◼ May 10, 2011: Since Vogue published an exquisitely timed fawning profile of the "glamorous, young, and very chic" first lady of Syria Asma al-Assad in February, her husband has presided over the murder of more than 300 demonstrators and jailed more than 10,000 political prisoners in a bloody crackdown. Now Asma has fled to England and Vogue has tossed the profile down the memory hole. - Gawker
Where the "Rose of the Desert" was once found wrapped in a purple shawl on Vogue's web site, there's now just an "OOPS: The page you're looking for cannot be found" message, which is probably just as well for the magazine, which came in for relentless criticism over the story. It could just be part of the site's normal turnover of old content, but other stories from the February issue are still online. Calls to Vogue and to Joan Juliet Buck, the profile's author, were not immediately returned.
◼ Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue, has disowned Bashar al-Assad's wife Asma in the wake of a highly complimentay article the magazine ran last year. - Telegraph
The 3,200-word profile, which was published in March 2011, carried the headline "A Rose in the Desert" and described the British-born Mrs Assad as "the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies." It went on to describe her walking "a determined swath cut through space with a flash of red soles," which was a reference to her Christian Louboutin heels.
According to the New York Times the article was part of a public relations offensive launched by the Assad regime, which included paying a US public relations firm $5,000 (£3,200) a month for acting as a point of liaison between Vogue and Mrs Assad....
The move came a week after the American journalist Barbara Walters said she "regretted" trying to help Sheherazad Jaafari, the Syrian leader's press aide, to get a job at CNN and a place at Columbia University.
Miss Jaafari had also been an intern at the public relations firm that liaised with Vogue on behalf of Mrs Assad.
Where the "Rose of the Desert" was once found wrapped in a purple shawl on Vogue's web site, there's now just an "OOPS: The page you're looking for cannot be found" message, which is probably just as well for the magazine, which came in for relentless criticism over the story. It could just be part of the site's normal turnover of old content, but other stories from the February issue are still online. Calls to Vogue and to Joan Juliet Buck, the profile's author, were not immediately returned.
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| The profile described the Mrs Assad as 'the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies' Photo: AFP/GETTY |
◼ Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue, has disowned Bashar al-Assad's wife Asma in the wake of a highly complimentay article the magazine ran last year. - Telegraph
The 3,200-word profile, which was published in March 2011, carried the headline "A Rose in the Desert" and described the British-born Mrs Assad as "the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies." It went on to describe her walking "a determined swath cut through space with a flash of red soles," which was a reference to her Christian Louboutin heels.
According to the New York Times the article was part of a public relations offensive launched by the Assad regime, which included paying a US public relations firm $5,000 (£3,200) a month for acting as a point of liaison between Vogue and Mrs Assad....
The move came a week after the American journalist Barbara Walters said she "regretted" trying to help Sheherazad Jaafari, the Syrian leader's press aide, to get a job at CNN and a place at Columbia University.
Miss Jaafari had also been an intern at the public relations firm that liaised with Vogue on behalf of Mrs Assad.
◼ PHOTO: KERRYS HAVE DINNER WITH ASSAD IN 2009 - Breitbart's Big Peace
This week, Kerry labeled Assad among the dictators “Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein,” as well as a “thug and murderer.”
◼ John Kerry a Frequent Visitor with Syrian Dictator Bashar Al-Assad - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard
Kerry praised Assad later in 2011 as being a "very generous" man. "Well, I personally believe that -- I mean, this is my belief, okay? But President Assad has been very generous with me in terms of the discussions we have had. And when I last went to -- the last several trips to Syria -- I asked President Assad to do certain things to build the relationship with the United States and sort of show the good faith that would help us to move the process forward," said Kerry at a think tank.
