New video images of Bashar al-Assad have emerged that are said to be of a meeting today between the Syrian President and Iran's Saeed Jalili over the problem of the 48 Iranian detainees being held by the Free Syrian Army. He is shown with Jalili for 15 seconds in this 8 minute SANA news video between 1:05 - 1:20.
Again there is no audio, so no way to date it. For all we know, they could be from some other time like December 2009 when Saeed Jalili was in Damascus for talks with top Syrian officials, and as a matter of fact there is evidence that they may be from that visit.
In any case, I think I do show that this visit today, if indeed that's when it was shot, took place in the usual place and the usual way, like at least one other visit by Jalili to Damascus, and so like the other two videos of Assad released since the explosion, could very likely be archival footage. That may be why we have yet to hear him speak.
There is plenty of other evidence that Saeed Jaili arrived in Damascus today. My question is as to whether he actually met with Assad. EuroNews has a short video report on this where we actually hear from Jalili. Too bad Bashar al-Assad hasn't yet spoken up and thereby silenced my speculation about his health.
This is the Syrian government news video release today, it is seven minutes long and will give you a good idea of the alternate reality they feed to their people and the world. The part concerning the Assad-Jalili meeting starts about a minute into it.
I have also found this video on YouTube of that December 3, 2009 meeting between the two.
Below the fold I will show you three sets of screen shots from these two videos. Clearly they were shot with difference cameras and camera angles. The YouTube uploads are also of very different qualities. There are a few other differences, but nothing that Photoshop couldn't easy handle. The question is: Were they shot 3 years apart?
So since that devastating explosion in Damascus we have seen Assad three times in video without audio and in settings where he clearly has done photo ops before.
Even more suspicious are two notable absences. First he did not attend the funerals of the four ministers killed in the blast. And second, he did not make his Armed Forces Day speech on TV as usual, only published it. This is certainly strange behavior for a president during a civil war. Can you imagine the outrage if Abraham Lincoln would have cabled his address to Gettysburg while he stayed comfortably in the White House without explanation?
So I still can't get past the fact that showing a clear personal leadership presence and killing any doubts about who is in control is politics 101 after surviving a decapitation attempt. That could have easily been done by Bashar al-Assad simply by releasing a video in which he speaks about current events.
So why hasn't he done that?
See also:
BREAKING: Damascus explosion kills Defense Minister, other key figures
BREAKING: Is Syria's Bashar al-Assad dead or dying?
BREAKING: I know where Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is!
Bashar al-Assad: New images released as slaughter continues in Syria
Syria: Bashar al-Assad not heard from on Armed Forces Day!
AFP posted an article on the Assad - Jalili visit at 4:10pm pst:
Assad vows to crush Syria rebellionNevermind their BS, why can AFP tell us what Jalili says but in the case of Assad they can only tell us what state news agency SANA tells us he said. How strange!
President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Tuesday to crush the 17-month rebellion against his regime and to cleanse Syria of "terrorists", as his troops engaged rebels in key battleground city Aleppo.
"The Syrian people and their government are determined to purge the country of terrorists and to fight the terrorists without respite," he was quoted by state news agency SANA as telling visiting senior Iranian envoy Saeed Jalili.
Assad had earlier appeared on television for the first time in more than two weeks in a meeting with Jalili, a top aide to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Jalili offered Assad his country's backing, saying Tehran would "never allow the resistance axis -- of which Syria is an essential pillar -- to break.
"What is happening in Syria is not an internal issue but a conflict between the axis of resistance on the one hand, and the regional and global enemies of this axis on the other," he added. More...
SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES!Exhibit A1, frame from 7/8/2012 video @ 00:10.23
Exhibit A2, frame from 3/9/2009 video @ 00:24.17
Exhibit B1, frame from 7/8/2012 video @ 00:15.03
Exhibit B2, frame from 3/9/2009 video @ 00:29.15
Exhibit C1, frame from 7/8/2012 video @ 00:10.23
Exhibit C2, frame from 3/9/2009 video @ 00:10.23
One more thought before I hit the beach.
The "aging" effect of the presidency is legendary in our own country. Compare a picture of Obama in 2009 to today, and he had an easy time of it.
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Look at pictures of Lincoln at various times to see what a civil war does to you.
But here is Bashar al-Assad, 3 years later and with 20,000 of his people killed on his watch and he doesn't look as if he's aged a day.
Just saying...
10:46 PM PT: I was watching, of all things, Ken Burn's Civil War, while working to tomorrow's diary. I was struck by this recollection:
Advancing a little further we saw General Albert Sidney Johnston surrounded by his staff. We saw some little commotion around him but we did not know at the time that he was dead. The fact was kept from the troops. - Sam WatkinsI'll bet that hiding of the untimely death of a military leader in time of war isn't all that unusual in history.
Here are my related diaries on Syria:
NOT BREAKING NEWS: Just another massacre in Syria
UPDATED: Syrian prime minister defects
Syria: FSA says Iranian pilgrims really Republican Guard
Syria: Aleppo under Siege!
BREAKING: UN votes to condemn Assad Regime as Reuters posts false story on Syria
BREAKING: Kofi Annan resigns as envoy to Syria
BREAKING: Senior Syrian diplomat to Armenia defects
BREAKING: Big Explosion hits #Damascus #Syria
UPDATED: Syria's Charge D'Affaires Quits London Post
BREAKING: Ground assault on Aleppo begins!
BREAKING: Protests across Syria in spite of Assad regime violence
ALEPPO: Step outside the Matrix and witness the Horror
UPDATED: US fears massacre in #Aleppo, #Syria
BREAKING: Reports of clashes between Jordan Army & Assad's Syrian army
BRAKING: Obama stops Putin from re-arming Assad in Syria
Syria: Foreign meddling increases as crisis builds
BREAKING: Aleppo, Syria bombed with fighter jets
BREAKING: Syria issues a correction, it has no WMD to use
BREAKING: Arab League asks Assad to step down!
Bashar al-Assad: New images released as slaughter continues in Syria
no blood for oil
BREAKING: Activists report toxic gas attack in Deir ez-Zor, Syria
Glenn Greenwald sees Islamist Terrorism as main issue in Syria
Will Syria's Assad make a chemical attack in Damascus on Saturday?
BREAKING: I know where Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is!
BREAKING: Massive Fire near #Assad's Presidential Palace in #Damascus, #Syria
BREAKING: Is Syria's Bashar al-Assad dead or dying?
BREAKING: Damascus explosion kills Defense Minister, other key figures
The battle for Damascus is coming
BREAKING: General Strike in Damascus
BREAKING: Intense fighting reported in Damascus now!
BREAKING: Syrian defector spills beans as important new defection reported.
Does Syria's Assad have something on Kofi Annan?
Tremseh Massacre in Syria: What we know
BREAKING: ~227 reported massacred by Assad's forces in Tremseh, Syria today!
Syria: Is Assad regime on the verge of collapse?
BREAKING: Russian Warships reported in Syria
BREAKING: #Russia changing on #Assad but not as fast as conditions in #Syria
UN Observers say violence in Syria is ‘Unprecedented’
BREAKING: Defection of major Assad insider reported in Syria
BREAKING: WikiLeaks releases 2.4 million #Syria emails
When did "Never Again" become "Whenever?" | #Douma
BREAKING: Incredible mass rally in Aleppo, Syria today!
BREAKING: HRW releases torture report on Syria
BREAKING: Syrian General defects with 293 to Turkey
BREAKING: Items not in the MSM on Syria
My response to Phyllis Bennis: Where is the non-violent opposition in Syria?
BREAKING: Syrian Air Force attacks Douma, 10m from Damascus, thousands flee
BREAKING: As Syria Burns, UN Blows More Smoke
BREAKING: Kofi Annan to propose Syrian unity gov't sans Assad!
BREAKING: Douma, Syria under massive attack, another massacre feared
BREAKING: Another mass defection from Syrian army
BREAKING: #NATO says No War in #Syria shoot down of #Turkey jet
NATO meetup tomorrow as more defect from Syria
BREAKING: Turkey calls for NATO consult on downing of jet by Syria
BREAKING: Senior Syrian Officers Defect
UPDATED: Russia reported to be preparing to evacuate from Syria
BREAKING: Syria fighter pilot defects
BREAKING: Britain stops Russian ship carrying attack helicopters for Syria
BREAKING: Russian troops headed to Syria
Qaddafi forces Strike Back in Libya
BREAKING: UN suspends mission in Syria
Libya & Syria - two videos - no comment
BREAKING: Russia denies supplying Syria with NEW attack helicopters
Syrian people rise up against the massacre
Another "Houla style" massacre in Syria
Fake Houla Massacre Photo: Was the BBC set up?
Idlib, Syria protest today on anniversary of Kent State killings
BREAKING: Massive protests in Syria following Friday pray
Syria is bleeding
Syria: Ceasefire faltering as mass protests breakout
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