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Subscribe to RSSThe wives of U.N. diplomats have produced a video appealing to Asma Assad to stop her husband's bid to thwart the uprising in his country. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
Updated 11:51 a.m. ET: The wives of two United Nations ambassadors have produced an Internet video appealing to Syria's first lady, Asma Assad, to "stop your husband" Bashar in his bid to thwart a popular uprising that has left thousands dead.
The film, posted on YouTube, contrasts the lavish lifestyle of 36-year-old mother-of-three Asma with images of dead and injured Syrian children and asks viewers to sign a petition demanding the U.K.-born first lady speak out to "stop the bloodshed."
"Some women care for style... and some care for their people," it says, in a reference to her frequent shopping trips to Europe.
"Stand up for peace, Asma. Speak out now. For the sake of your people. Stop your husband," asks the video. "Stop being a bystander. No one cares about your image. We care about your action."
It includes a file clip of Asma, a former investment banker, telling an audience, "We should all be able to live in peace, stability and with our dignities."
The video then asks: "What happened to you, Asma?"
The video was produced by Sheila Lyall Grant, the wife of Britain's U.N. envoy and Huberta von Voss-Wittig, the wife of Germany's U.N. ambassador. Britain and Germany are both members of the U.N. Security Council.
"We strongly believe in Asma's responsibility as a woman, as a wife and as a mother. As the vocal female Arab leader that she used to be, as a champion of female equality, she can not hide behind her husband," Lyall Grant and Wittig said in a statement, according to Reuters.
Report: 'I am the real dictator,' wife of Syria's Bashar Assad says
The European Union has banned Asma Assad from traveling to the EU or shopping from European companies.
The video follows a similar online appeal from human rights group Rise 4 Humanity.
Asma and her husband were shown on Syrian state TV Wednesday packing food aid, an apparent effort to change their public image.
State television broadcast pictures on Wednesday of the Assads receiving a rapturous welcome at al-Fahya stadium in Damascus. They joined hundreds of volunteers boxing cartons full of flour, sugar, cooking oil and pasta for victims of fighting in Homs, where the president's forces are crushing an uprising.
The Assads have long worked to manage their image, but it backfired a year ago when a glamorous photo shoot and gushing profile of Asma appeared in Vogue magazine just as her husband launched his violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
The U.N. estimates Assad's forces have killed more than 9,000 people in the uprising. Syrian authorities say foreign-backed militants have killed over 2,600 soldiers and police.
The 15-nation U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to authorize an initial deployment of 30 unarmed observers to monitor a shaky truce that started on Thursday.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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I don't think she will, because she is living in an Arab country, married to an Arab. The whole world knows how the arab men treat women. She isn't that stupid to interfer.
Hello folks, when will we discard our Imperialistic mindset? This is just another ploy reaching out to women to assist in the war mongering and demonizing as the U.S. is trying to drum up more support for another war. We’ve caused enough trouble around the world. If you can't see that we are the instigators in most of the world's wars and displacement of millions of people who are fleeing our aggression, than you are in denial and are not paying attention. If you don’t think we have been in Syria covertly arming the rebels you are in denial and forgetting about Libya. We need to stay out of other country’s civil disputes. I hope we aren’t going to go against the United Nations vote earlier this year and unilaterally go into Syria under the pretext that we need to stop the violence like we did in Libya. General Wesley Clark has stated that a Syria invasion has been pre-planned for quite awhile.
General Wesley Clark: "America will take out 7 countries in 5 years"
According to Former NATO supreme allied commander, former presidential candidate and 4 star US General Wesley Clark that they had received a memo that America is going to take out 7 countries in the Middle East starting with Iraq, Libya, Syria Lebanon Sudan, Somalia, and finally Iran. It is amazing how these things that were planned years ago are being achieved in front of our eyes.
Why is it other countries feel like they have to defend their territory? Could it be that they know we have no problem invading their sovereignty just as we have done to countless other countries. Since World War II, 90% of the casualties of war are unarmed civilians. 1/3 of them children. Our victims have done nothing to us. From Palestine to Afghanistan to Iraq to Somalia to wherever our next target may be, their murders are not collateral damage, they are the nature of modern warfare. They don't hate us because of our freedoms. They hate us because every day we are funding and committing crimes against humanity. The so-called "war on terror" is a cover for our military aggression to gain control of the resources of western Asia.
This is sending the poor of this country to kill the poor of those Muslim countries. This is trading blood for oil. This is genocide, and to most of the world, we are the terrorists. In these times, remaining silent on our responsibility to the world and its future is criminal. And in light of our complicity in the supreme crimes against humanity in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ongoing violations of the U.N. Charter in International Law, how dare any American criticize the actions of legitimate resistance to illegal occupation.
We are going into Syria for a couple of reasons (yes we are in Syria with our Drones at a minimum), one, we are trying to dislodge Russia from there because they have a foothold in the Middle East via two military bases in Latakia and Tartus in Syria. Two, Syria is a strong ally of Iran. If we invade Syria we take out a strong ally and maybe incite Iran to assist giving the U.S. the reason they are looking for to attack Iran. The ultimate goal is to surround, weaken and to invade Iran. The petro dollar is at stake as other countries are switching to other forms of currency in buying Iran’s oil.
Since the Russian war in 1828, Iran has never attacked another country. We on the other hand have attacked to name a few:
Libya, Iran, Nicaragua, Haiti, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Angola, Mozambique, Honduras, Chile, Congo, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, Angola, Columbia, Peru, Panama, Yemen, Pakistan, Grenada, Mexico, etc..
Wake up people we are being herded down the Military Industrial Complex gauntlet again to another false war to enrich the greedy Corporations and distract the American people. Did we not learn anything from the Iraq war where we have killed well over 1 million Iraqi people, lost thousands of American lives and God knows how many hundreds of billions of dollars?
Who do you support, humanity or the greedy elite?
Many of our soldiers don't fight for America, they fight for their lives and their buddies beside them, because we put them in a war zone. They're not defending our freedoms, they're laying the foundation for permanent military bases to defend the freedoms of Exxon Mobil and British Petroleum.
Face it we're Imperialists pure and simple. The elite look down on all of us as expendable chattel.
"Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy" Henry Kissinger
I’m not asking you to hate war, but to love peace? War, what is it good for, absolutely nothing!
Sally I don't think she is treated so badly by her Arab husband. Why should she speak out against her husband? As far as I know, Mrs. Bush did not speak out against her husband when he declared war without the approval of congress. This is all politics, money, and fight for resources. Do you really want to help the helpless? Start with Africa in a sign of good faith because no nation has.
You know very little, since Congress gave is approval in an authorization resolution for both Iraq and Afghanistan. Give the Bush bashing a rest, its quite tiresome now.
@robtzu, you pigbags still bash Clinton, why don't you give it a rest? And yes, it's quite tiresome now, just as it was when it started. Remember the huge LIE that all the W's were removed from the keyboards? I do, so until an apology for that LIE comes out, well they say, what goes around comes around. Seems like you can't take the heat now.
I'm sure she's shaking in her Gucci stilettos now. Her husband will shut her up with more Tiffany diamonds to play with. Abused my a$$. His mistresses, however - are another matter no doubt.
You hit it right on the nose. She is a bigger piece of crap than her husband.
Asma already confessed that she is the real dictator. As long as she lives the slaughter will continue. I hope the people of Syria realize this and do what they must.
Hotticket has it right.. Appealing to most of the wealthy women in this world isn't much different from appealing to the most wealthy of CEOs.. Yes, there are exceptions but not many.. They are far too busy counting their Jimmy Choos and planning their next big, expensive, multimillion dollar bash then to be upset over the death of thousands of poor children..
And really, we have no business condemning them when the highest rated shows on AMERICAN television is 'The Real Housewives of such and such a city' and the ridiculous 'Shahs of Sunset Blvd'! What is happening over there is atrocious, so were the rules of the Marcos in the Philippines and the Noriegas in Panama but I think the days of CIA takeovers are long over..
America can't even take care of her own problems that are getting worse everyday.. In case none of you have bothered to notice, we too, live in a 2-class country where the poor are getting more poor each day while the wealthy grow like maggots feeding off a decaying corpse.. Heck, maybe it wouldn't even be so bad IF most of the wealthy were Americans too, but they are not..
I hope this works. As for me I do not talk with my wife. I listen and agree if I know what's good for me.
this will have no impact on her whatsoever. shes a sociopath.
Her complacency makes her as guilty as he is.
Americans need to be more concerned with America and keep it's nose out of other countries.
Are we going to war with them next?
We in America live like kings compared to what's happening in Syria and many other parts of the world. We do take care of our people, even if there are certain powers that would like us to do less for those in need at home. At what point will we have dealt with all of our needs sufficiently enough to make it okay to help others? I have faith in America; I know we can walk and chew gum at the same time.
This woman & her husband probably had a good laugh reading this email as they poured another round of champagne while taking a hot bath together
"We in America live like kings compared to what's happening in Syria and many other parts of the world. We do take care of our people, even if there are certain powers that would like us to do less for those in need at home. At what point will we have dealt with all of our needs sufficiently enough to make it okay to help others? I have faith in America; I know we can walk and chew gum at the same time."
Amen, nikki. It's such a silly thing to say "we should stay out of other countries' business" or "we should stop all foreign aid" until we solve all our problems, yet I hear it all the time. Our problems are petty, and 90% of them are caused by the government we expect to sort out the mess in the first place. Most of the obstacles to caring for the poor or hungry are poliltical, not the result of any lack of supplies or funding.
No superpower can be respected or taken seriously if it sits on its laurels and watches the rest of the world. We need to be involved in things like this.
off with BOTH of their heads!
I think that even if she could, she probably won't, because we all know what happens to most dictators when they are overthrown ... think Mussolini & girlfriend, Ghadafi & family, Saddam & family, etc.
TrustVerify
These "dumb, stupid animals" are the ones who protected the U.S. and allowed him and his family to find a safe place to live when they had to leave NAZI Germany. What an ungrateful *beepbeep* of *beep*.
God bless our service men and women.
SF accountant we have done quite enough in the rest of the world. The people in Iraq didn't want to be released from Hussein or they would have asked for help. They did not do that, we had no business there. Same with Afghanistan, those people want to be bullied by the Taliban, let them, they haven't asked for help, nor will they, we have no business there, nor did they cause 9/11. Most people with the ability to reason know who caused that. As for giving aid and charity to starving people in Africa, well that's been done for decades, a century even, they have been given food, they have been given vaccinations which have caused their populations to become so large now there are ten times the amount of people starving, congratulations humanitarians.. Know why they allow deer hunting? Look it up, that's why Africans died of so many diseases, to prevent the starvation of the masses. Now no one can control the population, or the mass-starvation there.
I think TrustVerify needs to give the cut and paste a rest...
F, while I advocate international involvement and engagement, I never said I supported full-scale military invasions for regime change or as revenge. I am not anti-war, but I do demand that the wars we start be conducted intelligently and ethically, and that was not the case in Iraq or Afghanistan. Iraq can stand forever as an example of the limits of nation-building via military might; it's just not a good idea.
As for your claim about Africa starving, I'm not sure what you mean. Last I heard, the only African nation that was experiencing actual famine was Somalia, and that's just because most of the country is run by terrorists and criminals so no government or private infrastructure can run properly. I'm sure there's malnutrition in parts of Africa, since the continent is still relatively poor, but it's gradually getting richer and less violent, and LESS people are starving, not more.
At least, that's what I've gathered from the various articles I've read on the topic. Do you have a source you'd like to share that suggests otherwise?
Can someone here explain how and why the situation in Syria is referred to as a "popular uprising"? Syria is a pretty big country, but there is fighting in only 2-3 cities/towns? MSNBC, you guys are doing a shi*ty job as usual. Its obvious Assad is quite a jerk off, that much we have established, but why all this BS about a popular movement? Just last week Hillary referred to the opposition as "activists". Are you kidding me? They stopped being activists once they picked up the AK, now its some good old fashioned arab on arab shooting goin' on, or more accurately a civil war. Hope its not the Islamists that win =(
TrustVerify: And you have a way to VERIFY the information you've posted here. Let's see it.
.
She's a spoiled wife who lives off the pain and suffering of others. She can't do a damn thing except live a life of luxury while people in Syria are being tortured to death.
Yeah, what a weird, Victorian view of the world. The woman has to be a source of virtue and goodness. More than likely, she sits in on the torture sessions and gets off on it. Remember, behind every great man is a horrible woman.
Close, WA. She doesn't want to do a damn thing--she enjoys her life as Devil's consort and enriches herself from it.
Fortunately, Karma has a funny way of working itself out.
She seems to be sort of a cross between Imelda Marcos and Elena Ceaușescu. Imelda was a bit of a joke with her 3000 pairs of shoes, but Elena absolutely infuriated me with her remarks about how she treated her people like a mother would treat her children. Yeah, right! Oppressed masses, starvation and concentration camps for those that did not toe the line. We all know how things turned out for her; executed by firing squad within days of her husband's deposement.
Ms Assad doesn't seem any better if she is billing herself as the real dictator of Syria. What is in the cards for her if the regime falls?
Assad is a PUPPET. His job is to eliminate people who rebel so a country of sheep-le remains...like in the USA.
Well said, there is no larger puppet population than in the U.S.
Uh-huh... so the people pulling the strings would be...?
Wow, She's more of the problem then he is, she's encourages the whole damn thing.....wake up U.N.!!
Why do you care so much about the Syrian people? Did you care this much about the Iraqis and the Afghans? The U.N. is a joke, it acts all democratic but denies nations of sovereignty. Where are the wives of leaders of the U.N. that are going to make their video? We lost Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan as our reach to the Middle East, now we must occupy Syria for an air-force base.
Phenomenal112,
Sovereignty? Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are hardly sovereign. The only resemblance those three regions have to sovereign nations are the arbitrary lines drawn on the map defined by other nations! Go study your history. Syria on the other hand is an actual nation.
Haha I wasn't talking about those nations, more like U.N. denying Palestine statehood.
That's hardly a sovereignty issue. Not to mention that Palestine would have statehood if the US didn't insist on backing Isreal by reflex. Not the UN's fault.
Besides that, I didn't hear anything about any air-force base, and I can't imagine that the Syrians (neither group of them) would let us put one there. What are you on about?
If articles like this are meant to soften us up for more middle east intervention- I say No American boots in Syria, period. Who cares what those animals do to each other? I hate to sound so cold, but this is not our problem. The US has it's own problems to deal with.
Agreed.
For a casual US Taxpayer you sure hit this bull in the eye. The middle east has been a war zone for thousands of year, we going there and spreading "democracy" is not going to change anything.
Democracy could change everything, actually, since democratic development tends to encourage economic development, gives people a stake in their own lives greater than the value of martyrdom for the local religion, reduces warfare, and encourages tolerance and pluralism (wouldn't it be nice if different branches of the same dumb religion stopped killing each other?).
There's an awful lot of people down there fighting to join the 21st century. Don't write them off so quickly.
I can't see how she wouldn't feel moved by this video. But we all know she won't watch it.
**TrustVerify** I could never state it better! 100% truthful. Peace to you.
Trusty's posts are like art: complete nonsense put together in such an unorthodox fashion and contrary to simple logic that you can't help but be awed by them. I can't even come up with a counter-argument when I read his absurd drivel, I can only stare in disbelief that somebody actually created it.
TrustVerify watched one too many X-Files episodes...
sutraquio: You actually believe TrustVerify's post? Really! Before you believe such things -TrustVerify needs to site his sources..
When Assad falls, I hope she is either thrown in prison for the rest of her life, hung like they did to Mussolini's girlfriend, OR is forced to travel and live like a gypsy, an international pariah who will never be free from the reputation she has more than earned. This is one person I will never feel sorry for and I can only wish that she lives a very long, miserable, life.
she can live at my house. i think she's hot.
The American people are the dumbest humans on the Planet. Get sucked into another war.
Great video. This gives Asma what she deserves. She a style whore while her own people are being massacred. She deserves to be an international pariah for standing by her monstrous husband.
And for all you Americans who couldn't care less for the massacre of thousands of innocent people in Syria, shame on you, too. No one is calling for American boots on the ground. But America should do something to stop the slaughter...Yeah, I know, you people just consider the whole Middle East a cesspool, where the innocents should be left to their fate, being killed and raped and otherwise having their human rights abused by the brutal regimes they live under.
Yeah...we should go running to their aid so they can go back to hating us. Where's the "shame on you" to Syria's neighbors? Hmm? Shouldn't the Arab League be the first ones you "tsk, tsk"? Syria is part of the Arab League too...but wait, what? They were suspended because otherwise, the Arab League may have actually had to have gotten involved rather than just shaking their collective finger at Syria.
They've done about as much as everyone else, actually, so if you want to berate them for being useless, you should include the UN and the United States in your criticism. There's evidence that many of those countries are arming the rebels, which is more than we've done (I've heard that we and Britain have "pledged" non-military aid, but I don't know when and how that will be disbursed).
It doesn't matter if they appreciate it or not. Like Dan said, we don't need to send any troops, but we have every reason, and many other ways, to help. Food, medicine, equipment, etc...
Maybe so, but, just as so many are fond of pointing out that the US as part or NATO are bound by treaty to assist NATO, Syria is part of the Arab League. Instead of getting involved, they suspend Syria when push comes to shove and leave it to others to do their job. You think if we send them anything they are going to suddenly love the US? It's been tried all over that region...has it gained us anything other than condemnation for not doing more?
The Arab League is a regional club, not a military alliance. There's a world of difference between the two.
Not that I disagree with your point, ultimately. I would love to see the Saudis giving military assistance to the rebels (if for nothing other than the irony).
I don't think people will "love" the US no matter what we do. We're the richest, most powerful nation on the planet, and some people will hate those in power regardless of their actual actions, if for no other reason than jealousy or for our actions in the past. That should not affect our capacity for doing the right thing when these decisions arise.
What exactly is her motivation to change anything? She has it made.
Yeah, good point by someone here. Arab women are just property, owned by their fathers, husbands, and brothers. If they behave and obey, they can have their shopping sprees and other "nice" things. She knows this, It's be a doormat to Assad and live like a modern day "queen," or come back to the "infidel west," and actually have to rest on her own laurels, which is obvously something she can never do, or she would have.
Are these women stupid? Asma has already admitted that she's really the one behind the atrocities! Can't wait for the Syrians to execute that b*tch.
I think she was being coy when she said "I'm the real dictator," actually. It's quite doubtful that Asma is actually in control of any government functions.
Her comment did speak volumes. I don't think she was coy at all.
I don't see her doing anything to stop the current situation due to one thing: she's comfortable. She sleeps at night knowing that she is not directly responsible for what is going on; her husband is and she'll hide behind that. You'd think that someone who prides themselves for being a progressive person of the society that she's part of would stand up for the beliefs she was thumping her chest about. However, she won't. She's too comfortable. She's merely an accessory to the evil taking place and it doesn't bother her.
Why doesn't Hillary Clinton invite her for shopping at Saks Fifthe Avenue and have a heart to heart talk with her? Woman to woman?
I'd tell those diplomatic women to shut their mouths. us imperialism needs to stop.
Tron did you read the part where it says that they were wifes of a UK and GERMAN ambasadors to the UN? How in he11 did you go from there to US ( and it should be capitilzed) "imperialism"? Is your attention span that short?
It's a knee-jerk reaction some people have, is all. They're anti-war, fair enough, but soon their feelings expand to the point where they blame EVERYTHING bad that happens on their chosen bogeyman. Obviously Tron hates US "imperialism" not only to the point that he feels it's still prevalent, but to the point that he'll blame it on a conflict where the US is not deeply involved and side instinctively with a cruel dictator murdering thousands of his own people for daring to want democratic rights.
The best response is to pat such people on the head indulgently, ensure them that we won't let the nasty US imperialism get them, and ignore them.
Tron- read the entire article so you don't make yourself look unintelligent with your comments. What does it have to do with the US.
this ariticle i mean this appealing from two wives of ambassador, is so interesting and wonderful ! i am not sure what interest the two women represent . but i want you ambassador wives to think twice as a husband' wife , children' mother and as a women: persude your husban to lay down the weapon , abandon the power just wait to die .
what if this person is you what will you do ambassador wives.
i am fed up with your euro speaking style
They wasted their time. Women like this would eat the dead.
Lady's
What happened to "stand by your man"
You might want to reconsider that when your man is standing behind a howitzer aimed at a populated city center.
She will be wanted at the Hague for crimes against humanity. She will end up rotting in jail of the syrian people don't behead her first.
Doubt it. There's no evidence she's actually done anything or given orders herself.
She'll be the hunted and shot down really soon.
This type society hangs women in the local square. Syrian women have NO power under Muslim rule.
Many of the rebel fighters in Syria are playing into the hands of NATO. US and Al-Qaeda find themselves on the same side of the barricades in the Syrian conflict as they largely pursue the same geopolitical strategy of toppling secular regimes in the region.
You will find the answer in US attempt to prevent collapse of the petrodollar.
And NATO would want secular regimes toppled... why?
I mean, if it's just out of starry-eyed love for democratic government, that's fine, but your post sounds more cynical than that.
The objective is to impose a puppet regime and toughen Western imperial control in the Middle East. In the short run, this will further isolate Iran in preparation for a military attack by Israel and the US and, in the long run, it eliminates another “independent secular regime” friendly to China and Russia. Iran now sells oil to China, Russia and India not in petrodollars but in the currencies of these countries. As long as the “secular regime” is controlled by Western allies and petrodollar collapse is not in danger it does not matter.
Countdown started for the falling first lady... It is a question of time
Ah, I see.
A puppet regime. In Syria. Really.
Please forgive me for bothering to respond to your post. I thought you might have something worthwhile to say but had trouble properly expressing it. I was wrong. To avoid this sort of confusion in the future, you should really throw your unsupported, counter-factual conspiracy theories out immediately, so that people know not to take you seriously from the outset.
On a side note, I find your ridiculous excuse for the revolution particularly ironic, given your username.
Get your facts right! Isn’t exactly what US did after the Iraq invasion? In the fall of 2000 Saddam Hussein switched his oil sales from dollars to euros. After the invasion, oil sales reverted back to the American dollar.
Do you have any idea how much catastrophic for the whole world but mostly for US would be the collapse of the petrodollar?
Do your research carefully and keep an open mind!
Compelling video. Let's hope she gets the message. And then brought to justice.
Oh, please. She has about as much influence on her husband's policies as the President and Congress have over the price of gasoline. Zero, zilch, zip, nada, nunca, none.