A Quote by George Packer

While starving refugees in Homs were providing target practice for government snipers, Bashar al-Assad's strongest international backer was in Sochi, at the Iceberg Skating Palace, visibly moved, smiling with deep satisfaction, as the Russians beautifully glided and leaped their way to the gold medal in the team event.

George Packer

Quote Topics

Al Assad Beautifully Deep Event Gold Gold Medal Government Iceberg International Medal Moved Palace Practice Providing Refugees Russians Satisfaction Skating Smiling Snipers Sochi Starving Strongest Target Target Practice Team Way Were While

Quote Author

George Packer
American - Novelist
Born: August 13, 1960

I think the Russians have played now for some time the role of providing cover for Bashar al-Assad's behavior. The alternative explanation that the Russians put forth is simply not plausible.

Rex W. Tillerson

I think it's important to remember the tensions between Turkey and Russia predate this jet shoot down by some time. I mean, Russia's long been Bashar al-Assad's strongest backer.

Peter Kenyon

While Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a brutal dictator and should be tried at the Hague for international war crimes, the United States should not militarily overthrow him.

Ro Khanna

Bashar al-Assad needs to be replaced, but he can't be replaced with another Bashar al-Assad.

Lee Zeldin

Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin - recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it.

Carly Fiorina

I don't think he fully analyzes the situation. If you destabilize [Bashar] Assad and punish Assad, you do embolden terrorists. You embolden al-Qaida because al-Qaida is on the other side of this war. So, one side wins if you destabilize the other side. So, he will be emboldening al-Qaida and the Islamic rebels. And I'm not so sure they're better than Assad.

Rand Paul

The deplorable Syrian refugee crisis was created because Syrian President Bashar al-Assad started a war on his people, and the international community refused to confront him.

Richard Grenell

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad belongs to the small Alawite sect and is therefore considered a heretic by many Sunnis; al-Assad runs a secular regime, and therefore he is considered by Sunni militants to be an apostate, and he is inflicting a total war on his Sunni population.

Peter Bergen

I don't regret at all saying that if I saw Bashar al-Assad using chemical weapons on his people that that would change my assessments in terms of what we were or were not willing to do in Syria.

Barack Obama

Every chance at destabilizing [Bashar] Assad... the bombing campaign causes a flood of refugees into Jordan, there's already half a million in Jordan. I think a bombing campaign - I think it's hard to argue that a U.S. bombing campaign is going to cause less refugees. And I think it causes more refugees and more of a humanitarian disaster. I think it causes, or allows, the risk of Israel being attacked with a gas attack to go up, if we attack Assad. So there's all kinds of bad things.

Rand Paul

IS [Islamic State] has played a major role in helping Bashar al-Assad to reposition Syria on the international scene. Now, it is almost impossible to come up with a solution that would exclude him. The political game appears to be very cynical indeed.

Tariq Ramadan

Senator Kerry was fooled by Bashar al-Assad.

Elliott Abrams

Syria is lucky to have Bashar al-Assad as her President.

George Galloway

I think the Russians need to think more carefully about the commitment they made under the chemical weapons agreements to be the guarantor that these weapons would be seized, they would be removed, they would be destroyed. And since they are Bashar al-Assad's ally, they would have the closest insight as to the compliance.

Rex W. Tillerson

Bashar Assad is a major cause of the refugees which are now flooding Europe and causing such consternation in the United States.