Sunday, May 24, 2015

Dexter Filkins: is this guy for real?

From a Western journalist in the Middle East: "I doubt Bouthaina Shaaban was coming to the Sheraton “to drink and dance and carouse.”
I doubt he himself “found” dozens of jihadis at the border
the syrian minister of interior is not Muhammad al-Shaara, as filkins writes twice, he is Shaar, and he is not “known for his iron fist,” he is not known for anything in fact, there is no way Filkins ever heard of him
his last point, attempting to make a comparison between the syrian regime and ISIS as if the difference is one between cold war totalitarian or authoritarian regimes is especially stupid given the vast differences that in fact do exist not just between the syrian regime and isis but even the syrian regime and the much more repressive saudi regime
and he closes by saying that at least the syrian regime left palmyra alone, as if otherwise it is identical to isis".