ePub The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al-Asad and Modern Syria download

by David W. Lesch

Author:

David W. Lesch

ISBN13:

978-0300109917

ISBN:

0300109911

Language:

English

Publisher:

Yale University Press (November 11, 2005)

Category:

Social Sciences

Subcategory:

Politics & Government

ePub file:

1400 kb

Fb2 file:

1667 kb

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Rating:

4.5

Votes:

451

David W. Lesch Politics and Government English

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Syria has been called the crossroads of civilization for millennia. Lately, however, it is a nation more in the crosshairs than the crossroads. Bashar al-Asad assumed the presidency in 2000 after the long reign of his father, Hafiz al-Asad, and soon encountered momentous regional and international events.

Bashar al Asad succeeded his father, Hafiz al Asad, as Syrian president in 2000. The New Lion of Damascus" by D. Lesch (2005). Inheriting a worn-down dictatorship, he soon encountered momentous regional and international issues involving the global war on terror and the growth of democracy in the Middle East. While Bashar seeks a seamless integration into a changing political environment, many in Syria fear the loss of the political and economic power they enjoyed during the reign of Hafiz al Asad.

Bashar al-Asad assumed the presidency in 2000 after the long reign of his father, Hafiz al-Asad, and soon encountered momentous regional and international events. Bashar’s efforts to integrate his country into this changing environment without being coerced have met with some success and some failure. The fate of Syria, very much tied to its young ed-president, will profoundly affect what type of Middle East emerges in the near future.

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The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al-Asad and Modern Syria (Yale University Press, 2005). Lesch has been asked to appear and discuss Syria and the Middle East on several US radio and television programs, including CNN, MSNBC and CNBC. The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History With Documents (Oxford University Press, 2006). Syrian Foreign Policy and the United States: From Bush to Obama (co-author) (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2009). He has also had opinion pieces in The Financial Times, The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others.

Syria has been called the crossroads of civilization for millennia. The Presidential Building in the Rowda district of Damascus, where Bashar spends most of his working hours, was purchased by the government in 1972. It was his father’s main office and is located near his home in the Malki district.

Syria is a strategic country in a very important part of the world. M. esch shed a bright light into that corner of the world.

Perthes, V. (1995) The Political Economy of Syria under Asad (London: . Perlmutter, A. (1974) Egypt: The Praetorian State (New Brunswick: Transaction Books). Pilster, U. & T. Bo ¨hmelt (2011) Coup-proofing and military effectiveness in interstate wars, 1967–99, Conflict Management and Peace Science, 28(4), pp. 331–350. Pion-Berlin, D. (1997) Through Corridors of Power: Institutions and Civil-Military Relations in Argentina (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press).

Three years ago, Lesch raised the possibility of "writing a book about Bashar and modern Syria" with some highly placed Syrian friends.

The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al-Asad and Modern Syria. The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al-Asad and Modern Syria. Three years ago, Lesch raised the possibility of "writing a book about Bashar and modern Syria" with some highly placed Syrian friends. After a two-year wait, he got the green light he needed: Bashar al-Assad would see him.

Is Syria a rogue state? How important is it to the fates of Iraq, Iran, Israel, and Lebanon? Based on unique and extraordinary access to Syria’s President Bashar al-Asad, his circle, and his family, this book tells Syria’s inside story. David W. Lesch presents the essential account of this country and its enigmatic leader at a critical juncture in the history of the Middle East.

Syria has been called the crossroads of civilization for millennia. Lately, however, it is a nation more in the crosshairs than the crossroads. From the U.S. perspective, Syria is on the wrong side of history with respect to Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, the global war on terrorism, and the growth of democracy in the Middle East. Bashar al-Asad assumed the presidency in 2000 after the long reign of his father, Hafiz al-Asad, and soon encountered momentous regional and international events. Bashar’s efforts to integrate his country into this changing environment without being coerced have met with some success and some failure. The fate of Syria, very much tied to its young ophthalmologist-turned-president, will profoundly affect what type of Middle East emerges in the near future.

artman

I love this book was very fair in the way they wrote about President Assad. Appreciated that it wasnt a negative propaganda tool to sway peoples minds. It expressed the good and the bad and gave some awesome history. Love it and is great for anyone that seeks to know the truth about President Assad. Not one sided.

Qudanilyr

Informative

Kazracage

As in Seale and other Western intellectuals who take off to Syria to write a book there, the generosity and good treatment of the regime toward these people make them fall in love with the regime. You can tell from the very first page when Lesch was very much impressed when Assad replied to his emails.

Needless to say, I couldn't finish this book due to the enormous amount of praise that Lesch hails on the young Syrian president, the Damascus Lion. All that is good in Syria came from Assad and all that is evil came from Syria's enemies in the West. According to this book, the good-willed, kind-hearted Assad is sincerely planning to modernize and democratize Syria, had it not been for the Western anti-Syrian conspiracies that have so far thwarted all such attempts. What an analysis.

Also like the reviewer EDowson (MD) wrote here before me, there is no information about Syria. Perhaps if the author had access to some numbers, like the percentage of people living in poverty while Assad and his group enjoy accumulating enormous wealth, or the number of years anti-Assad opposition figures have spent in the prisons of the Syrian regime, perhaps then Lesch would have changed his opinion a bit. Most important of all, when Lesch writes about the lack of democracy and the nature of the tyrannical regime in Damascus, he does so without even blinking. As if Syria is destined to live under dictatorship and that the dictator himself should be given the chance to renounce his unlimited powers and initiate change. Don't buy this book!

Garr

"The New Lion of Damascus" by D. Lesch (2005). Partial comments by Daniel Pipes in his 9 Aug 2017 review: "In light of this appalling record, Lesch's account contains many passages of extreme gullibility and poor judgment. He assessed Mr. Assad roughly as he might a university colleague, deploying such adjectives as "compassionate." "principled," "unassuming," "innocent," and "morally sound." He described Assad as "a man of great personal integrity" with "appealing sincerity" with "a vision for the future of his country." Those who meet Assad, he tells us, are struck by "his politeness, his humility, and his simplicity." Turned around, "The thuggish behavior ... associated with his father is not in Bashar's character."

"...For Westerners, he's cool culturally: "As well as liking music by Phil Collins, he enjoys Kenny G., Vangelis, Yanni, some classical pieces, and 1970s Arab music. He loves classic rock, including the Beatles, Supertramp, and the Eagles, and he has every album by the Electric Light Orchestra."

"To his credit, Lesch recognizes the possibility of an implosion, "with regime instability leading to a potential civil war." But he rejects this scenario because "The opposition to the regime within Syria ... is divided and relatively weak." "New Lion", a monument of scholarly humiliation, not surprisingly is out of print and has vanished from Yale University Press's website."

GWEZJ

for a more balanced, up-to-date, first-person account, read IN THE LION'S DEN: An Eyewitness Account of Washington's Battle with Syria, by Andrew Tabler, which will be coming out in September 2011. The wait is worth it for the behind-the-scenes perspective. http://www.amazon.com/Lions-Den-Eyewitness-Account-Washingtons/dp/1569768439/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301520629&sr=8-1.

Rleyistr

I met Syrians of all walks of life when I visited the country earlier this year, and while I learned something from all of them I was especially appreciative of the few who were brave enough to give me a candid assessment of the regime there.

This book fits with what I saw and heard, and has filled in many of the blanks in my understanding of the country. If you really want to understand Syria I suggest you get on a plane and go there. If you can't do that this book is a good second choice.

Cenneel

The introduction of the book tellingly includes a comparison of Bashar al-Assad to the author. We learn that the author switched careers, from baseball to academia, which, according to the author, is like Bashar, who suddenly became the President-in-waiting after his elder brother Basil was killed in a car accident. The comparison is a stretch, but it tells us of the author's ability to see Bashar al-Assad as a sympathetic character.

I am baffled and a bit confused by the lengths to which Prof. Lesch goes to defend the Assad regime. Every description of Machiavellian Stalin-like behavior is followed up by a lengthy rationalization complete with a plethora of quotes from regime figures. I expect analysis, but every piece of analysis following some act that most would find repugnant is merely an explanation putting the regime in a positive light. What confuses me is how a professor from a U.S. social sciences department can write something that would appear to have come right off the pages of "al-Baath" (the Syria Pravda). Academics ought to be striving for the ideal of objectivity; however, he appears to be striving to become part of the inner circle.

I found myself trying to hard to focus on ignoring the adoration for Bashar al-Assad and skipping to the geopolitical sections, but I was simply too distracted by the extent to which Lesch has fallen for his subject. Thus, I would repeatedly put the book down and pick it back up in an effort to finish a book that I started.

I bought the book at a book fair in front of the Assad library in Damascus, Syria in September 2007.

A well researched and very informative book about Syria and it's new president. Syria is a strategic country in a very important part of the world. Mr.Lesch shed a bright light into that corner of the world

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