Assad Not Backing Down
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad believes his is the winning side, and that says his government is ready to participate in the Geneva II peace conference.
In a recent interview (May 30), Syrian president Bashar al-Assad offered an unusually poised and confident take on Syria's current predicament.
He raised serious questions about the opposition — some of them not unlike those posed in the West. He minimizes the prospect of a Golan front against Israel and the meaning of the S-300 deal with Russia. He responds like a politician to questions about his intentions in 2014 and what he doesn't say, such as refusing to declare his candidacy when he could easily have done so, is at times as interesting and perhaps as important as what he does say. For example, his willingness "in principle" to go to Geneva.
