Tyrant's Modern Rhetoric (Ancient Tactic)

MARCH 30, 2011


BY: THE HILL


The following paragraph in today's Los Angeles Times summarizes current events in Syria:

Foreign conspiracies, media distortions and the hand of Israel are to blame for uprisings in Syria, President Bashar Assad insists in a speech to the nation. He does not offer to repeal the emergency law that has kept his regime in power since 1963 but says reforms are necessary while offering no specifics.

Sound familiar?

Here's the Cuban version:

Foreign conspiracies, media distortions and the hand of [the United States] are to blame for [widespread discontent] in [Cuba], President [Raul Castro] insists in a speech to the nation. He does not offer to repeal the emergency law that has kept his regime in power since [1959] but says reforms are necessary while offering no specifics.

And of course, Assad couldn't forget the compulsory line for embattled modern dictators:

"If we stay without reform we are on the course of destruction."

It's almost a direct quote from Raul Castro's December 18th, 2010 speech.

Finally, there's the most repugnant line: "It is my responsibility to secure the stability of the nation."

These tyrants have the audacity to equate their absolute power with "the nation."

Modern rhetoric for an ancient tactic -- deception.