In speaking to the U.S. news program “60 Minutes” this weekend, Syrian President Bashar Assad said he knew he had the support of the Syrian people because he was in “contact” with them, and felt what they felt. It’s the kind of performance based on the notion that people outside Syria have no idea what is going on inside the country.
Assad also made the usual claims about countries that want to see him leave power. He criticized Saudi Arabia for its political system, and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his personality, but failed to mention how, prior to March 2011, he and his regime’s officials would make effusive expressions of support for the same politicians and political systems that they find objectionable these days.
Assad casually referred to Europe as being less than a full-fledged partner of the U.S., but in expressing his readiness to hold dialogue with Washington, the Syrian president apparently believes that his war-torn, shattered country is somehow more powerful than Europe, and able to meet up with Washington as a true partner, and not a puppet.
He also made a casual accusation that the U.S. has supported terrorists of the Al-Qaeda ilk – again, failing to explain why his government would want to establish good ties with such a country.
Assad’s performance recalls the career of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli politician most fluent in English and attuned to the nuances of Western public relations.
For several decades, Netanyahu cast spells over audiences abroad, until his contradictory rhetoric and actions finally caught up with him and poisoned his relations with influential decision-makers in the U.S.
Assad’s sit-downs with Western journalists are following the same pattern. Perhaps Assad’s media advisers think they’ve done their homework, but they’ve forgotten that form, no matter how carefully managed, will always be trumped by surreal content.
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