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President Joe Biden is often unaware of his surroundings or behavior, but he surely knows that Christmas is almost here.

Playing Santa Claus, he is handing out gifts — pardons to existing and as-yet-unprosecuted criminals and members of Congress and special gifts to those succeeding him in the White House, particularly President-elect Donald Trump.

Concerning Biden’s cognition, we are now learning that the White House was fully aware of his mental decline since before he took office and concealed this information from the public, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Has Trump been naughty or nice? Will he receive a glittery Christmas present like a robust economy, world peace, or a secure border? Or will a nuclear war, drone attack, or pandemic be in his Christmas stocking?
 
The author enjoyed falafel in Aleppo earlier this year in front of one of the many former posters of deposed President Bashar al-Assad that once covered the Syrian landscape.

Joondeph enjoying falafel in Syria under the giant Assad poster

Biden has been Christmas shopping for nearly four years, selecting gifts for Trump and America. These gifts include Venezuelan criminal gangs in 16 states, an open border, and ten-plus million illegal migrants, many of whom are criminals, unhealthy, unskilled, and illiterate.

Joe is also leaving Trump with a $36 trillion budget deficit, with interest payments on the debt exceeding $1 trillion annually. This amount exceeds our defense spending and is rapidly rising, surpassing all other budget items.

Trump is also receiving gifts of endless wars — one in Ukraine and another in the Middle East. Biden has been supplying weaponry, personnel, and intelligence to Ukraine, which in turn is sending American-made missiles to Russia, inviting retaliation and steering us closer to nuclear war. On the “Doomsday Clock,” we are now 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it has been since its creation in 1947.

Thanks, Joe and Kamala.

In recent weeks, drones or other UFO-like objects have been hovering over America. The Pentagon claims it does not know what they are but, in the same breath, assures us that they pose no threat.

How’s that for logic? Trump claims to know what they are but cannot or will not say. These nefarious issues will soon be on his plate to contend with, all while Joe is sitting on a beach eating ice cream.

Biden is not leaving a pony under Trump’s Christmas tree, but instead another regime change disaster in the Middle East. The CIA and State Department, instead of learning from past mistakes in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, and Afghanistan, are doubling down on past failures, believing that this time things turn out well for anyone other than the U.S. military-industrial complex.

I won’t attribute reckless American adventurism solely to Joe Biden, as neo-conservative nation-building long preceded Biden’s time in the White House.

Wesley Clark, the former commander of NATO’s forces in Europe, recalled, “He met a senior military officer in Washington in November 2001 who told him that the Bush administration was planning to attack Iraq first, before taking action against Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia, and Sudan.”

Although behind schedule, Syria appears to be last on the list and was attacked by U.S. proxies just weeks ago.

The Bashar al-Assad regime fell without resistance, indicating that regime change was likely pre-arranged and allowed to unfold with minimal bloodshed.

Who else was involved? Israel likely played a role and had prior knowledge as they swiftly recaptured the Golan Heights. This disputed territory provides significant strategic and defense advantages to Israel. They are also bombing Syrian military installations and weapons depots to prevent their future use against Israel.

Assad may have had a deal with Israel – safe passage to Russia in exchange for giving up military locations to Israel. The U.S. doubled its troops in Syria just ahead of the overthrow, suggesting this uprising was far from spontaneous.

The kicker is that a Biden Pentagon spokesman says he “recently learned” that over 2,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Syria, far more than the 900 they had previously announced. Does anyone know anything? About troops or drones? Is the Pentagon as demented as the Commander in Chief?

Turkey also seeks a share of Syria, setting the stage for many countries fighting like a flock of vultures over the Syrian carcass.

The flying of new flags representing the new regime, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), on embassies outside Syria immediately after the fall of Damascus suggests that the coup was well choreographed. Russia declined to intervene to save its proxy state, Syria, suggesting that the overthrow was pre-planned and that we were all merely spectators in a CIA-State Department show.

What now? The new HTS regime, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, “is a Sunni Islamist group” promising it won’t institute sharia law. Let’s see how that plays out. Perhaps like the assurances of a former world leader who once promised, “If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance.”

Will Syria maintain religious freedom, or will it follow the Taliban’s path in Afghanistan? My son and I visited Syria earlier this year, including the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, where it is believed that John the Baptist’s head is buried and where Jesus will descend at the Second Coming.

Clearly, there was a significant degree of religious freedom under Assad. For Christians, who make up 2% of the Syrian population, and for Alawites, the Muslim sect associated with Assad, representing 10% of Syrians, this freedom is more than in some neighboring countries. However, under Sharia law, such religious freedom and diversity will disappear, as it did in Afghanistan.

The Umayyad Mosque is now a hub for rebels and Jihadis celebrating the overthrow of Assad and Syria. We enjoyed visiting Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo, where we met wonderful people and tasted delicious foods. Are those days over for foreign visitors to Syria? Or for Syrian Christians?

What do Americans think? Rasmussen Reports inquired and discovered that most American voters believe that the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship in Syria could lead to rule by Islamic radicals.

Their survey of likely U.S. voters found that “57% of likely U.S. voters believe it is likely that the new Syrian government will be controlled by Islamic radicals, including 25% who see such an outcome as very likely.”

Will this become another of many failed U.S. efforts in nation-building, regime change, or whatever else they call it? Americans believe so. Only “34% of likely U.S. voters think the end of Assad’s dictatorship in Syria is good for the interests of the United States.”

Although this was a Christmas present from Biden for the incoming Trump administration, Trump may return the gift after Jan. 20. “Let it play out,” Trump says, recommending that the U.S. not interfere in the Syrian conflict.

Sage advice, and hopefully Ric Grenell, Trump’s new “special missions envoy,” will convey that message clearly to stakeholders in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, who would wish for nothing more this Christmas than to see America floundering in the quicksand of another ill-fated regime change effort.

Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a physician and writer.

Please visit my Instagram page for some short videos from my trip to Syria last February and commentary on recent events.

Follow me on Twitter @retinaldoctor, Substack Dr. Brian’s Substack, Truth Social @BrianJoondeph, LinkedIn @Brian Joondeph, and Email brianjoondeph@gmail.com.