A GODFATHER’s WIFE: Does the Syrian autocrat’s wife have to stand by her man?

Share/Save/Bookmark

A GODFATHER’s WIFE: Does the Syrian autocrat’s wife have to stand by her man?
by Darius Kadivar
08-Feb-2012
 

Asma al-Assad has been condemned for supporting her husband, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as the bombardment of her family's home city, Homs, goes on. But do autocrats' wives ever rein in their husbands? (See Related News)

British-born Asma Assad is also believed to have said she was encouraging dialogue over the crisis gripping Syria, and that she was comforting the bereaved. Unlike her husband, who is a minority Alawite, she is also a Sunni whose family originally comes from Homs, the epicentre of the revolt against her husband, and the city bearing the brunt of the violence by his forces.

In an an email from her office to the Times newspaper in London, Mrs Assad, 36, wrote that her husband "is the President of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the First Lady supports him in that role".

The email is said to have continued: "The First Lady's very busy agenda is still focused on supporting the various charities she has long been involved with and rural development as well as supporting the President as needed.

"These days she is equally involved in bridging gaps and encouraging dialogue. She listens to and comforts the families of the victims of the violence."

Before the crisis in Syria, Mrs Assad was one of the most visible of the female leaders in the Middle East. Raised in Acton in London before moving to New York, she is the daughter of a Harley Street cardiologist.

Asma's email to The Times newspaper in full :

"The President is the President of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the First Lady supports him in that role.

"The First Lady's very busy agenda is still focused on supporting the various charities she has long been involved with and rural development as well as supporting the President as needed.

"These days she is equally involved in bridging gaps and encouraging dialogue. She listens to and comforts the families of the victims of the violence."

Asma Elassad Syria's first lady on Gaza by CNN (Jan 14, 2009):

 

Syrian State TV shows First lady visiting orphanage 02-02-2012 :

 

Watch Former Friends of Syria’s first lady in London Speak on Asma al-Assad:

BBC News - Syria's first lady stands by President Bashar al-Assad

 

The wife of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad has spoken out to defend her husband. Mrs Asma Assad took the unusual step of writing to the Times newspaper to explain why she thought her husband was still the right person to lead Syria, causing a furious backlash among Syrians living in the UK. The BBC's Caroline Hawley has been talking to those who knew Mrs Assad when she lived in Britain.

A very British Upbringing:

Born in the UK, Asma Akhras was the daughter of a Harley Street cardiologist

 

Grew up in Acton, west London

 

Attended an independent school where friends called her Emma

 

Worked as an analyst in the City of London for Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan

 

Believed to have met her husband, a qualified eye surgeon, while he studied in London

 

A Sunni Muslim, her family is from rebel stronghold Homs, now under  attack

**************************

**************************


A GODFATHER’s WIFE

**************************

**************************

Scenes from Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather Trilogy starring Al Pacino as Michael Corleone and Diane Keaton as his estranged wife Kay:

 

The New Godfather: Al Pacino & Diane Keaton - The Godfather Part II

Michael (Al Pacino) lies to Kay (Diane Keaton) about what he did to Fredo and she fearfully watches as men pay respect to the new Don Corleone.




 

Al Pacino & Diane Keaton - The Godfather Part II:

Kay (Diane Keaton) tells Michael (Al Pacino) she had an abortion




Al Pacino & Diane Keaton - The Godfather Part III:

Kay (Diane Keaton) asks Michael (Al Pacino) to let their son go to live his own life

Al Pacino & Diane Keaton - The Godfather Part III:

Kay (Diane Keaton) professes her undying love for Michael (Al Pacino).



The Fatal End: The Godfather Part III’s ending :


(WARNING: Spoiler)


**************************************************

**************************************************


MARRIED TO A PARIAH

Does an autocrat’s wife have to stand by her man?

**************************************************

**************************************************

Antony: “I am dying, Egypt is dying”

 

William Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" (IV, xv, 41)


The deaths of Mark Antony and Cleopatra from HBO's "Rome":

Asma al-Assad and the tricky role of the autocrat's wife by Tom Geoghegan (bbc)

Asma al-Assad has been condemned for supporting her husband, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as the bombardment of her family's home city, Homs, goes on. But do autocrats' wives ever rein in their husbands?

 

The first public intervention of British-born Asma al-Assad, 36, since the uprising began in Syria nearly a year ago was an email from her office to the Times newspaper in London.

In it she expressed her support for her husband, the president, while stating that she "comforts" the "victims of the violence".

It's estimated by human rights groups and activists that more than 7,000 people - 2,000 members of the security services, and 5,000 others - have been killed in the unrest, and Syrian opposition supporters promptly condemned Mrs Assad's "hypocrisy".

But her stance should come as no surprise, says Rime Allaf, an associate fellow of Chatham House, the London foreign affairs think tank.

"Why are we shaming her and saying she should do something? There was never any question that she would do anything else.

"Even if, deep down, she was not happy with what's happening, she wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

"And even if, between four walls, she told him 'I don't approve of this', we wouldn't know about it. Let's be more realistic about this."

But there have been examples where wives have stood up to their authoritarian husbands.

In the early 1990s, Susana Higuchi condemned her husband, Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, as a "tyrant" and he responded by divorcing her and giving the status of First Lady to his daughter.

He dismissed the nation's parliament and judiciary, with the help of the army. Higuchi failed in her attempts to become a politician, but in 2009 her ex-husband was sentenced to 25 years in prison for human rights abuses.

Higuchi was an inspiration to women, says Dr Jelke Boesten, a fellow of the US Institute of Peace in Washington.

"It was very brave and temporarily it was very important but her husband was far stronger politically and he had the army behind him and popular support. Although she temporarily won the support of feminist organisations, that was a small part of society."

There are contrasting examples in Africa of female powers behind the throne, says Richard Dowden of the Royal African Society.

"Sally Mugabe was a really soothing, sensible influence on [her husband, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe] and many people trace his going completely over the top to after she died. Up until then she was the one that restrained him. That is the perception, at least."

When he married his second wife, Grace, the perception is that it all changed, says Mr Dowden, as she embraced the extravagant lifestyle commonly associated with spouses of very wealthy, autocratic leaders.

But Grace is not thought to have had political influence, unlike Simone Gbagbo, wife of deposed Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo, who is awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court on four charges of crimes against humanity.

"Simone Gbagbo was a more militant version of him," says Mr Dowden. "As a politician he was a bit shifty but she was really hardline and used language that Gbagbo himself would not have used.

"She had a formal political role as well as being the president's wife. She was always in the newspapers and a really rabid anti-foreigner."

There are cases where the wife is a malign influence but mostly it's not the case, says Daniel Chirot, author of Modern Tyrants: The Power and Prevalence of Evil in Our Age. In fact, wives are often unfairly blamed for the actions of a leader, due to a kind of prejudice that holds them to higher standards.

Columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown agrees that women are sometimes judged unfairly, but anyone who stands by a dishonourable man with the power to make or break a nation fully deserves blame and punishment, she says.

She believes there are "true Lady Macbeths" like Madame Mao, partly responsible for the Cultural Revolution, or Mira Markovic, widow to Slobodan Milosevic and regarded as a key influence on him.

But the silent wives also deserve condemnation, in her view.

"We don't know if they're victims. I see the difficulties for them but if something like this [in Syria] is going on, for me it's unforgivable. It could be that Asma is under terrible pressure, that she's been told that if she doesn't do this she will be in trouble.

"But both Suzanne Mubarak [wife of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak] and Asma are powerful women. They're not put upon or oppressed women."

Unlike the wife of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who didn't have much of a presence, others like to present themselves as modern Arab women, says Ms Alibhai-Brown. Yet they allow themselves to be silenced when they should speak out or act.

"The biggest rulers in the Ottoman Empire were always very easily manipulated by their wives and mothers, so women could play a part, but since then we've gone backwards.

"It can't be possible that today they are all too oppressed."

 

Recommended Books:

In French : Femmes de Dictateur by Diane Ducret

 

In English : Modern Tyrants: The Power and Prevalence of Evil in Our Age by Daniel Chirot

 

Related Blogs:

 

Libya:

MACBETH: Life & Death of Libya's Usurper “King of Kings” in 3 Bloody Acts …

 

Egypt:

A QUEEN's LOYALTY: Barbara Walters Shares Shahbanou Farah's concerns for President Mobarak's Family


Tunisia:

Tunisia could benefit from bitter lessons of Iran’s clumsy '79 revolution

 

Related Blogs on Syria:

IN DENIAL: Barbara Walters' Interview with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad

WANTED: Did Nazi Criminal Alois Brunner train Syria’s Security Forces ?

Jordan's King Abdullah Calls On Syria's President Assad to Step Down


Jordan's King Warns: 'No one has any idea what to do about Syria'



Other Blogs on « First Ladies » and « Women and Power / Women in Politics »:

ENDURING LOVE: Looking Back at Shahbanou Farah's Interview with Charlie Rose (2004)

 

PREMIERE DAME: France's First Lady Carla Bruni Gives Birth to Baby Daughter

ROYALTY: Yasmine Pahlavi A Princess in Love

ROYAL FORUM: Zahra Rahnavard Monarchist Muslim? ;0)

DEATH - VERTISING ? Mehrangiz Kar Claims Husband was No More a Monarchist

A Women for All Seasons : Farokhroo Pārsā (1922-1980)

BELIEVING IN LOVE: Prince William to marry Kate Middleton

STUNNING CARLA: Did French First Lady Make Republican Guard Go Weak At The Knees?




IRON LADY: First look at Meryl Streep's new role as Maggie Thatcher

FIRST LADIES: Shahbanou Farah and the late Betty Ford (1918-2011)

SALMA HAYEK LOOKALIKE: Iranian Student Rumored to become Shah's 3rd wife

Share/Save/Bookmark

more from Darius Kadivar
 
Darius Kadivar

Syrian First lady silent

by Darius Kadivar on

First lady silent (cnn,VIDEO)

 

Syrian first lady Asma al Assad defended human rights in 2009 in Gaza. Now she's silent about violence in her country. 


Faramarz

Oops, DK Jaan!

by Faramarz on

 

 

I guess it pays to look at the face once in a while!


Darius Kadivar

Faramarz Jan that's Spain's Laetizia Ortiz and Prince Felipe

by Darius Kadivar on

Future Queen Panties - YouTube

 

Yours was disinformation ;0)

 

Do You see now how Revolutionary Rumors often end up in History Books ? ...

 

American CBS TV network airs Fake Tapes on Shah's Speech (1979)

 

 

 


Faramarz

Asma has nice legs!

by Faramarz on


Darius Kadivar

Assad's wife not in Russia: Syrian envoy

by Darius Kadivar on

Assad's wife not in Russia: Syrian envoy -

Moscow, July 19 (IANSSyrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad HaddadThursday denied reports that Asma al-Asaad, wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has arrived in Moscow.

"This is absolutely wrong information. The wife of the president did not come to Moscow," Haddad was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

He said the 36-year-old Asma was still in Damascus with her husband and other family members.

Asma, who married Assad in December 2000, was born, raised and educated in Britain. The couple have three children.

On Thursday, a British media report said Asma had arrived in Russiawhile her husband was away from Damascus after Wednesday's bombing. The report did not name sources or offer official confirmation from Syria, Xinhua said.

The bombing in Damascus killed Syrian Defence Minister Dawood Rajha and his deputy Assef Shawkat. 

Darius Kadivar

Russia denies giving shelter to Assad wife

by Darius Kadivar on

Russia denies giving shelter to Assad wife | Firstpost

 

 

Moscow: Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad Thursday denied reports that Asma al-Assad, wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has arrived in Moscow.

“This is absolutely wrong information. The wife of the president did not come to Moscow,” Haddad was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

He said the 36-year-old Asma was still in Damascus with her husband and other family members.

 


Darius Kadivar

Assad’s 'modest & sensitive' cousin publishes romantic thrillere

by Darius Kadivar on

Al-Assad’s 'modest and sensitive' cousin publishes romantic thriller (France 24)

 

While President Bashar al-Assad suppresses an uprising in Syria, his first cousin has written a romantic thriller warmly praised by Paris Match which describes Siwar al-Assad as a "modest and sensitive" man.

 

 

 


Darius Kadivar

UN ambassador wives in peace plea to Syria's Asma Assad

by Darius Kadivar on

UN wives ask Mrs Assad for peace (bbc, VIDEO)

 

The wives of the German and British ambassadors to the UN have released a video urging Syria's first lady to help end the bloodshed in her country.

 

 

 

 


Darius Kadivar

Syria: William Hague on Assad wife sanctions

by Darius Kadivar on

UK's Hague: 'Increase pressure' (bbc,VIDEO)

 

EU foreign ministers are set to impose a travel ban and asset freeze on the UK-born wife of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, diplomats have said.

Asma al-Assad is among 12 Syrians to be added to a number of figures, including the president, who are already subject to sanctions.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said it was ''very important to increase the pressure on the Syrian regime''. 


Darius Kadivar

Asma Assad: Autocrats' wife

by Darius Kadivar on

  • 'Assad emails' highlight private life (bbc)

     

     

    Asma's email in full

    "The President is the President of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the First Lady supports him in that role.

    "The First Lady's very busy agenda is still focused on supporting the various charities she has long been involved with and rural development as well as supporting the President as needed.

    "These days she is equally involved in bridging gaps and encouraging dialogue. She listens to and comforts the families of the victims of the violence."

    The Times newspaper

     

     

  • Asma Assad: Autocrats' wife (bbc)

     

     very British upbringing
    • Born in the UK, Asma Akhras was the daughter of a Harley Street cardiologist
    • Grew up in Acton, west London
    • Attended an independent school where friends called her Emma
    • Worked as an analyst in the City of London for Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan
    • Believed to have met her husband, a qualified eye surgeon, while he studied in London
    • A Sunni Muslim, her family is from rebel stronghold Homs, now under attack

     


Darius Kadivar

EU to impose sanctions on Assad wife

by Darius Kadivar on

EU to impose sanctions on Assad wife (bbc)

 

The EU is set to impose a travel ban and an asset freeze on Asma al-Assad, the British-born wife of Syrian leader Bashar. 


Darius Kadivar

'Assad emails' highlight private life

by Darius Kadivar on

  • 'Assad emails' highlight private life (bbc)
  •  

     

    The Guardian newspaper in London has published details of more than 3,000 documents that Syrian opposition activists claim are emails downloaded from private accounts belonging to Syria's first couple.

    The newspaper says it believes the messages are genuine, although it admits it has not been possible to verify every one.

    They are said to have been intercepted by members of the Supreme Council of the Revolution between last June and early February, according to the Guardian.

    If genuine, they have provided some fascinating insight into the private life of President Bashar al-Assad and his British-born wife, Asma.


    expat

    Well I think..

    by expat on

    ..It's lovely that she's 'helping the families of victims' who are being killed in the violence.  

    Of course, the fact her husband's government is carrying out the violence is neither here nor there. 


    vildemose

    Propaganda for Russia

    by vildemose on


    Propaganda for Russia on Syrian regime TV Syrian regime TV stations are filled with propaganda for the Russian government. You encounter much more propaganda for Russia than for Iran. I think for sectarian reasons, regime propaganda outlets plays down the Iranian factor and you dont encounter much propaganda on its behalf. Yesterday, they were even talking about how Russia respects Islam and how it treats Muslims and protects Muslims and they even identified with the Russian government campaign of slaughter in Chechnya. Quite a spectacle.

     

    A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.


    Maryam Hojjat

    Wondering about Orphange In IRAN

    by Maryam Hojjat on

    It seems pretty good facillity.


    Joubin

    A noir deja vu

    by Joubin on

    I HAVE heard people talk of the Gallophile agitation among the Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic natives of Syria, of the periodical unrest in Mesopotamia and in the Yemen, severally, as “the Arab Question.” But such movements are only of temporary and local importance. The overwhelming majority of the Arab races being Mohammedan, one should not, when thinking of the future of those races, attach much weight to tendencies which are to be observed in Christians only ; and sporadic revolts among the Arab tribes are equally negligible in this connection.  Such Arab tribes remain Mohammedan, and, while opposed to the local authorities, still revere the Caliphate.   

    The Muslim world today, in spite of all that has been done to confound and dismember it, is more coherent than some theorists imagine And the sole inducement which could make a large proportion of the Muslim subjects of the Porte, however, wretched their condition, secede fromTurkey of their own accord, or willingly accept a foreign yoke, would be the conviction that the course which they were taking tended to the advantage, ultimate or immediate,of Islâm as a whole. 

    Now, at the time of the Turkish retreat to the Chatalja lines, when exaggerated reports of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire came through European agencies, some influential Mohammedans of Syria, even of Damascus, expressed a wish that their land should be annexed to Egypt; and in Mesopotamia and Northern Arabia the same desire was manifested by a section of the chiefs and notables. 

    These “Anglophils” (I use the word satirically) were nowhere in a majority; but their existence and their prominence at such a moment in so many different regions of the Arab world suggest a widespread movement such as for twenty years past I have known to exist. There are people who are ready to ascribe this movement to the love of our “beaux yeux,’’ or to sheer admiration for “the splendid work which we have done in Egypt.” That is a self-complacent view I cannot take.

    In the years 1894-6, I was in Syria, “ living native,” as, the English call it. I can remember hearing Muslim Arabs talking more than once of what would happen on the downfall of the Turks. They looked to Egypt, remembering the conquests of Mehemed Ali, and the gospel of an Arab Empire under the lord of Egypt which Ibrahim Pasha preached in Palestine and Syria. That gospel, I gathered, was still being preached in secret by missionaries sent from Egypt. It astonished me at that early age, when I had faith in all things English, to hear those Arabs ascribe the recent material prosperity of Egyptn, not to England, but to the dynasty of MehemedAli. England, in their projects,figured as a tool. The British occupation was an incident which could be used for their advantage, a step towards the Arab Empire which they had in view. If hosts of warlike Arabs came together, it would not be long before they made an end of it. In the meanwhile they would share in the prosperity of Egypt. On every occasion when such views were uttered in my presence, they aroused dissension in some other listeners.

    The pro-Turk element among Syrian Muslims was at that time stronger than the pro-Egyptian, and much more respectable. And even the apostles of an Arab Empire were careful, when mentioning the possible downfall of the Turks, to add : “which God forbid.”

    I gathered then and subsequently that the Sherîf of Mecca was to be the spiritual head of the reconstituted realm of El Islâm the Khedive of Egypt the temporal head ...

    [Source: The New Age, Vol XVI, No I, Nov 5, 1914] 

    Popcorn time

    Think Clearly, Speak Straight, and Act Decisively.  Only then will you be an Iranian.


    vildemose

    HOMS IS BURNING!

    by vildemose on

     //www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/syria-crisis-homs_n_1261976.html

    A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.


    Faramarz

    She is no Tammy Wynette

    by Faramarz on

    Only Country women stand by their men!

    As things get tough in Damascus, Asama will be on the first flight out to London.

    //www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc4e-HdlhPY&feature...