“Silence means approval,” the minister said to me. And the Syrian minister meant what he said. Rex Tillerson, Trump’s Secretary of State, was silent. And that was the message. Bashar al-Assad is no longer America’s target. Donald Trump, or whoever runs Trump, has decided that Assad will stay on as President of Syria. Silence is approval. Is this to please Vladimir Putin? Or is this to accept reality: that Bashar al-Assad will remain president of Syria? Either way, it is a fact. Barring ill health or assassination, Assad will continue to hold office. He will continue to be the leader. He will remain.
‘The Independent’ may forgive me today for publishing more than just two columns of Robert Fisk’s article. But this article is very important. Readers are encouraged to read all full articles of Robert Fisk, if they want to really know what is going on in the region.
The average reader in the ‘West’ may not realize: To change Syrian landscape to remove only Assad would be useless. To make real changes all of the thousands of Secret Police Officers would have to go as well (where to?). The result would be: see Libya