Bashar al Assad is a huge fan of the Electric Light Orchestra.
The New Lion of Damascus is book about Bashar al Assad by American academic David Lesch.
Lesch is sympathetic to Assad.
Lesch states that Bashar impresses people with his "politeness, his humility and his simplicity"
"He played soccer with neighbourhood children, ping-pong with his father, and his friends’ mothers came home to chat and cook meals with his mother Anisa."
Lesch sees Bashar al-Asad as a “combination of computer nerd, ophthalmologist, devoted family man, westernized pop-culturist, outgoing and caring friend, humble and reluctant leader..."
Patrick Seale’s Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East is also sympathetic towards Bashar.
Asma, Bashar's wife, grew up in London, and worked as a banker at JP Morgan.
Her father is a Sunni Muslim.
Asma has immersed herself in social work.
©Alexandra De Borchgrave/Liaison. Bashar (on swing) in 1974 with his father Hafez, brother Majd and sister Bushra.
Her father is a Sunni Muslim.
Asma has immersed herself in social work.
Hafed al Assad (right) the father of Bashar.
But what about Bashar's father?
From 1976 to 1982, Islamists carried out a terrorist campaign against the secular 'reformist' government of Syria.
The Muslim Brotherhood's violence included bomb attacks and the targeting of government officials.
In 1982, in Hama, Islamists attacked people "while sleeping in their homes and killed whomever they could kill of women and children, mutilating the bodies of the martyrs in the streets, driven, like mad dogs, by their black hatred."
The security forces then "rose to confront these crimes."
It should be noted that the Muslim Brotherhood has been described as being a tool of the CIA and MI6.
©Alexandra De Borchgrave/Liaison. Bashar (on swing) in 1974 with his father Hafez, brother Majd and sister Bushra.
And what of Bashar?
According to the Financial Times's Roula Khalaf, Bashar "built relationships with businessmen eager for change to the socialist economy, and with political activists hungry for a whiff of freedom of expression.
"Bashar al-Assad became a vociferous critic of bureaucratic corruption and those he recommended were placed in key positions in government."
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/669da3aa-b5b5-11e1-ab92-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1xxD7BQID
According to the Financial Times's Roula Khalaf, when Bashar became president "political prisoners were released and discussion forums thrived" in what became known as the Damascus Spring.
"Technocrats were brought into the government, as were European advisors to help reform the administration."
Israel sees Syria as a supporter of the Palestinians and as an opponent of Israel's plans for a Greater Israel.
Bashar's problem is that the USA decided, well before 9 11, that it was going to bring about regime change in several countries, including Syria.
General Wesley Clark said the aim of this plot (to destroy the governments in Syria, Libya etc) was this: "They wanted us to destabilize the Middle East, turn it upside down, make it under our control."
Why the US Wants Regime Change in Syria - Dr Stuart Jeanne ...
©AFP
Bashar and Sarkozy
In 2010, Bashar dined at France’s Elysée Palace and was courted by John Kerry; Asma mingled with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Al Qaeda in Syria.
The US-Israel-NATO plan is to ensure that all successful, moderate Moslem countries are wrecked, by being handed over to Islamists.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/669da3aa-b5b5-11e1-ab92-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1xxD7BQID
According to the Financial Times's Roula Khalaf, when Bashar became president "political prisoners were released and discussion forums thrived" in what became known as the Damascus Spring.
"Technocrats were brought into the government, as were European advisors to help reform the administration."
Israel sees Syria as a supporter of the Palestinians and as an opponent of Israel's plans for a Greater Israel.
Bashar's problem is that the USA decided, well before 9 11, that it was going to bring about regime change in several countries, including Syria.
General Wesley Clark said the aim of this plot (to destroy the governments in Syria, Libya etc) was this: "They wanted us to destabilize the Middle East, turn it upside down, make it under our control."
Why the US Wants Regime Change in Syria - Dr Stuart Jeanne ...
The CIA and its friends presumably have a number of assets in Syria, including people within the security forces.
The CIA and its friends began their attack in 2010.
On March 15 2010, the tribes in Dera’a, the southern province, sparked the Syrian revolution with mass protests.
©AFPBashar and Sarkozy
In 2010, Bashar dined at France’s Elysée Palace and was courted by John Kerry; Asma mingled with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Al Qaeda in Syria.
The US-Israel-NATO plan is to ensure that all successful, moderate Moslem countries are wrecked, by being handed over to Islamists.
6 comments:
Wonderful post.
Great insight into possibly the currently most besieged leader on our planet.
I spoke to some Syrian friends about him yesterday and they hate him. These are older men, immigrants who have made fine humble Muslim lives for their families here in Canada.
They would not hear of his decency and I could not seriously argue against them due to their personal lives and experiences ... and family losses.
It ain't great science, but I have confidence in my ability to read faces and this man is one of the few leaders whose countenance radiates the assets you mention ~ humility and reluctance to lead. His face is clear of the hatred and corruption we see in those of so many leaders.
Thanks for a great post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/14/sheherazad-jaafari-bashar_n_1598237.html?utm_hp_ref=world
The blindness of the public is astounding. It is like when the media says blink- or forget- they go brain dead. The attack on Bashar began immediately after Bush, Jr was elected. Assad Coup is the CONTINUATION of a long standing zionist campaign and did NOT "begin in 2010". All the big events in Lebanon going back nearly a decade were about deposing Assad.
Not long after her visit to Syria Angelina Jolie is showing the world 'refugee camps' on the turkish border. Wonder what happened to them by the way.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13818901
cheers
Noor's comment is interesting. Often as not the 'refugees' one encounters are the furthest thing from disinterested parties.
The Vietnamese boat people were heavily comprised of members of the corrupt warlord-ocracy that the Americans put in place.
Any number of the Lebanese refugees you encounter are not Muslim as you'd expect but rather Christian Phalangists, the worst of the worst. It was the Phalangists under Israeli command that committed the Sabra and Shatila massacres.
And the only thing you can know for sure about any Venezuelans you meet outside the country is that they're from the oligarchic minority (the only ones who could afford to travel) and thus a dead certainty to hate Chavez.
FYI
Brutal nature of the 'rebels' theUS EU and esp Amnesty and HRW are supporting;
They are sometimes accompanied by western 'journalists'
Syria rebels divided, at times violent
One of northern Syria's most powerful and best-armed commanders, Al-Sheikh boasts more than 1,000 fighters, and they don't shy away from rougher tactics themselves. They have released prisoners in bomb-laden cars and then detonated them at army checkpoints — turning the drivers into unwitting suicide bombers.
...
While the regime has been brutal [NO], so have some of the rebels — another cause of concern for the West. [not concerned]
Opposition activists filter most information about the rebels sent outside the country, making it hard to get an accurate picture. But several groups said they had sent captured soldiers "to Cyprus," which in rebel shorthand means execution. So many poor Syrians have died trying to reach the island that the phrase "send to Cyprus" has become synonymous with "put to death," usually by gunfire.
One group said it had killed two brothers caught collaborating with the regime — one during interrogation, the other by firing squad.
...
The group was still high on a recent attack that had destroyed a military camp nearby. In the end, they photographed the dead bodies of 35 soldiers, drove off a tank they now park under a tree in the village graveyard and held trials for five captured soldiers. All were found guilty of killing other Syrians.
"They traveled to Cyprus," al-Sheikh said with a grin. "On a fast plane."
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-impact-syria-rebels-divided-times-violent
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