Just watched this interview on RT UK. He comes across so well; reasonable and decent leader. If only such interview could be ever shown on mainstream western channels…
If only your wish (same as many of us) is true. That’s how sick MSM is. But hopefully (there is always hope!) more and more people over time will realize and MSM are just propaganda machines and start looking elsewhere for their source of news. It’s already happening, but still too slowly imo.
It’s an excellent interview. On a purely selfish note, it made me nostalgic for earlier days when people in my country of birth (not the US) could receive a good basic education, and were challenged to be able to think clearly, and to take pride in an expressive vocabulary.
Syrian Arab News Agency has a very readable full transcript in English of the interview:
On a more useful note, I do highly recommend at least reading the transcript of this interview. Russian journalists ask all the questions we would like answered, and Dr. Assad answers them all, with complete matter-of-factness, and with no hesitation about calling a spade a spade.
And so we learn that ISIS and other terrorists are extreme products of the west, that some countries such as Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia directly support the terrorists, and that some countries such as France and others indirectly support them and turn blind eyes.
We learn that things are rarely just black and white when it comes to people and populations. But things are very delineated when it comes to actions of states, and military and political positions. That Europe is indeed guilty of its crimes and the US attacks Syria and plays merely a charade of attack against the terrorist monster it has created, because it cannot bear to destroy it after such long cultivation.
We learn that Syria is fighting a war she saw coming from the invasion of Iraq, and that her sense of place and struggle, and solidarity with Russia and Iran dates back decades in this latest outbreak of tension and crisis.
We learn much about basic civics and governance, and how to have a nation and diplomacy, coalitions and elections, and a representative governing process, and a people who are part of the equation. We learn many things long abandoned in my part of the world. And we learn that ISIS may emulate a state, but only a people can give life and reality to that state. I found this very reassuring.
This is the second time I’ve listened to an Interview with Dr. Assad. Both times I’ve learned almost everything I wanted to know about the situation. Each time I wonder why I even looked elsewhere. It doesn’t surprise me that the head of state would have that knowledge, but that one could gain it so easily from a frank interview.
Everything in Syria and its situation is exactly as we already know it is. What is surprising, at least to me as a western dupe, is how clearly all this is known, once outside the propaganda bubble of the west.
Yes, Western Media including Public Broadcasters Like BBC, CBC (Canada) nothing but perception management and actual war propaganda against Russia and Syria while NATO crimes go undocumented-never mentioned. Here the refugee crisis is blamed on murderous dictator Assad. The man has more character and moral fiber than the entire US government combined, from the Supreme Court, White House and Congress. You would NEVER know this unless you ACTIVELY sought out alternative sources and I don’ t mean VICE TV or whatever it is. What else can one expect if you have the political economy of capitalism you are going to get a capitalist state and those interests remain primary. During Crisis pretext to democracy is dropped and you end with a Fascist Police State. Today where I live it was ten degrees above normal a beautiful peaceful day. In the West you are free to become anything you want and can do whatever you want in this world we are told-everything that is except change it. Advocate real change and you are firstly slandered, then marginalized, then jailed, then possibly eliminated if considered a threat. The solution to the capitalist crisis is war abroad and FEMA camps at home. It has been a hot summer in the USA, I expect the social temperature to rise regardless of the season or the falsely reported 5% unemployment rate. This, during the worse economic crisis since the great depression. As always, the bankers continue to drink Champaign while building even greater Castles made of Sand. Those reports like the ones posted about the State of Illinois is the reality-not those shinny happy people on the morning infotainment channels. In the West to be politically aware is a liability and engagement with your average middle class person will bring hostility and rejection in most cases. Like Assad said, the cry for dead refugee with one eye and shoot innocent civilians with the other. Is it any wonder that western representations are full of contradiction and appear increasingly schizoid? That is because it is.
Yes and isn’t it interesting that such diversity could peacefully co-exist in a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by an evil dictator? This is the Example of a Thousand Points of LIght-not the “melting pot” that has to be continually conditioned and brainwashed into believing things about a national identity that has to be synthetically manufactured as it does not exist.
RR
Thanks for showing us a great statesman like Putin. He sure knows what’s happening and is not afraid to say so. What a contrast with Obama and others of his ilk. This is all common knowledge among most of those here. What grabbed my attention was not the substance but the setting. A beautiful woman leads off before six men. She seems the most intelligent and her interchanges with Assad appear to be in English and do not have the canned character as the others where the video and audio are not in synch and a prepared translation seems to be dubbed. I may be wrong but at least RT could disclose whether this is a dubbed in translation for the most part. It would have lessened my distraction of trying to figure out by reading the lips whether it was dubbed or not. Also I could not fail to notice the disparity between this artificial and sterilized presentation with the article of the Russian-Syrian soldier posted earlier with his on the ground report. Assad’s metaphor of the West crying with one eye and shooting with the other is winner. I suppose some women’s hair will rise at my noticing a beautiful woman and admiring her for intelligence. They might think I’m being crude and slighting all the super-sizers and air-heads that roam the highways and byways of the internet. As a matter of fact, I love real women and I’m not lusting after them or putting them on a pedestal. There are some women or men, who knows, that bristle at Dylan’s “Beauty walks a razor’s edge; someday I’ll make her mine,” misunderstanding art and subtlety; and even if he is a crude macho man which I doubt, they focus on a miniscule phrase and miss the whole message. Try this on for size: “This woman of mine is driving me to tears; she’s so crazy I won’t touch another one for years.” Some women need to join the real world and exit their pink tower. If Saker or the moderators judge this post as offensive and delete it or me, so be it; it’s their prerogative. It makes the vineyard more secure but less free like a saker or a falcon was meant to be. As I said earlier, I’m testing the water and checking the winds to see if this vineyard is for real or a mirage in a submarine desert, to quote a phrase. A real man or woman wouldn’t be fazed (or phased for the young) but an insecure one would. Thanks for a fantastic day at the computer. I now need to go to sleep and dream of vineyards and submarines.
another thing that perhaps most people won’t see as very important…Assad’s hands. His beautiful hands. The way the tips of his fingers go up…its a sign of artistic capacities. And the length of the fingers is also a sign.
And his thumbs. Anyway, not very important to most political analysts perhaps,..but says alot to me..
As you may know, Bashar Assad is a medical doctor, specialized in ophtalmology. For me, his whole physical appearance emanates a strong impression of a good medic, an embodiment of concept and ethos of medical science.
Well, surgeon’s hands.
Surgery, well done, is an art. Eye surgery, as microsurgery, with more reason.
He should be operating in the eyes of the people instead of leading an army against the savage murderers of ISIS.
President Assad has grown in confidence and assertiveness since the earlier interviews. He was an opthalmologist in London, where he met his wife, when his older brother died in an accident, and he “inherited” the leadership of Syria. Of course he’s since been elected. In his father’s time there was a struggle over whether Syria wd be a religious state or a secular one.
To me, what opens US/UK govts most to mockery is their “shock” that Syria wd protect its airport at Latakia with Tanks and artillery. They’ve lost 8 airports to the terrorists; it wd be shocking if they DIDN’T protect it. Then their assumption that such defenses must mean the airport has been taken over by the Russians??? Where does that come from? And finally, the “proof” in the form of a satellite photo that shows no tanks, no artillery– and not even the much-vaunted “extended runway”. (Zerohedge, yesterday)
I think even those who usually believe BBC, et al wd be saying “So there’s artillery and tanks around an airport in a country at war? So what!”
Below, I’m giiving you a few snippets of the “brutal injustice” of the Syrian “dictatorship”. You might want to scan the link for a few minutes, reading a para here & there. Shows you a little about how the world works, the actual problems & decisions of running a country.
The 1973 Syrian Constitution provides for extensive welfare services free of
charge or at token charges to citizens (health, education, social services). Govt has constantly placed emphasis on people’s well-being and the development of its human capital. [Don’t you love how UN demotes people to a variant of capital?]
Large investments in basic infrastructure, social facilities and rural development.
Syria provides virtually free medical care to its citizens and imposes a
ceiling on charges by private hospitals. Services at government clinics and
health centres are free to all citizens. Life expectancy 71.5 years
Doctors pay is low, they’re required to start w 2 yrs rural service, and they
usually supplement earnings w a private practice.
300 g payload lift—that can be used to carry more “important” things than just tech gear & monitor cameras, etc.
Haaretz published a story (Hebrew) based on an Israeli scientific paper which described a newly developed micro-copter (the size of a human hand) which can carry 300 grams worth of radioactivity monitoring-equipment and fly up to 30 knots. The vehicle can fly over difficult terrain and even enter indoor facilities to detect radioactivity. Unlike a human, the device can fly over a contaminated site without endangering itself.
You can search for Dr. Assad’s official website and learn much — not the least being pix and CV of his quite-lovely wife, who in her own life has great education in how “the world really works.” He returned to Syria in 1996 and worked as a doc in the army — so he was “heir apparent” for 4 years before his father died. She left job to go to Syria in November 2000 and they married in December. Her education and career are fascinating.
BTW, the article does not support “wrath” of Assad. Only accusations that gov’t does not protect some communities from ISIS, et al. Its what I’d call a pretense of “caring” used as a low-level “hit piece” on Assad. There is a LOT of that type of so-called journalism going around these days.
Thank you GrandmaR, for the additional info about President Assad’s past.
You are right about the article at the link being a hit piece. It says “On the other hand, joining forces with President Bashar Assad’s regime could mean dangerous military deployments and antagonizing the Sunni Muslim majority.” But 70% of the Syrian Army is Sunni! The West tries always to fulfill their fantasy of a Sunni/Shia split. Unfortunately they have succeeded in some places.
I enjoyed most just hearing the whole truth spoken. It’s time for everyone to stop pretending that they are unaware that the West + Saudis & Qatar created and maintain ISIS, et al.
He spoke in English to the questions in English. He spoke through translators to the questions in Russian. The RT video, as it often does, is giving us translator voice-over, which may have been done in real time as it was broadcast, as it so often is.
Sometimes videos have subtitles, which is nice, but done after the fact, of course. Sometimes voice-over, which often implies that the translation was done live in real time. Notice there are no subtitles. However, a full written transcript in English is available here:
Just watched this interview on RT UK. He comes across so well; reasonable and decent leader. If only such interview could be ever shown on mainstream western channels…
If only your wish (same as many of us) is true. That’s how sick MSM is. But hopefully (there is always hope!) more and more people over time will realize and MSM are just propaganda machines and start looking elsewhere for their source of news. It’s already happening, but still too slowly imo.
@ Russian heart
Q; If only such interview could be ever shown on mainstream western channels…
R; In countries where
The Supremesthe Supreme Court has ruled that news doesn’t have to be true?You want to yank John&Jane-Shmoe’s attention away from ‘reality TV’ and show them something real?
‘The Daniel’ doesn’t think that’s such a good idea. Fence it off, I’d say :o)
It’s an excellent interview. On a purely selfish note, it made me nostalgic for earlier days when people in my country of birth (not the US) could receive a good basic education, and were challenged to be able to think clearly, and to take pride in an expressive vocabulary.
Syrian Arab News Agency has a very readable full transcript in English of the interview:
President Assad’s interview with Russian media outlets (Full text)
On a more useful note, I do highly recommend at least reading the transcript of this interview. Russian journalists ask all the questions we would like answered, and Dr. Assad answers them all, with complete matter-of-factness, and with no hesitation about calling a spade a spade.
And so we learn that ISIS and other terrorists are extreme products of the west, that some countries such as Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia directly support the terrorists, and that some countries such as France and others indirectly support them and turn blind eyes.
We learn that things are rarely just black and white when it comes to people and populations. But things are very delineated when it comes to actions of states, and military and political positions. That Europe is indeed guilty of its crimes and the US attacks Syria and plays merely a charade of attack against the terrorist monster it has created, because it cannot bear to destroy it after such long cultivation.
We learn that Syria is fighting a war she saw coming from the invasion of Iraq, and that her sense of place and struggle, and solidarity with Russia and Iran dates back decades in this latest outbreak of tension and crisis.
We learn much about basic civics and governance, and how to have a nation and diplomacy, coalitions and elections, and a representative governing process, and a people who are part of the equation. We learn many things long abandoned in my part of the world. And we learn that ISIS may emulate a state, but only a people can give life and reality to that state. I found this very reassuring.
This is the second time I’ve listened to an Interview with Dr. Assad. Both times I’ve learned almost everything I wanted to know about the situation. Each time I wonder why I even looked elsewhere. It doesn’t surprise me that the head of state would have that knowledge, but that one could gain it so easily from a frank interview.
Everything in Syria and its situation is exactly as we already know it is. What is surprising, at least to me as a western dupe, is how clearly all this is known, once outside the propaganda bubble of the west.
Yes, Western Media including Public Broadcasters Like BBC, CBC (Canada) nothing but perception management and actual war propaganda against Russia and Syria while NATO crimes go undocumented-never mentioned. Here the refugee crisis is blamed on murderous dictator Assad. The man has more character and moral fiber than the entire US government combined, from the Supreme Court, White House and Congress. You would NEVER know this unless you ACTIVELY sought out alternative sources and I don’ t mean VICE TV or whatever it is. What else can one expect if you have the political economy of capitalism you are going to get a capitalist state and those interests remain primary. During Crisis pretext to democracy is dropped and you end with a Fascist Police State. Today where I live it was ten degrees above normal a beautiful peaceful day. In the West you are free to become anything you want and can do whatever you want in this world we are told-everything that is except change it. Advocate real change and you are firstly slandered, then marginalized, then jailed, then possibly eliminated if considered a threat. The solution to the capitalist crisis is war abroad and FEMA camps at home. It has been a hot summer in the USA, I expect the social temperature to rise regardless of the season or the falsely reported 5% unemployment rate. This, during the worse economic crisis since the great depression. As always, the bankers continue to drink Champaign while building even greater Castles made of Sand. Those reports like the ones posted about the State of Illinois is the reality-not those shinny happy people on the morning infotainment channels. In the West to be politically aware is a liability and engagement with your average middle class person will bring hostility and rejection in most cases. Like Assad said, the cry for dead refugee with one eye and shoot innocent civilians with the other. Is it any wonder that western representations are full of contradiction and appear increasingly schizoid? That is because it is.
Yes and isn’t it interesting that such diversity could peacefully co-exist in a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by an evil dictator? This is the Example of a Thousand Points of LIght-not the “melting pot” that has to be continually conditioned and brainwashed into believing things about a national identity that has to be synthetically manufactured as it does not exist.
RR
ok..my first question is …what language was the second question asked in ? Russian ? So does Assad speak absolutely fluent English, and Russian ?
Thanks for showing us a great statesman like Putin. He sure knows what’s happening and is not afraid to say so. What a contrast with Obama and others of his ilk. This is all common knowledge among most of those here. What grabbed my attention was not the substance but the setting. A beautiful woman leads off before six men. She seems the most intelligent and her interchanges with Assad appear to be in English and do not have the canned character as the others where the video and audio are not in synch and a prepared translation seems to be dubbed. I may be wrong but at least RT could disclose whether this is a dubbed in translation for the most part. It would have lessened my distraction of trying to figure out by reading the lips whether it was dubbed or not. Also I could not fail to notice the disparity between this artificial and sterilized presentation with the article of the Russian-Syrian soldier posted earlier with his on the ground report. Assad’s metaphor of the West crying with one eye and shooting with the other is winner. I suppose some women’s hair will rise at my noticing a beautiful woman and admiring her for intelligence. They might think I’m being crude and slighting all the super-sizers and air-heads that roam the highways and byways of the internet. As a matter of fact, I love real women and I’m not lusting after them or putting them on a pedestal. There are some women or men, who knows, that bristle at Dylan’s “Beauty walks a razor’s edge; someday I’ll make her mine,” misunderstanding art and subtlety; and even if he is a crude macho man which I doubt, they focus on a miniscule phrase and miss the whole message. Try this on for size: “This woman of mine is driving me to tears; she’s so crazy I won’t touch another one for years.” Some women need to join the real world and exit their pink tower. If Saker or the moderators judge this post as offensive and delete it or me, so be it; it’s their prerogative. It makes the vineyard more secure but less free like a saker or a falcon was meant to be. As I said earlier, I’m testing the water and checking the winds to see if this vineyard is for real or a mirage in a submarine desert, to quote a phrase. A real man or woman wouldn’t be fazed (or phased for the young) but an insecure one would. Thanks for a fantastic day at the computer. I now need to go to sleep and dream of vineyards and submarines.
another thing that perhaps most people won’t see as very important…Assad’s hands. His beautiful hands. The way the tips of his fingers go up…its a sign of artistic capacities. And the length of the fingers is also a sign.
And his thumbs. Anyway, not very important to most political analysts perhaps,..but says alot to me..
As you may know, Bashar Assad is a medical doctor, specialized in ophtalmology. For me, his whole physical appearance emanates a strong impression of a good medic, an embodiment of concept and ethos of medical science.
I noticed the same thing – what beautiful and expressive hands he has. He speaks in a very eloquent manner to go along with his hand movements.
Well, surgeon’s hands.
Surgery, well done, is an art. Eye surgery, as microsurgery, with more reason.
He should be operating in the eyes of the people instead of leading an army against the savage murderers of ISIS.
I am very delighted by this interview.
President Assad is a very intelligent man, and this interview shows. He combines a perfect reasonament with firm stances; rationality and pride.
Resistance Camp has a very valuable man in Assad.
President Assad has grown in confidence and assertiveness since the earlier interviews. He was an opthalmologist in London, where he met his wife, when his older brother died in an accident, and he “inherited” the leadership of Syria. Of course he’s since been elected. In his father’s time there was a struggle over whether Syria wd be a religious state or a secular one.
To me, what opens US/UK govts most to mockery is their “shock” that Syria wd protect its airport at Latakia with Tanks and artillery. They’ve lost 8 airports to the terrorists; it wd be shocking if they DIDN’T protect it. Then their assumption that such defenses must mean the airport has been taken over by the Russians??? Where does that come from? And finally, the “proof” in the form of a satellite photo that shows no tanks, no artillery– and not even the much-vaunted “extended runway”. (Zerohedge, yesterday)
I think even those who usually believe BBC, et al wd be saying “So there’s artillery and tanks around an airport in a country at war? So what!”
Below, I’m giiving you a few snippets of the “brutal injustice” of the Syrian “dictatorship”. You might want to scan the link for a few minutes, reading a para here & there. Shows you a little about how the world works, the actual problems & decisions of running a country.
The 1973 Syrian Constitution provides for extensive welfare services free of
charge or at token charges to citizens (health, education, social services). Govt has constantly placed emphasis on people’s well-being and the development of its human capital. [Don’t you love how UN demotes people to a variant of capital?]
Large investments in basic infrastructure, social facilities and rural development.
Syria provides virtually free medical care to its citizens and imposes a
ceiling on charges by private hospitals. Services at government clinics and
health centres are free to all citizens. Life expectancy 71.5 years
Doctors pay is low, they’re required to start w 2 yrs rural service, and they
usually supplement earnings w a private practice.
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/CAIMED/UNPAN018931.pdf
300 g payload lift—that can be used to carry more “important” things than just tech gear & monitor cameras, etc.
Haaretz published a story (Hebrew) based on an Israeli scientific paper which described a newly developed micro-copter (the size of a human hand) which can carry 300 grams worth of radioactivity monitoring-equipment and fly up to 30 knots. The vehicle can fly over difficult terrain and even enter indoor facilities to detect radioactivity. Unlike a human, the device can fly over a contaminated site without endangering itself.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2015/09/08/israeli-nuclear-scientists-develop-micro-copter-to-detect-radioactivity-at-nuclear-sites/
You can search for Dr. Assad’s official website and learn much — not the least being pix and CV of his quite-lovely wife, who in her own life has great education in how “the world really works.” He returned to Syria in 1996 and worked as a doc in the army — so he was “heir apparent” for 4 years before his father died. She left job to go to Syria in November 2000 and they married in December. Her education and career are fascinating.
Also came across this:
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/04/17/400360836/syrias-minorities-caught-between-sword-of-isis-and-wrath-of-assad
BTW, the article does not support “wrath” of Assad. Only accusations that gov’t does not protect some communities from ISIS, et al. Its what I’d call a pretense of “caring” used as a low-level “hit piece” on Assad. There is a LOT of that type of so-called journalism going around these days.
Thank you GrandmaR, for the additional info about President Assad’s past.
You are right about the article at the link being a hit piece. It says “On the other hand, joining forces with President Bashar Assad’s regime could mean dangerous military deployments and antagonizing the Sunni Muslim majority.” But 70% of the Syrian Army is Sunni! The West tries always to fulfill their fantasy of a Sunni/Shia split. Unfortunately they have succeeded in some places.
I enjoyed most just hearing the whole truth spoken. It’s time for everyone to stop pretending that they are unaware that the West + Saudis & Qatar created and maintain ISIS, et al.
Why are some portions of Pres. Assad’s dialogue dubbed?
He spoke in English to the questions in English. He spoke through translators to the questions in Russian. The RT video, as it often does, is giving us translator voice-over, which may have been done in real time as it was broadcast, as it so often is.
Sometimes videos have subtitles, which is nice, but done after the fact, of course. Sometimes voice-over, which often implies that the translation was done live in real time. Notice there are no subtitles. However, a full written transcript in English is available here:
President Assad’s interview with Russian media outlets (Full text)