MICHAEL TOTTEN: How To Become A Dictator. “What you should do, is establish the idea that you’re indispensable, that you’re irreplaceable, that beyond you is the abyss of sectarian civil war, terrorism, ethnic cleansing, and the breakup of the state. Create problems that only you can resolve. That’s the mind game Bashar al-Assad is playing with you. As long as you can’t see beyond him, he’s safe.”