Syria - Gliding Into Hell

واشنطن بوست: سوريا تنزلق إلى الجحيم

Washington [desolated]: Syria is gliding into a hell.

أوباما أعطى الأسد الضؤ الأخضر لاستخدام كل الأسلحة باستثناء الكيميائية لذبح شعبه

Obama gives Assad green light for using all arms with the exception of chemical [weapons] in [slaughtering] his [own] people.

[Source: Al-Jazeera, Arabic service, on December 31, 2012]

Editor's Note:
The above evaluation of the Obama administration, helplessly watching Syria to glide into disaster, seems to enrage many Syrians. However, any military intervention would be almost impossible in the frame of a global and regional constellation that is generally opposing such intervention even though for different reasons of the sides involved.

Assad Praising the Syrian Press

الرئيس الأسد: الإعلام السوري تمكن من ضرب امبراطوريات إعلامية حقيقية يقف خلفه ليس فقط المال بل القرار السياسي في العواصم الكبرى في العالم و هذا دليل نجاح الإعلام السوري

President Assad: Syrian media have the possibility to beat the "empires of information" that are [really] having behind them not only "the money" but as well the political intention [prevailing] in major capitals of the world. And that is a [proof] of success of the Syrian media.

[Source: Al-Jazeera, Arabic service, on December 31, 2012, quoting an interview with Bashir al-Assad on Syria's national TV.]

Editor's Note
As to Bashir al-Assad, his attitude can only be understood as some kind of "loss of reality" thinking, not rarely to be found in the final stage of a dictator's career.

However, there is some truth in his words when he argues that "empires of information" are not really independent. Sure, he is speaking of CNN and Al-Jazeera, both media organizations enjoying vast international acceptance and influence. Considering some information treatment by CNN, I feel uneasy with the fact that news of high importance are handled in a rather superficial way as time on air is granted only on the basis of how to feed an auditorium that, long ago, turned into a sensation-seeking herd feeding on the special kick of, especially, bad news. The obvious goal of news shows like "Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" or any "Developing Story" in the daily news is to keep visitors watching at almost any price which can be regarded as a circumstance rather hampering any adequate reporting of news events. In comparison with CNN, Al-Jazeera seems to follow a rather moderate way of combining breaking news with their related background stories, yet, both media giants are under a similar and increasing economic pressure which makes it difficult for them to follow a neutral strategy. When it comes to political influence, I sometimes observed some tendency of thinking on, both, CNN and Al-Jazeera which might be due to a personal inclination or, rather, the slight difference between personnel coming from different ethnic and social communities which is nothing to worry about.