,
in Human resources development for a US-American company in Germany.