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Syria’s President Assad and wife Asma preparing aid for Homs citizens at al-Fahya stadium in Damascus on Wednesday. REUTERS
By Madhav Nalapat
oming across excerpts of the video that two wives of Nato diplomats at UN headquarters in New York released for Asma Assad, the spouse of Syria's head of state Bashar Assad, it was impossible not to be amused. Their video is reminiscent of Nicolas and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who became frantic on hearing from their "brothers and sisters" in Benghazi about an "imminent attack" by Muammar Gaddafi on that city. Oddly, Sarko seems determined to refuse entry to his beloved Arab "brothers and sisters" into France. Of course, he knows the family he comes from, so this reluctance is understandable. Sarko's love for Libyans got expressed in the sending of bombers to Libya that enforced a "No Fly Zone" by destroying buildings, vehicles and people, all of whom were presumably just about to fly.
Clearly, the spouses of Nato diplomats at UNHQ are spending most of their time worrying about the fate of Arab "brothers and sisters", this time in Syria. They need to return their gaze to Libya. The country has been devastated by its "liberation", with inflation soaring, jobs vanishing and law and order inexistent. Tens of thousands have died or been jailed by the "democracy activists" and "lovers of freedom" (in Hillaryspeak) who were empowered by Nato to kill Gaddafi and much of his team. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon needs to send 300 or more factfinders to Libya, to find out what is taking place after an operation of which he was the principal international cheerleader. Were he to do so, he would understand why the people of Syria are not at all anxious that their country follow the trajectory of Libya. They know what is happening there, and while the Assad regime is even less competent than the UPA in handling questions of governance, the overwhelming majority of Syrians prefer rule of the Assads to the chaos of another Nato-assisted "war of liberation". Of course, Nato spouses only go by what they are told by media outlets and intelligence agencies of their own countries, and these have fused into a lynch mob determined to see Bashar Assad and his team go the way of Gaddafi.
Were the two Nato wives whose heart beats for their "sisters and brothers" in the Arab world the same way as Bruni-Sarkozy's did (i.e. in words rather than in anything close to a welcome for such people into their own countries), they may perhaps have spared some time to reflect on the many deaths that have been caused by Nato military action across the region, none of which is the subject of any reference to any human rights court. The only Nato personnel in jail for killing innocents are the two Italian marines who indulged in target practice on two fishermen two months ago, and are still in what may be termed "4-star internment". Naturally, the Italian government is livid that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has had the temerity to arrest two Nato soldiers for the bagatelle of killing two Third World innocents, and secret efforts are multiplying — helped by Italy's powerful friends in Delhi — to get the two marines released by mid-May. Will the two Nato wives please issue a video asking for justice for the family members left orphaned by the murder of the two fishermen by Italian marines, or do killings by Nato not count as anything other than "errors" and "accidents"?
Nato is searching Syria high and higher for another Saif Gaddafi, a dupe close to the ruler who can persuade Bashar Assad that he can trust the members of Nato and lower his guard, hand over his weapons the way Gaddafi did on persuasion by his sons. The alliance is hoping that Asma Assad can play the role of Saif Gaddafi in Libya, and persuade her husband to unilaterally disarm. And very soon afterwards, meet the fate of Gaddafi. This is their message to Asma Assad. Trust us. After all, Saif Gaddafi did. Which is why his father and several siblings are dead, while he himself cowers in a Misurata prison, not sure if he will last out the next hour.
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