Asad's Conspiracy Theory

I was busy at work on other things today so I'll drop in this evening to comment on Bashar al-Asad's strange speech in which he blamed a foreign conspiracy for his problems. Notice the dictators are all using the same playbook: Like Ben Ali, Mubarak, and Qadhafi, it's all some kind of foreign plot, not domestic opponents. (Well, Qadhafi was being bombed by NATO, so he had a better case.)

But like those men before him, Asad seems increasingly removed from reality. With the UN estimate of dead somewhere the far side of 5000, he's still hanging tough; even the Arab League observers are starting to notice all is not well.

Anyway, Asad seems intent on staying. There is, however, a lot of speculation about his British-born wife Asma, who hasn't made any public appearances in a while, and according to some rumors may have decamped to her old home, London.