Tag Archives: Bashar Assad

11May/08

Bashar Assad Under Seige

By Nir Boms
Published October 13, 2005


Facing additional pressures at home and abroad, the schedule of Bashar Assad, Syria’s president, is particularly busy these days. There is much to do and time is of the essence. Timing, however, does not seem to work. 

For example, Mr. Assad had planned to head his country’s delegation to the United Nations summit last month. While restlessness was growing in Damascus, Mr. Assad could have benefited from a visit that was designed to ease Syria’s international isolation and show the 40-year-old president as a young reformist Arab ruler. But timing did not work. Following unwelcoming signals from Washington and increasing turmoil at home, Mr. Assad was forced to stay behind. 

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11May/08

Assad’s Glasnost?

By Elliot Chodoff and Nir Boms
FrontPageMagazine.com | January 21, 2005

It was a busy week of hospitality for Bashar Al-Assad.  As visitors from America and China graced the halls of the presidential palace in Damascus, longer-staying guests continued to depend on Assad’s welcome and shelter to make trouble across Syria’s borders.

Senator John Kerry, still in presidential campaign mode, visited Syria last weekend and came away bearing apparent good news: Syria would like to open a new page in its relations with the U.S.  Kerry arrived in Damascus immediately following the departure of U.S. Under Secretary of State Richard Armitage.  Armitage had been there to discuss Syria’s failure to prevent armed supporters of the former Iraqi regime from entering Iraq and launching attacks against American troops and Iraqis.  Assad told Armitage that Syria is doing its best to control the terrorists and that Syrians are largely uninvolved in Iraq. Imad Mustafa, Syria’s ambassador to the United States, who also attended the meeting, asked Americans to stop their criticism of Syria in the media since “they have nothing to support” it. Continue reading

11May/08

Assad on the Rocks

Oct. 9 2005, Nir Boms

Facing additional pressures at home and abroad, the schedule of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, is particularly busy these days. There is much to do and time is of the essence. His timing, however, does not seem to work.

For example, President Assad had planned to head his country’s delegation to the United Nations summit last month. While restlessness was growing in Damascus, Assad could have benefited from a visit designed to ease Syria’s international isolation and show the 40-year-old president as a young reformist Arab ruler.

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11May/08

Assad Is Speaking

 

December 10, 2003
By Nir Boms and Erick Stakelbeck

In his three and a half years as Syrian President, 38-year-old Bashar Al-Assad has been called many things by U.S. officials. Misunderstood is not one of them.

Yet, if Assad’s recent comments to the New York Times are any indication, the U.S. has it all wrong when it comes to the Syrian dictator. In a wide-ranging interview published in the November 30th edition of the Times, Assad-in what undoubtedly came as a great surprise to the hundreds of political dissidents languishing in Syrian prisons-spoke of taking “better steps towards democracy.” Citing his commitment to progress, he declared, “We [Syria] have to change…I don’t agree to stand still…We are moving forward slowly but steadily.” Assad’s paean to democracy followed similar remarks by Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam at the Ba’ath Party conference in November. Acknowledging that “regional and international developments require the (Syrian) government to adapt,” Khaddam promised that “the (Baa’th) party is studying the issue of developing its political thinking.”

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