Steven MacMillan: What’s the Trick? Bashar Assad Still Enjoys Public Support in Syria

December 20, 2015 By administrator

Bashar al-Assad, the democratically elected leader of a sovereign country, has been labeled as a “dictator” and “tyrant” by the West; however, the Western media-narrative falls apart at the seams as Bashar al-Assad continues to enjoy overwhelming support in Syria, geopolitical analyst Steven MacMillan notes.

Paradoxically, while the Western media keeps branding Bashar al-Assad as a violent oppressor of the Syrian nation, the Syrian President continue to enjoy public support; so what’s the trick?

There is no trick, Scottish geopolitical analyst Steven MacMillan notes: the truth of the matter is that Bashar al-Assad, largely stigmatized by the Western press, is a democratically elected leader of a sovereign Syrian nation.

“‘Butcher’; ‘thug’; ‘dictator’; ‘murderer’; ‘savage’; ‘tyrant’; ‘oppressor’; ‘despot’. These are just some of the words that many in the Western world associate with the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, after four years of incessant and hypnotic war propaganda… The 2014 election in Syria is an event that the ‘Ministry of Truth’ in the West desperately wants to be memory-holed, as it runs in stark contrast to the narrative they are still trying to inculcate in the minds of the public,” MacMillan writes in his recent article for New Eastern Outlook.

In June 2014 Bashar al-Assad won the Syrian Presidential election with 88.7 percent of the vote. It was the country’s first multi-candidate election in almost 50 years.

Just imagine, in a country of 17,064,854 people over 10 million voted for Bashar al-Assad, MacMillan stresses.

“A group of international observers emphasized that the election was a valid and democratic expression of the views of the Syrian people,” he notes.

Predictably though, Western nations denounced the elections labeling them as “fraud.” So far, the West has deeply insulted the people of Syria. John Kerry even went so far as to brand the Syrian election as “farce” months prior to the vote.

Unfortunately for Western leaders, the Syrian people turned a deaf ear to the blatant propaganda campaign aimed at delegitimizing the Syrian presidential election.

“The Western narrative — which claims that Assad is an insane dictator who butchers his own people — is illogical, as if this was true, Assad would have been ousted years ago,” the Scottish analyst points out.

MacMillan quotes the interview al-Assad had given to RT in 2012:

“The problem is not between me and the people; I don’t have a problem with the people. The United States is against me, the West is against me, many Arab countries including Turkey — which is not Arab of course — [are] against me, and if the Syrian people are against me, how can I be here?” Bashar al-Assad asked.

According to the geopolitical analyst, the Syrians understand that if Assad is toppled and government is destroyed, Syria will lose its sovereignty and will be partitioned by its rivals.

Instead of pointing the finger of blame at Assad, the Western leaders should have looked at the mirror first.

“Comparative to the plethora of imperial butchers in the Western world, who still manage to escape prosecution for their crimes, the Syrian President really is an angel,” MacMillan emphasizes.

Source: sputniknews.com

Syrian leader Bashar Assad ‘West crying for refugees with one eye, aiming gun with the other’ (INTERVIEW)

September 16, 2015 By administrator

By RT Corespondents

Question 1:Mr. President, thank you from the Russian media, from RT, from Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Channel 1, Russia 24, RIA Novosti, and NTV channel, for giving us all the opportunity to talk to you during this very critical phase of the crisis in Syria, where there are many questions that need to be addressed on where exactly the political process to achieve peace in Syria is heading, what’s the latest developments on the fight against ISIL, and the status of the Russian and Syrian partnership, and of course the enormous exodus of Syrian refugees that has been dominating headlines in Europe.

Now, the crisis in Syria is entering its fifth year. You have defied all predictions by Western leaders that you would be ousted imminently, and continue to serve today as the President of the Syrian Arab Republic. Now, there has been a lot of speculation recently caused by reports that officials from your government met with officials from your adversary Saudi Arabia that caused speculation that the political process in Syria has entered a new phase, but then statements from Saudi Arabia that continue to insist on your departure suggest that in fact very little has changed despite the grave threat that groups like ISIL pose far beyond Syria’s borders.

So, what is your position on the political process? How do you feel about power sharing and working with those groups in the opposition that continue to say publically that there can be no political solution in Syria unless that includes your immediate departure? Have they sent you any signal that they are willing to team up with you and your government? In addition to that, since the beginning of the crisis in Syria, many of those groups were calling to you to carry out reforms and political change. But is such change even possible now under the current circumstances with the war and the ongoing spread of terror in Syria?

President Assad: Let me first divide this question. It’s a multi question in one question. The first part regarding the political process, since the beginning of the crisis we adopted the dialogue approach, and there were many rounds of dialogue between Syrians in Syria, in Moscow, and in Geneva. Actually, the only step that has been made or achieved was in Moscow 2, not in Geneva, not in Moscow 1, and actually it’s a partial step, it’s not a full step, and that’s natural because it’s a big crisis. You cannot achieve solutions in a few hours or a few days. It’s a step forward, and we are waiting for Moscow 3. I think we need to continue the dialogue between the Syrian entities, political entities or political currents, in parallel with fighting terrorism in order to achieve or reach a consensus about the future of Syria. So, that’s what we have to continue.

https://youtu.be/U7hCtLARbZQ

Source: RT.com

Assad prove Syrian people supporting him, Four years on, some in Europe support talking to Assad

February 19, 2015 By administrator

REUTERS / BEIRUT

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, (Photo: Reuters)

Some European Union countries which withdrew their ambassadors from Syria are saying privately it is time for more communication with Damascus even though Britain and France oppose it, diplomats said.

Those states have become more vocal in internal meetings about the need to talk to the Syrian government and have a presence in the capital. London and Paris reject this, saying President Bashar al-Assad has lost all legitimacy.

This makes a change in EU policy unlikely, but the debate underlines a predicament for Western states which ostracized the government at the start of the crisis, imposed sanctions, and four years on still find Assad in power.

Diplomats say the calls have come from or would be supported by countries including Sweden, Denmark, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria and Spain, as well as the Czech Republic, which did not withdraw its ambassador. Norway and Switzerland, which are outside the EU, are also supportive.
Although Europe has long faced divisions on Syria, the calls have increased since Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) advanced in Syria and Iraq last summer and US-led strikes started against the group.

US officials say there is no shift in their policy regarding Assad, even as their focus is fighting ISIL, which is also an enemy of Damascus.

“Some states say: Bashar is a reality, we have to take this into account if there are threats to Europe,” one European diplomat said, referring to the risk of attacks at home by jihadists returning from Syria.

The EU first imposed sanctions on Assad and his circle in 2011 as authorities cracked down on protests. The crisis has spiraled into a civil war, killing more than 200,000, a level of suffering that some diplomats see as justifying contacts with Damascus in pursuit of a political solution.

While it is generally understood that there will have to be negotiations, diplomats said, Britain and France see Assad’s departure as a precondition. But the collapse of his government has become less likely as the war rolls on.

“We’ve been waiting for it to fall like a house of cards, but the problem is that we’ve been waiting for that for four years and that isn’t happening,” a senior EU diplomat said.

Full circle

The United Nations Syria envoy said on Tuesday the Syrian government was willing to suspend its bombing and shelling of Aleppo so a local ceasefire could be tested, a plan EU foreign ministers had backed in December.

“It is important the European Union support the UN mediator and his effort to create a ceasefire,” Denmark’s Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard told Reuters. “In relation to that, we cannot avoid to talk to the regime in Damascus since they represent an element of power.”

European diplomats point to what they see as the shift in the US stance on Syria. US officials say they have not relented in their goal of Assad leaving power but see no policy likely to achieve this at an acceptable cost.

As a result, for months they have tacitly lived with Assad staying in his post and have made clear their focus is to combat ISIL.

“We don’t know what this coalition wants and the United States is not deciding,” said Bassma Kodmani, director of the Paris-based Arab Reform Initiative and a former member of the main Syrian opposition in exile.

“That’s leading to calls in Europe that Assad is the lesser of the two evils. The debate has come full circle.”

In public, EU foreign ministers have ruled out dealing with Damascus. After a meeting in October they said “the Assad regime cannot be a partner” in the fight against ISIL.

For its part, the United States, along with Turkey, reached a tentative agreement to train and equip non-jihadist Syrian fighters who oppose Assad.
The EU has imposed sanctions on officials, businessmen, institutions and trade and bans the import of Syrian oil or petroleum products. It has 211 people under sanctions and 63 companies or other organizations.

In October it expanded sanctions to include 12 government ministers, two senior military figures and a United Arab Emirates company it accused of helping supply oil.

“Bashar al-Assad has been murdering his people for years,” French Defense Minister Jean Yves Le Drian said last week when asked whether France should resume intelligence sharing with Damascus in the fight against ISIL.

“He is not part of the solution for Syria so we don’t need to choose between a bloody dictator and a ruthless terrorist army. The two should be fought,” he said.

Assad is keen for the West to reopen embassies, diplomats say, ruling this out for now. Some see a middle ground: talking to Damascus but condemning violence and pressing for aid access.

“I would hesitate to use the word engage, it is about communicating again,” a third diplomat said. “We lack visibility.”

Even in Paris there are some misgivings about the way the crisis was handled. Closing the embassy was a mistake, said a senior French diplomat who had called for more dialogue with the Syrians and their ally Iran.

Several EU countries have diplomats who travel to Damascus but are not based there officially. “Others who kept them open were able to have eyes on the ground and keep a relationship with Assad,” the French diplomat said.

“We don’t have a clear idea of what’s going on. Within intelligence circles the will to renew the dialogue is there.”