Since he abruptly returned from Britain to Syria five years ago to inherit the regime from his ailing father, thirty-six year old Syrian strongman Basher al-Assad has rarely smiled in public.
As news of the Abu Ghraib scandal and Nicholas Berg's beheading dominates the headlines, American media have all but ignored one of the most significant developments since President Bush's now-famous 2002 "axis of evil" statement.
If doubts remained as to the extent that last month's rigged Iranian elections were boycotted by Iranian citizens, they were put to rest Tuesday, March 16.
