07 Jan 2012 By Tariq Alhomayed Bashar al-Assad's speech, which lasted almost an
hour and forty minutes, and consisted of over 11,000
words, can only be described as an act of begging, and
evidence of his detachment from reality. From reading
the speech, rather than listening to it or watching
it, you feel that you are facing a man living in his
own world, like Gaddafi, specifically when he
addressed the prominent families of Libya by name! Al-Assad's fourth speech came after a long silence,
which he acknowledged by saying "I know that I have
been away from the media for a long time". He still
wanted to tell the Syrians that there is a foreign
plot in the country, and that it has gone unnoticed.
Then he proceeded to explain, justify and deny aspects
of his interview with an American television network
[ABC], when he said that "they [the army] are not my
forces" and that no government kills its own people
unless it is led by a crazy person. He elaborated and
dwelled on this extensively, yet it is striking that
he again repeated his original denial, namely that
there were no orders to kill in Syria! This means that
the repercussions of the ABC interview are still
ongoing and causing Bashar al-Assad embarrassment
within the regime's corridors of influence. [During
his speech] al-Assad also begged for public sympathy
for the security services, reminding the Syrians that
the soldiers have not seen their families in months.
Al-Assad's speech not only provided evidence of
begging, but some have even interpreted it as an
unprecedented attack on the Arab League, and the
Arabs, but this is an inaccurate assessment. The al-Assad
regime has previously attacked [the Arabs] over more
than what al-Assad said yesterday, whether from the
President's own tongue in the past, or through his
ambassador to the Arab League. However, al-Assad's
speech yesterday was an attempt to justify his
position, and question why the Arabs have condemned
him. He was begging to the Syrians because he knows
the danger of being an outcast from the Arabs and the
international community, which could put an end to his
legitimacy and make him vulnerable to an internal
coup, perhaps in the near future. He elaborated on
this extensively when he claimed that the Arabs are
dealing in a cordial manner with Israel, while they
are strict and hostile towards Syria! Al-Assad's speech also confirms that he is a man
detached from reality. He wants the Arabs to keep
quiet about his regime's crimes, such as the murder of
a girl who was only 5 months old, only because the
killer this time is a Syrian, rather than an Israeli.
This is the age-old naivety of the Syrian regime, and
it is time now for it to come to an end. This is not
all; further evidence of al-Assad's detachment from
reality can also be found in his criticism of what
happened to Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. This
is exactly what Gaddafi did before he was overthrown,
when he defended Mubarak and Ben Ali! Thus, al-Assad's speech and his talk about the
Arabs, the pseudo-Arabs and others, is nothing more
than evidence of his begging and detachment from
reality. It is like an upgraded version of Gaddafi's
famous "Zenga Zenga" speech, but is in fact more
similar to Saif-al Islam Gaddafi telling his people to
forget water and electricity, and forget oil,
especially when al-Assad elaborated extensively in his
speech about olives and olive oil. Indeed, the most prominent inspiration for the
Syrian revolution over the past ten months has been
al-Assad himself, whereby through his gross errors he
has been able help the revolution maintain its
internal momentum, and has forced the Arabs and the
international community to take a stand against him.
He demonstrated this yesterday par excellence. Tariq Alhomayed is the Editor-in-Chief of Asharq
Al-Awsat, the youngest person to be appointed that
position. He holds a BA degree in Media studies from
King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, and has also
completed his Introductory courses towards a Master's
degree from George Washington University in Washington
D.C. He is based in London. Comments 💬 التعليقات |