0:00

Very very glad very glad to

0:02

be back here. After

0:04

several weeks away, my wife and

0:06

I went to Mecca and

0:08

Medina. as Muslims we

0:10

as Muslims call that just a

0:12

explain that just a little bit, that's

0:14

not what today's episode is about, is about

0:16

but I do want to talk to us. to us

0:18

about what's going on in Syria.

0:20

I am not an expert, but

0:23

I have been following it very

0:25

closely, not just over the past

0:27

few weeks, but over the past

0:29

many years. And I'll tell you

0:32

what I know and tell you

0:34

what I think and tell you

0:36

some of my concerns as well.

0:38

It's very important. What goes on

0:41

in Syria impacts the entire world

0:43

for so many reasons and I'll

0:45

explain that as well Let me

0:48

unpack and explain it

0:50

glad to be back.

0:52

This is Sean King,

0:54

and you are listening

0:56

to The breakdown Thank

1:08

you, thank you, thank you for

1:10

your patience. you We your the podcast back

1:13

up right before backup right wife and

1:15

I got ready to go for to go

1:17

to Mecca to Mecca and Medina and in Saudi

1:19

Arabia, for those of you who

1:21

are listening of may not be Muslim

1:23

or may not be familiar with these

1:26

words. or may not be familiar these

1:28

cities of Mecca and Medina,

1:30

these are. these two cities

1:32

in Saudi Arabia are. are very

1:34

much holy cities to

1:36

Muslims. And that's because

1:39

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. peace

1:41

be upon him started

1:43

much of what we

1:45

know to be Islam started

1:47

there in these two places.

1:49

and you know you know, these two

1:51

places are holy for many, many

1:53

reasons, which I won't go into detail.

1:56

go into detail today but

1:58

we had had a wonderful...

2:00

wonderful experience and I would just

2:02

it's just beautiful and I would

2:05

encourage any Muslim who has an

2:07

opportunity to go please go save

2:09

up for it do anything you

2:12

can to go you need this

2:14

experience and for those of you

2:16

who are listening who aren't Muslim

2:19

like why why is even talking

2:21

about this? Obviously this is a

2:24

big deal in my life But

2:26

I tell you what, these places

2:28

are so beautiful and so special

2:31

that while I was there, it

2:33

was my wish that all of

2:35

you could experience what my wife

2:38

and I experienced. And I say

2:40

that because I love you. I

2:42

say that because you've supported me

2:45

and been with me for so

2:47

many years, I only wish you

2:50

could see and hear and feel

2:52

what we saw and heard and

2:54

felt that this is my dream

2:57

and my wish for you. You

2:59

know, I'm going to keep it

3:01

very simple today because this issue

3:04

of what's going on in Syria

3:06

right now, it's not as simple

3:08

issue at all. And I just

3:11

want to, there are many genuinely

3:13

opposing viewpoints that make a lot

3:16

of sense to me. And I'll

3:18

try to address those things and

3:20

give you my most basic perspective.

3:23

And again, there are world-renowned experts

3:25

on this, and that's not me.

3:27

What I am an expert at

3:30

is kind of sometimes breaking something

3:32

down to its simplest form. You

3:34

know, the purpose of this podcast,

3:37

we're almost six years old now,

3:39

the purpose of this podcast was

3:41

always to kind of make complicated

3:44

issues understandable. to a wide audience

3:46

of people. And even six years

3:49

ago, my audience was full of

3:51

people from different religions, different backgrounds,

3:53

different nationalities all over the world.

3:56

Every age, I would get middle

3:58

school students and college professors that

4:00

tell me they were listening to

4:03

the podcast, elders and children. And

4:05

I always, you know, my struggle

4:07

was always, well, how do I

4:10

explain mass incarceration in a way

4:12

that would capture the attention of

4:15

a college professor, but still be

4:17

very understandable to a middle school

4:19

student? And that's what I'm trying

4:22

to do here. The

4:25

former president of

4:27

Syria was absolutely

4:29

a dictator. He

4:31

was not democratically

4:33

elected. And to

4:35

me, from everything

4:37

that I have

4:39

known and heard

4:41

and listened to

4:43

me carefully on

4:45

this, from Syrians.

4:48

who have told me this

4:50

week, this month, this year,

4:53

and for many, many years.

4:55

The man is a monster.

4:57

His father was a monster.

5:00

The man has butchered and

5:02

murdered hundreds of thousands of

5:04

Syrians, and I'm glad he's

5:07

no longer in charge. And

5:09

I don't care what anyone

5:11

says, I earnestly don't think

5:14

it could get much worse.

5:16

And to me, that means

5:18

virtually anybody else that takes

5:21

power. can't be as awful

5:23

as this man. And listen,

5:25

maybe, you know, but the

5:28

man and his family have

5:30

been dictators for the past

5:32

50 years, and they've ruled

5:35

with an iron fist. And

5:37

what I see. is in

5:39

every city that was liberated.

5:42

I see celebrations, not with

5:44

dozens of people, not with

5:46

hundreds, not with thousands, not

5:49

even with tens of thousands.

5:51

I see hundreds of thousands

5:53

of people of all ages

5:56

and backgrounds all over Syria.

5:58

the streets celebrating. And I

6:00

want to ask you to

6:03

do something, and it's something

6:05

we should always be mindful

6:07

of when we're talking about

6:10

places that are experiencing war

6:12

and genocide or oppression and

6:14

poverty. You need to understand

6:17

that those people have agency.

6:19

That is Syrians. That's what

6:21

I'm speaking of. Have agency.

6:24

What do I mean by

6:26

this? They have every right

6:28

to think and feel and

6:31

live and be for themselves.

6:33

And when I see hundreds

6:35

of thousands of Syrians celebrating

6:38

in the streets, what am

6:40

I going to look like

6:42

to be like, yeah, they

6:45

shouldn't be happy? I mean,

6:47

yeah, that's wrong. I don't

6:49

agree with that. No, no,

6:52

they are excited about this.

6:54

They see this as a

6:56

form of liberation from a

6:59

brutal oppressive dictator. That's what

7:01

they see it as. And

7:03

so I embrace their perspective,

7:06

I embrace their celebration. I

7:08

had really zero warm feelings

7:10

about Abushad, the, you know,

7:13

the ousted dictator who is

7:15

said to be in Russia

7:17

right now. We haven't seen

7:20

him there. He definitely fled

7:22

the country, but I would

7:24

like to see him. People

7:27

are speculating that he's not

7:29

even alive. With all of

7:31

that said. unequivocally, no ifs,

7:34

or buts, no commas, I'm

7:36

glad the man is gone.

7:38

Syrians, almost universally, are glad

7:41

the man is gone. It's

7:43

part of why a significant

7:45

fight was not put up

7:48

by anyone. He was not

7:50

widely loved. He was not

7:52

widely hailed or celebrated. The

7:55

country was wildly dysfunctional under

7:57

his reign. he basically destroyed

7:59

this place from the inside

8:02

out. And so, no, I'm

8:04

glad he's gone, Syrians are

8:06

glad he's gone, and thoughtful

8:09

people around the world are

8:11

glad that he is gone.

8:13

Period. And

8:15

let's just put that to

8:17

the side, that's true. Something

8:20

else is also true. That

8:22

is disturbing, and I have

8:24

to address it. Israel loves

8:26

that this has happened. Because

8:28

to them, Syria is now,

8:31

and this is true, is

8:33

now in this very moment,

8:35

I mean, I mean, right

8:37

here, right now, in this

8:39

moment, is in a weakened

8:42

state. Their future

8:44

may be bright. I mean

8:46

this thing could take a

8:49

wildly negative turn of course.

8:51

But right now Syria is

8:53

incredibly vulnerable. They have their

8:55

guard down. Most of their

8:58

government offices are not functioning.

9:00

Their traditional military is not

9:02

functioning. And as a result,

9:04

Israel has now, they dropped

9:07

over 300 bombs all over

9:09

Syria. Just this week, they've

9:11

destroyed ships, tanks, airplanes, airports,

9:14

buildings, research facilities. They've destroyed

9:16

all types of places, all

9:18

over Syria. This is illegal.

9:20

Again, but International law doesn't

9:23

really apply to them. And

9:25

so Syria is currently today

9:27

still being bombed by Israel.

9:29

Not only that, Israel has

9:32

pushed into the Syrian border

9:34

and is stealing Syrian land.

9:36

As we speak, and they

9:39

openly admit it. They say

9:41

this. They don't have to

9:43

say it. They're pictures and

9:45

videos of it. They're posting

9:48

it. They're proud. And they're

9:50

saying they'll never leave. So,

9:53

a brutal dictator was ousted, and this is

9:55

good. And Their neighbor Israel, taking

9:57

is taking full full advantage of

9:59

is doing evil doing

10:01

is doing harm doing harm and

10:03

is causing significant damage

10:06

to the national of

10:08

of this place. they know

10:10

And they know this.

10:12

They are weakening the

10:14

country in every way.

10:16

They are doing hundreds

10:18

of millions of dollars

10:20

worth of damage of will

10:22

not be easily repaired

10:25

by a very fragile economy. And

10:29

so you have have really two

10:31

diametrically opposed truths. You know, the

10:33

You know, the he of

10:35

Syria, he wasn't doing anything

10:37

for Palestinians. He wasn't

10:39

taking up for Palestinians. They

10:41

weren't attacking Israel or

10:43

supporting Palestinians in any significant

10:45

way. They weren't. Like

10:48

so even from a pure a

10:50

perspective, as far as

10:52

Palestinians go, go, mainly

10:54

mainly see celebrate that there is

10:56

some measure of freedom and

10:58

liberation in this place now.

11:00

in this place now. But while

11:03

a beautiful thing that a

11:05

dictator a gone, is gone, an evil neighbor

11:07

sees this as an opportunity

11:09

to do harm. to do harm. And

11:12

we have to grapple with that.

11:14

We shouldn't ignore either truth.

11:16

either truth. not all good

11:18

or all bad. or all bad. Sometimes

11:20

there's a a angle angle to

11:22

a story a a horrible

11:24

angle on the other

11:26

side. other side. I've got to

11:28

run. I've got to to be

11:31

back. We'll be right back

11:33

here tomorrow, be back. We'll That

11:35

means God willing, we'll

11:37

be right back here tomorrow

11:39

That day this week. Take

11:41

care, everybody. be right back here tomorrow in

11:43

every day this week. Take care everybody. you.