The Imbecile!

Our six year long scientific experiment in Syria aimed at turning a certain village idiot into a full fledged national leader has hit another snag yesterday when the idiot managed to break his month-long, and not too voluntary, silence and speak out. For, as usual, the National Imbecile with which we are currently blessed ended up putting his anus in it, and the world was there to see and hear.

As a result, the German Foreign Minister cancelled his scheduled trip to Damascus, proclaiming that “[t]he speech today by Syrian President Assad is a negative contribution that is not in any way justified in view of the current challenges and opportunities in the Middle East… That's why I decided not to travel to Damascus now.”

Coupled with his virulent attack against the Bush Administration and the French President, or as Bashar referred to him, the “French official,” all this talk about engagement and cutting a deal with the Assads have just been effectively nullified. Dare I say: “I told you so?”

Of course, the diehard assortment of optimists, Bush-baiters and US-haters will continue to strive to find excuses to defend engaging our national imbecile, but I think that a consensus is slowly emerging in the policy-making circles in the US and the EU to the effect that the Assads are simply unengageable and that they need to continue to be kept under lock and key in our growing regional zoo.

I also think that the main players involved here, the US, France, Britain (but, strangely enough, still not Israel) will not mind too much should they see some activity taking place on the ground in certain parts in Syria meant to undermine the hold of the Assads on power, all fears of instability aside. For the Assads have made all too clear now that if these actors do not take the fight to the Assads, the Assads will bring the fight to them, albeit by proxy, for we all know by now how cowardly this leonine lot is.

Indeed this cowardliness, manifested in the willingness to ride on the back of Hezbollah and to reiterate rhetoric of resistance over and over again while refusing to live up to it through action on the Golan Front, is exactly where the Assads are becoming all too vulnerable.

Indeed, in his most recent statements, the Syrian Foreign Minister accused all people calling for opening the Golan of seeking to implement a plan to “strike Syria,” notwithstanding the fact these calls have been reiterated by the countries most respected religious leaders and a whole assortment of the country’s nationalist and communist movements and intellectuals.

The Assads, it seems, want to bask in the glow of resistance without paying its price, as per the old tactic perfected by the late family patriarch. Unfortunately though, the times and the people have changed, and if our national imbecile appears popular now, just wait until more and more people from regional states whose policies he assaulted, like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, begin to speak out against his arrogance and cowardice, as some have indeed done (on TV). For as more and more people continue to point out the emptiness of our imbecile’s rhetoric, and no matter how defensive people might get at first, this fake aura of heroism that Bashar & Co. are currently basking under will begin to fade, and people are not necessarily as imbeciles as their leaders, the hierarchy of their basic needs notwithstanding.

Meanwhile, and just as a reminder of what’s really at stake here for the ruling family, recent reports show that the imbecile’s cousin has finally achieved his dream of controlling the car-import business in the country.

On a related note, the claims of victory by Hezbollah and supporters, have emboldened another two-but dictator out there, namely: the Sudanese president. Indeed, Omar al-Bashir has just threatened to launch a Hezbollah-style war against any international troops that would be positioned in Western Darfur. Indeed, the price of defeat, or even the mere perception thereof in our region is all too costly.