"Our bitch son." Why Vladimir Putin is ready to fight for Bashar al -Assad

Russia again appeared, in the words of Roosevelt, his “bitch son” - so the American president, I recall, spoke about the Nicaragua dictator Somos. In our case, this is Bashar Assad. After the beloved friends of the Soviet leaders of Kim Il Sen, Arafat and Najibullah, we had an overseas friend, to whom we will help and for whom we are ready to fight. Assad has been sought for so long for Russia to harness for him, which even seemed to deserve it.

I met with Bashar Assad in 2008. He was not yet a global outcast, but he already felt that his prospects were gloomy. Actually, he never liked to communicate with reporters-but in September of that year he suddenly abruptly wanted to interview the Russian press. This Russian press was as a specialist in the newspaper Kommersant.

The sudden desire of Assad was understandable - he was incredibly inspired by the August war in Georgia. “If earlier in Russia there were people who thought that the United States could become friendly, now, I think, there are no more left,” he said joyfully.

In fact, in that interview he expressed the only thought: “Well, finally!” Assad had been waiting for so long and hoped that Russia would cease to pretend that it was ordinary Western democracy and would finally become an ordinary eastern tyranny, a normal range. He will stop being shy about selling missiles to his country, Syria, and also to Iran. And after the war with Georgia, he decided that Rubicon was passed, there was no road back and the West would not forgive Russia for that war.

In fact, in that interview he expressed the only thought: "Well, finally!"

“Now what has already happened to us with Russia: this crisis has begun, and the West accuses Russia,” Assad was indignant then. - continuous misinformation, distortion of facts, attempts to international isolation of Russia. This process has been going on for several years: at first they wanted to surround Russia with a ring of hostile governments, strike a blow to the Russian economy, constantly intervene in the internal affairs of Russia, deploy a missile defense system near your borders, and finally the situation in Georgia. These are an apogee of attempts to surround and isolate Russia. ”

He seemed to me a rather naive person: too soft and insecure for himself for the dictator and too frank and talkative for an experienced politician.

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