Two Simple Questions for Team Assad

“The Syrian government will not change position even if there is World War III. No Syrian can sacrifice the independence of his country,” he reportedly told AFP.

Is that what this is all about?  Independence?  I think not.  The majority of the rebels are Syrians - they're being stomped on with toxic prejudice because, ostensibly, they are a threat to Syria.  Assad's regime is willing to kill women and children to protect his Syria from them.

Now, we're hearing that his government is willing to watch the world burn, turning Syria into this century's Sarajevo - all in the name of protecting Syria's independence. 

Here's a news flash, Team Assad - when you can only maintain control through the murder of your own populace and by threatening external forces, you ain't leader any more.  You're a dictator.

Assad's life is increasingly in danger, his country is in ruins and a whole new generation of Syrians will be scarred for life by the trauma of war.  The Syria Assad claims he wants to protect is gone.  Everything you say you stand for is fiction you're selling yourself as much as everyone else.

Put your critical thinking caps on, Team Assad, let's do an objective assessment.

What does victory look like to you?  A nation that loves you, the respect of your international peers for being a tough leader, a velvet-draped palace to hold court in?

Is that victory in any way achievable?  It isn't.  The most you can hope for is Scenario A - you hunker down behind your firewalls as your countrymen burn around you; eventually, someone's gonna break that wall down.  You know what happens next. Scenario B - Assad gets out with the hope for asylum somewhere.  He holes up in relative luxury and publishes his memoirs.  Someone needs to wear the war, though, and if it ain't the boss...

But there's no point in talking to Assad; he's got the dictator complex, like Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi before him.  How'd that work out for them?

There's no hope for Assad - one way or another, this will end badly for him.  It doesn't have to for his lieutenants.  History will never remember you if you continue to back your leader; he'll be vilified, you'll be forgotten.  Looking down the road you have death, humiliation and loss awaiting you, with nothing to show for it in the long run.  Is that what you want?

Think about it, fellas - do you want to go down with the ship, or are you still hopeful you can gain something out of this; money, power, the love of the people, the respect of peers?  It's only impossible for as long as you continue to back Assad. 

Something to think about.