The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

“A Rose in the Desert”

"My husband's family tortures people for fun, but I'm hot so who cares"

From  Imelda Marcos of the Philippines to Asma Al-Assad, the western media has had a long love affair with foreign first ladies.  Perhaps this is the result of some subconscious attachment to the disappearing world of queens and princess. Indeed there is a touch of the royal in Vogue’s well-written profile of Asma Al-Assad, First Lady of Syria. As written the courtship between the future first lady and President Bashar Al-Assad seems to be missing only a glass slipper. The author’s profile includes a visit to the presidential residence in Damascus where the Al-Asad family makes decisions “on wildly democratic principles". The reporter also steals a few moments to chat with Syrian President. In a candid moment, the former eye-surgeon and rock fan characterizes the world of ophthalmology: "it’s very precise, it’s almost never an emergency, and there is very little blood” he says.  The reader is left to wonder how Al-Asad would characterize the world of Middle Eastern politics.