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The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al-Asad and Modern Syria By David Lesch $30.00, 320 pages Yale University Press, 2005 ISBN: 03001099111
Syrian president Bashar al-Asad is an enigma of his time. Whereas his father, Hafiz al-Asad, was the archetypal inscrutable player in the Cold War, the puzzle of Bashar is much more postmodern in its ability to support a variety of opposing interpretations simultaneously. Although not quite all things to all people, the various characterizations ascribed to Bashar sometimes come close: for European liberals, he is a would-be reformer hemmed in by the Baathist old guard; for America's Fox News, Bashar is the 'Evil Eye Doctor', a ruthless dictator in an ophthalmologist's clothing.
Lesch's book seeks to escape such hoary clichés and reveal the 'inside story' on Syria's young president. The contours of Bashar's biography are well known: for most of his life he played second fiddle to elder brother Basil, the heir apparent to Hafiz, but abandoned a promising medical career for politics upon his brother's premature death. Noted more for his advocacy of the internet than for the ruthless political manoeuvring which ran in the family, Bashar nevertheless claimed the presidency in 2000 without running into any serious opposition. Lesch fleshes out this skeleton with information gained from a series of interviews with Bashar's family, friends, teachers, colleagues and associates from his childhood, as well with the presidpent himself, in the aim of providing an idea of the man behind the headlines as well as insight into his motivations and ambitions as a political player.
Several anecdotes...