On December 7, 2024, Bashar al-Assad’s regime collapsed like a wobbly Jenga tower, and the Syrian dictator fled his war-weary country with his freakishly long neck intact. That was also the night of the Geraghty family Christmas party, where my guests included my long-distance traveling buddies, Caleb Johnson, a transnational-threat analyst at CSIS (the Center for Strategic and International Studies), and James Spiller, a globe-trotting lawyer and longtime friend of National Review. When the news about Assad’s downfall popped up on our phones, James reacted with the exuberant glee that most associate with once-in-a-lifetime events, like the fall of the Berlin Wall or a New York Jets Super Bowl victory.
A short while later, planning our third trip to Ukraine, Caleb and James said we ought to visit Syria to see what Syrians and the new government were making of their opportunity for something better.
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