Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Classy Oppressor: Vogue's Mis-step in the MidEast

Asma al-Assad, the dictators wife

Syrian Dictator's Wife Featured in Vogue -Bari Weiss and David Feith

Vogue magazine this month published a 3,000-word paean to that "freshest and most magnetic of first ladies," Syria's Asma al-Assad [pictured]. Apparently Vogue missed the trend: Dictators are out this season.

We're told that Mrs. Assad favors Christian Louboutin designer heels - easily $700 a pair. She also sports Chanel sunglasses and travels in a Falcon 900 jet.

Just another 21st-century woman trying to do it all in style.
(Wall Street Journal)
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UPDATE:

Assad Regime Has Reputation -Arnaud de Borchgrave

In 1982, Syrian President Hafez Assad was on an official state visit to Mali when the Muslim Brotherhood almost succeeded in killing him. He ducked a burst of AK-47 fire and then kicked a hand grenade to one side before hurling himself under a table - and survived with a few metal fragments in his legs. Hours later, almost 1,000 Islamist prisoners were murdered in their cells by units loyal to the president's brother, Rifaat. Word of the massacre reached Umar Jawwad (aka Abu Bakr), a local guerrilla commander, who called for a general uprising in the city of Hama.

The president mobilized 12,000 troops, including 200 tanks, ringed the city, and warned through loudspeakers that anyone who didn't leave immediately would be considered an insurgent and killed. A three-day air bombardment was followed with artillery shelling. The few survivors were lined up against walls and executed. Later, Rifaat bragged that they had killed at least 38,000. It was genocide by any definition.
(Washington Times)
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