Spy and Spirit #1 - The Aleppo Convoy 

These reflections interpret global events for a more grey and mystic understanding of the reality we live in…

A savage act was committed on a September night in 2016  in Urum Al Kubra, a town just west of Aleppo. 

I had been monitoring a brief ceasefire as a Syria Analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). At the height of the Syrian Civil War, a brief ceasefire allowed for some humanitarian aid to pass regime-held western Aleppo into rebel-held eastern Aleppo. The supply convoy from the Syrian Red Crescent parked in Urum Al Kubra. There, it was obliterated by Syrian and Russian planes and helicopters. This was the Syrian’s and Russian’s way of saying, ‘fuck western ideals of mercy. Somebody needs to win this thing. Help is NOT Coming!’ 

I had thought that we (the global community) were doing something to help people suffering from drought and famine in Eastern Aleppo. A lot of things were blown up that night, including my understanding of how the world worked. A series of unfortunate events took place in the months that followed:

The Syrian Civil War turned decisively in favor of the Syrian regime, Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, and an Iraqi Special Forces soldier named Ahmed was killed in Mosul. 

Somewhere in that period of time between September and December 2016, we jumped timelines. All of the earthlings were on one track of reality. Then, suddenly, we split into a completely different one. In a parallel universe, Bashar Al Assad didn’t break the stalemate in Aleppo and was eventually forced to negotiate with the rebels. This eventually led to him stepping down as president. Just as well, Hillary Clinton won the 2016 US presidential election. Ahmed, the Iraqi soldier, narrowly survived the Battle for Mosul. And I didn’t quit my job as an intelligence analyst at the DIA (which led to years of uncertainty and dissociation). I seem to have a lot of stories of failure and frustration since September 2016. But that’s just what it is, my story. 

I cannot say that the favorable events in that alternate universe would have led to a better future manifested today. Perhaps it would have been more peaceful. Perhaps Earth’s climate would be improving. Perhaps Ahmed would have become a politician. Perhaps I would have mastered myself completely and become a world-class intelligence analyst or diplomat or humanitarian as well as a deep and soulful writer who inspires wonder in the hearts of millions.

OR PERHAPS, during the past seven years, a nuclear war broke out, a supervolcano erupted, or one species’ extinction started a chain reaction that unraveled the global ecosystem.

I believe there was no alternative to passing through the tragedies of 2016, as well as the highs and lows of the intervening years. 

The world suffered because we didn’t master ourselves. (More accurately, I suffered needlessly because I didn’t master myself.)  We reaped the harvest of decades of greed, apathy, and self-interest. But we lived to meditate another day. Mastering ourselves is how we jump timelines to a more just and equitable one. 

So you see, this is how I reason the people of Earth can derive profound meaning from the events that affect us all. 

It’s politics.

This is spy.

And it’s karma,

this is spirit.