Putin had his NYT Op-ed. Syria's Assad, on the other hand, is going straight for the jugular using the "undisputed chemical weapons proof" route, aka YouTube.
Below are some of the highlights from his just released interview with FoxNews:
- I have not spoken to Obama. I would say to him: "listen to your people, follow the common sense of your people"
- Democracy is a means for prosperity, not a goal
- The entire Mideast region has moved away from democracy
- Syria will destroy its chemical weapons to comply with the UN Treaty; Syria is fully joining the chemical weapons agreement
- Destroying chemical weapons is a complicated operation, some say it would take 1 year to get rid of the weapons
- It is not true that Syria used Sarin gas; The Syrian government did no use any chemical weapons
- Tens of thousands of Jihadists are in Syria; 80-90% of rebels are linked to Al-Qaeda
- I'm sure many of our children will have to be rehabbed from watching be headings and barbecued heads and cannibalism
- More than 15,000 government soldiers have died
- Syria is not placing conditions on destroying chemical weapons
- My decisions help the majority of our people. We have the make those decisions that are least harmful"
- Other Gulf State regimes have far less democracy than we have. The democracy has to match our own traditions.
- We support Geneva & cooperate w UN. The US is standing in the way of any progress.
- Any diplomatic moves without getting rid of the terrorists will be an illusion
- I did not invite terrorists into my country because I waited too long to listen to demands of my people ..this narrative is not true
- My being here or not being here should be decided by the Syrian people and no one else has a word in this issue.
- Real opposition only belongs to the Syrian people, not to terrorists. In every house you have pain and sadness. We are defending our country
- We have so many refugees because of the terrorists. This is why we are shelling civilian areas because that's where terrorists are
- We are still moving forward in Syria with respect to democracy. From the very beginning we listened to the demands of my people.
- Only the American Administration, and their allies in EU, and some of
their puppets in the Arab world interfere with a sovereign nation - Syria doesn't see the US as an enemy, wants good relations.
Part 1 of the interview
Part 2 of the interview