Hey Anna Wintour! Great Timing on That Mrs. Assad Profile
It is not often that the Manolo finds himself opining directly on the matters political, but in this case he must make the exception. In February of this year, the Vogue magazine ran the exceedingly fawning piece written by Joan Juliet Buck on the wife of Bashar al-Assad, the dictator-for-life of Syria.
Here is the small, bitterly ironic taste:
Vogue: The striking good looks excuse the repression.
Asma al-Assad is glamorous, young, and very chic — the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies. Her style is not the couture-and-bling dazzle of Middle Eastern power but a deliberate lack of adornment. She’s a rare combination: a thin, long-limbed beauty with a trained analytic mind who dresses with cunning understatement. Paris Match calls her “the element of light in a country full of shadow zones.” She is the first lady of Syria.
“The element of light in the country full of shadow zones.” the Manolo is sure that this must bring great comfort to the thousands of political prisoners languishing in Syrian jails.
But Asma al-Assad likes to help where she can:
The 35-year-old first lady’s central mission is to change the mind-set of six million Syrians under eighteen, encourage them to engage in what she calls “active citizenship.” “It’s about everyone taking shared responsibility in moving this country forward, about empowerment in a civil society. We all have a stake in this country; it will be what we make it.”
And now the Manolo includes this recent news video of ordinary Syrians participating in “active citizenship”:
You will notice that all across Syria the security forces of the first lady’s husband are engaging these young, active citizens in the spirited debate about the proper role of empowerment in Syria. As of this writing, perhaps as many as 300 active citizens have had their mindset permanently changed by violent death.
“As of this writing, perhaps as many as 300 active citizens have had their mindset permanently changed by violent death. But such mundane things are not the concern of the Vogue, not when Brangelina is involved!”
Well, it never is. Cruel power politics int he Middle East is never really a concern for ignorant, fashion-crazed, liberals who think that nobody could possibly be lying to them, especially while wearing designer outfits. Remember, these are the same people who lapped up “Hope and Change.” And how’s that working out for us these days? I wonder how many Main Stream Media news anchors, liberal columnists, and newspaper reporters will follow Obama on his next campaign tour of Berlin? After all, they should all go with him because Obama will get a better reception there than the one he’ll get on the campaign trail here in the United States. Unless, of course, he’s talking to an audience filled with people who work at Vogue.
Very good article and insights. My wife likes to sew and we have watched several episodes of “Project Runway” as a result. She likes to see how potential top-end designers go about their work and we both like to study that particular subculture anthropologically (this is a bit like “snake handling”, since we’re both pretty conservative and it seems that an overwhelming majority of them are uber-liberal). One very noticeable thing about that particular crowd is that they are either good looking and/or cutting-edge hip fashion-wise, but so often lack basic manners, ethics, etc. and generally seem to behave like spoiled children most of the time. It’s the most superficial group of people I’ve ever seen outside of the professoriat in academia.
One of the things that I find interesting is the universality opinion, at least in the media, that the unrest and demonstrations are pro-democracy! The only thing I know with any certainty is the demonstrator do not want the regime they have. The replacement can always be worse!! Inadvertently, VOGUE provided a clear point of comparison of what is authentic, and what is not so.
I have no idea who this anna wintour wh**re is … but she is not the first one to swoon over the Assad’s.. and from your description she is in the fashion world – not exactly a place where you find people with brains let alone any thing resembling a moral/ethical core.
Barbara Walters, respected “journalist” had a puff piece on the tyrant Bashir Assad in 2008 , whom she called charming and intelligent… well he was intelligent enough to dupe a libtard like Walters. No different than Walter Durranty carrying water for Stalin and covering up his crimes.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042011/posts
If you want to compare Walters with Wintour, I would call Walters the bigger criminal… and yes, she should be ashamed of herself. Assuming she has ANY sense of shame/embarrassment.
Walters would most definitely find the ASSads’ a “fascinating couple”… yeah sure lady…they are surely the coolest tyrant killers she must have met in her life.
And so now the Manolo is wondering, who is this American public relations, big-wheel genius who managed to provide the wife of the Syrian tyrant her own Vogue tongue bath the few weeks before the mask slipped?
Maybe Mrs Clinton who described Assad as a “Reformer”?
And where does this person draw the line?
Well she did declare that Al Jazeera provided better news reporting than the American media, didn’t she?
There was one quote from the Vogue article that stayed with me. Mrs. Assad, asked about her children, said they treat their family as a small “democracy.” The audacity of that comment has stuck with me. “Empowered citizens” are dying for that treatment.
Truly successful societies are usually built on the benevolent dictatorship of the parents in the family unit, while the government is a representative democracy. Syria has it exactly backward, with children running the first family and a true dictator running the country.
The whole article was appalling.
How cold and heartless the wife of the monster tyrant of Syria must be to be able to completely ignore the plight of the thousands upon thousands of Syrians languishing in jail, tortured, beat, shot and murdered. How nice that she is able to travel about the world in such a carefree manner. Perhaps she should be arrested by the World Court and tried as an accessory to murder.
Good post, but nothing really new here. Certain breeds of pseudo-intellectuals and celebrities have always fawned over dictators, going back to ancient Rome at least. Mao and Stalin had their Western groupies, Fidel and Che still do. Hitler and Mussolini did. Heck, so did Nero.
Hey, she’s thin and everyone knows THAT trumps every other consideration!
There’s no better example of the empty, silly superficiality of the editors of that magazine called “Vogue”….extended to include the whole cult of empty celebrity.
And, what a perfectly contrasting subject with the depravity and barbarism of Islamic Syria. Is this something of a dis-informative article indicating that Assad’s woman is unveiled?
I suspect it’s more a display of the ignorance of the likes of these Bucks and Wintours.
I love the Manolo, and this piece makes me love him even more.
I didn’t read the fawning piece you reference.
Claudia Rosett’s piece was likely much better, complete with link to a lengthy video of Mrs. (“I love shoes”) al-Assad yakking to a pretentious Parisian audience, coming in and out of making sense.
I actually think of the ophthalmologist’s wife more these days, wondering what she thinks of all the Syrians rising up against her husband’s “peaceful” (laugh now) regime, as her husband attempts to blame the protests in Syria on the Jews or the Americans or someone, just as Q’Daffy did in the days right before his own rebellion got underway.
Hey maybe Mrs. Assad should make an appearance on “The View” so that the world’s biggest moron Whoopie Goldberg can explain to the rest of us that her husband didn’t actually “kill kill” his prisoners. Or some such nonsense.
I find it very charming that Assad’s wife picked up lingo like “empowered citizenship”. How about figuring out what citizenship means in a first place. I believe as a Brit she was technically Her Majesty’s subject. And in Syria everyone else is her subject.
Manolo,
Don’t know if you remember me, but it has been a long time since I visited your site and one time contributed to it. You btw gave me my current screen name. Nothing personal or disrespectful but being a typical American guy I do have priorities beyond fashion and women’s shoes, not that I don’t appreciate your unparalleled expert opinions on all. Ditto for hot shoes on certain women. I just happened to see a link to you about the murderous Assad family and here I happily find myself again.
You are an incredible rare breath of fresh air and voice for truth in the world you inhabit. I just wanted to relay my heartfelt appreciation for you being willing to tackle subjects such as this one in face of the inevitable fallout from taking such positions in your world.
Long live The Manolo.
Tom of the Missouri
P.S. I have read about Mrs. Assad the Younger before. What a shame such a totally hot babe is mixed up with such a genocidal maniac family. I wonder if she is being held hostage for fear of what would happen to her loved ones or others if she was to leave the tyrant. This of course does not excuse Vogue. In these situations one never knows. I am sure most of your readers don’t know but this guy’s father was known to raze entire towns, kill everyone inside, including women and children, in order to make a point to his enemies. Word has it that the younger may be up to similar tactics as I write to put down the current uprising by those brave protesters. The big O with his sexy David Brookian pant creases is of course silent on all of this making him almost in my opinion complicit.
Again, thank you.
Tom –
They say power is the best aphrodisiac. She’s not a hostage, she’s playing princess and lovin’ it
As for Ms. Wintour and Vogue, what can you say?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmRG0Y5N8lg
The piece is ridiculously fawning in the first place. It requires us to suspend belief and pretend the fabulous Asma knows nothing of her husband or the family into which she married as well as the claptrap about how she’s a product of all the fabulous Syrian cultures and religions through the ages. Except for the Jews, of course. She doesn’t mention Judaism until pressed and then waves it off with an “oh yes, we have a big Jewish quarter.” The rather small Jewish quarter in Damascus has been bereft of Jews for some time now, I believe.
Now, given the events of the last weeks/months, it’s grotesque and Vogue looks ridiculous (as do most of the people commenting at the website).
Well, the Mrs. may be stylish, but she cannot compare to Obama’s sharp creases in his pants. These folk all about the superficial.
No, wait, they tore into Palin when she was wearing beautiful stuff bought for her for the campaign. (That stuff looked really, REALLY good on her.) Perhaps if Palin had always worn such finery, they would not have been so hard on her. Before they will fawn over you, you have to demonstrate that you are one of them. You have to have “elite” tastes. That is really why they hate Palin. She is just so… common.
Asma al-Hassad, wife of a brutal, murderous dictator who wears styles bought with the loot of a country. She is chic!
Sarah Palin, all-American girl who wears stuff from the bargain store, which she buys with money she and hubby earn. Such a hausfrau!
Indeed, the Obama’s creases are of the sharpest. He is also very clean and well-spoken. But what of his shoes?
Wow, what a strange coincidence.
We have an elected president, and his wife is called the first lady, and they have an hereditary Baathist dictator and his wife is also called the first lady.
It’s kind of confuaing. They ought to call her the Bride of the Mass-Killer or something like that, just so we can tell them apart.
Same thing for old Bashie himself, of course.
It’s the Imelda Marcos of the middle east… what about her shoes?!
Ribbentrop was a snazzy dresser but he treated tailors badly and the British, except for a few fossils and fringe elements, saw through him. Vogue should go out of vogue for this. If seen on a cocktail table a respectable person should point and laugh until the shamed host drops it in the waste basket.
For goodness sake, why is Anna going so far abroad to find the perfect, stylish, most intelligent First Lady when she has one much closer to home who’s already eating out of her hand? Plus I really don’t think it’s a good idea to diss the Wons: they are both pretty thin skinned. Honestly, these fashionista types really could use a little schooling in loyalty and manners.
http://www.michellesmirror.com/search?q=assad
The Manolo’s opinion of Bashar Assad is too high. From 2008:
“Syrian President Bashar Assad has awarded former Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar [the cold-blooded murderer of several jews, including a four year old girl whose brains he beat out] the country’s highest medal”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/assad-awards-convicted-murderer-kuntar-syria-s-highest-medal-1.258115
As of this writing, perhaps as many as 300 active citizens have had their mindset permanently changed by
violent deathrobust kinetic debate.Nailed.It.
Just when I thought there was no way I could be the bigger fan of the Manolo than I already am, he comes out with the magnificent takedown of the vapid sheep who admire the dictatrix in the fashionable clothing.
Bravissimo, M. Manolo! That was more beautiful than the loveliest pair of strappy evening sandals ever to grace the Bloomingdale’s window.
How awful and shallow of Vogue to ruin the spring season by fawning over the wife of the Dauphin of Syria (as Christopher Hitchens calls him). How many people have been murdered by the eye doctor? He is a puppet of Iran and has dominated and destroyed Lebanon. But this of course, means nothing, as long as one is well dressed. And of course, Assad, Wintour and their libtard friends will blame it all on Israel and the Jooooooos.