To top it off, the Liberal leader is guilty of what are, in the eyes of Australia's bien pensant elites, the three unpardonable heresies of our age: he believes in God, opposes eco-taxes and wants to scrap restrictions on free speech.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100139577/my-favourite-politician-in-the-entire-anglosphere/ In a 30-minute interview, I got the impression Assad genuinely believed several of the things he was telling me: that he was popular, that the revolt was being stirred from abroad, that he had a real programme of reform. He is still saying all that now, most recently in his last public speech in a Damascus square six weeks ago.
It is, of course, delusional, but not 100 per cent wrong.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9105638/Syria-the-two-sides-of-President-Assad.html