True to his cunning nature, the wanted bandit likely fled at night. Bashar al-Assad, reportedly with his wife and three adult children in tow , made a hasty escape to avoid the stiff comeuppance he so richly deserves. It was, of course, the predictable coda of a coward who, having caused so much grief, loss, and suffering for so many decades, sought refuge in a place far away from the scene of his long list of horrific and lethal crimes against decency and humanity.
So, al-Assad now calls Russia, not Syria, home. He is a guest of his welcoming patron, Russian President Vladimir Putin β fittingly, another fugitive from justice accused of war crimes. There, Bashar and Asma will rot β if they possess even a speck of what might charitably be described as a conscience β steeped in the knowledge of the appalling scope of misery that they are responsible for.
Trade and tourism flourished. The nadir of the embarrassing sentimentality appeared in Vogue, a US-based magazine that pays groveling homage to pretty celebrities, including Asma al-Assad. Only a year later, Syrians, inspired by the possibilities of the Arab Spring, took en masse to the streets in anti-government protests.
Earlier this year, the European Union EU was happy to forgive and forget the carnage and agony that Bashar al-Assad had wrought. The EU was poised, it appears, to extend al-Assad an inviting, but qualified, embrace. Andrew Mitrovica. Published On 11 Dec 11 Dec Andrew Mitrovica is an Al Jazeera columnist based in Toronto.
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