As violence drew the attention of the world's media to the protests in the Virginia city of Charlottesville, a novel and previously barely remarked phenomenon was observed. Amid the usual Nazi chants and imagery of white supremacy was the open display of support and celebration for Bashar Al Assad.
How did the Syrian dictator become the poster child for white supremacists? Unpicking this extraordinary spectacle of American far-right support for Mr Al Assad, The National’s Washington correspondent, Joyce Karam, noted three aspects: far-right anti-Semitism and dislike of Israel, the “common cause” of Assad's rejection of the Iraq war and the belief that he is standing up to the “globalists”, and their image of him as an authoritarian leader.
LISTEN Why do white supremacists support Bashar Al Assad?
These elements, Karam pointed out, overlap, creating an image in the minds of these ideologues which persists despite them not knowing much about the Syrian civil war or indeed Syria itself.
Yet this support for the Al Assad regime is not limited to the far-right. On the far-left of the political spectrum, Mr Al Assad is also lionised and for many of the same reasons.
In particular, it is the legacy of the Iraq war and Mr Al Assad's "credentials" as authoritarian and secular that most on the far-left praise.
The American far-right believe it was shadowy “globalists” who persuaded the US to go to war in Iraq. For the far-left in western countries, especially the United States and the United Kingdom, there is no such subgroup. Instead, there is just good old-fashioned US imperialism – and it is Mr Al Assad who is standing up to it.
This isn't a new thought. Anyone who spent time in Syria in the years before the revolution will remember this line of argument used again and again. Mr Al Assad used it in the years after the September 11 attacks, as the Americans geared up to invade Iraq. His father Hafez used it in the 1990s when Syria was ostracised around the region.
But the Iraq invasion connects all of them. Because of the invasion, leftists became allergic to any military action, especially if it involved the United States. On the far-left, there is an acceptance, sometimes even praise, for Vladimir Putin's decisions in Syria and for the fighting skills of Hizbollah and Iran. Yet any military action by the west, whether sanctioned by the United Nations as in Libya or whether called for by citizens and civilians themselves, as in Syria, is anathema.
This connects with the second aspect, which is the tendency for the far-left and far-right to fear that removing secular strongmen unleashes chaos – Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qaddafi are their favourite examples, with Mr Al Assad being the only one of the dominos not to fall.
And why, in their understanding, does it unleash chaos? Because of a belief that a Syria ruled firmly by Mr Al Assad would be more secular. Such thinking is, at root, motivated by fear of the “brown masses”, the belief that it takes force to keep the peoples of the Middle East in line. The far-left would never say it, but for them too much explicit religion, especially devotion to Islam, necessarily leads to fanaticism.
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The far-left sees Syria's society under the Al Assads as secular, which is not untrue, even if it is – well, since the revolution, was – an enforced, strongman secularism. The far-left's worldview says Mr Al Assad's secularism means he will protect minorities, a view that fosters the belief that too much Islamic influence would pose a threat to Christians and other minorities. Centuries of coexistence suggest otherwise.
Indeed, this very idea is one promoted by regimes like that of Mr Al Assad and Saddam, who set ethnic and religious groups against each other to make them fear the majority Arab Muslims. Both Mr Al Assad and Saddam posed as defenders of Christian communities against Muslims, when in fact they were attacking both in defence of their own family’s position.
Yet for the far-left, none of that matters. They focus on the secular society they believe existed before 2011 and think only Mr Al Assad can return Syria to that point. If they only tenuously believed it in 2011, then, as the conflict has twisted and turned from its original inception as a revolution against the Al Assad regime, they certainly believe it now. As the centrist rebels became outgunned by Islamists, the far-left persistently argued that that state of affairs was inevitable. The rebels, they argue, were always terrorists, Al Qaeda or ISIL sympathisers. That the battlefield changed priorities and allegiances didn't matter.
"Who would you prefer in charge of Damascus?" they ask rhetorically, apparently unaware that was the same simplistic logic that led the march to the 2003 Iraq war. (Even today, Tony Blair still uses that line of reasoning, saying it was "better" to remove Saddam Hussein from power. The second part of the sentence – "even if it meant the total destruction of Iraqi cities, families and businesses" – is always unsaid.)
Mr Al Assad's crimes are always forgiven by the far-left, as they are by the far-right, as long as they are done in the service of keeping Syrians mute, keeping the borders quiet, and painting the country's facade a secular hue. In both cases, they fear precisely what the first Syrian protesters demanded: the freedom for Syrians to run their country as they see fit. The crowd of people lining up to deny Syrians that opportunity stretches from the far-right to the far-left, while their champion sits in the presidential palace in Damascus.
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Two products to make at home
Toilet cleaner
1 cup baking soda
1 cup castile soap
10-20 drops of lemon essential oil (or another oil of your choice)
Method:
1. Mix the baking soda and castile soap until you get a nice consistency.
2. Add the essential oil to the mix.
Air Freshener
100ml water
5 drops of the essential oil of your choice (note: lavender is a nice one for this)
Method:
1. Add water and oil to spray bottle to store.
2. Shake well before use.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
- Floor Standing - Dh495
- Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
- Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
- Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
- Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
- Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
- Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
Avatar%20(2009)
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