IN his speech long waited by Syrians, Arabs and the whole world, President Bashar Al-Assad seemed to have lectured the world about Arabism and democracy in a bid to remind the public that democracy is part of Syrian civilization. After making a passing review of Syrian history during the Ottoman era, he stressed that Syria is a county with civil institutions. Al-Assad did not talk about the current Syrian crisis in detail. He also did not talk about any solution to the crisis, or any plan to step down or how to help usher in a smooth transition of power in the troubled country whose people have demanded an end to his regime. Instead, most of the time, he tried to give the world community an idea about a covert and overt conspiracy by foreign powers and some Arab countries that he said were trying to harm Syria. He urged the Syrian people not to fall into the trap laid down by invisible hands in his theory of conspiracy and to be wary of attempts by alleged conspirators to use factions in Syria as tools to divide the country. It could have been better if he discussed in his speech on Tuesday the Syrian crisis and made suggestion on how to put Syria back on track, especially after the Arab League's monitors failed in their mission to make him fulfill his promise to stop the violent crackdowns against peaceful protests and help in the smooth transfer of power to a transitional government. The Syrian president intentionally avoided talking about the Syrian crisis and his promise to hand over the reins of power to a transitional government which is expected to draft a new constitution in keeping with the wishes of the people who have risked their lives in pursuit of their dream to bring democracy to the country ruled with an iron-fist for a long time. It is sad that instead of admitting mistakes in the way Syrians were treated and in his bid to suppress their will, Al-Assad tried to becloud legitimate issues with his incredible conspiracy theory as if the world were naive enough to believe it. He presented himself as a teacher of Arabism and democracy, unmindful that his actions were the exact opposite of what he was preaching. He has never tried to become transparent but it is clear that in his speech he attempted to settle scores with some Arab countries and the Arab League which have been trying their best to find a win
