NY Times and Assad

The cover story for this weekend's NY Times Magazine was a wonderfully fluffy and flattering portrait of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. I think there was only one noteworthy tidbit of information in the entire article.

Then Asma al-Assad climbed into the passenger's seat, Bashar al-Assad slipped behind the wheel, and they drove off alone into the jostling traffic and the balmy Damascus night.

If Bashar Al Assad regularly dirves himslef and his wife around Damascus I would say that it is fairly easy to answer the questin of whether Assad is actually in control of the country or if he is under threat from other Baathists. It looks like Assad is in charge of Syria and running it as he sees fit.