The Dictator: Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria The Celebrity: The erstwhile Gordon Sumner The Friendship: 2013's dictator du jour was Assad, which seems rather strange when you look at the man. Resembling a stoat with a toothbrush moustache, he trained to be an ophthalmologist and, before replacing his father as President of Syria, served as head of the Syrian Computer Society, sort of an after-school club for programming enthusiasts (I imagine). He is not the kind of overbearing monster that Gaddafi was- you probably wouldnt notice him if he walked past you on the street- and this possibly explains why he struck up a friendship with former Police singer and lute enthusiast, the once and future Sting. During a visit to Damascus, Sting and his wife Trudie Styler were invited to meet Assad and his wife- which they did, as the above photo attests. We dont know what they chatted about on this double date, though one would hope Sting mentioned the 300-odd political prisoners Assad had under lock and key. Sting being, after all, an ambassador for Amnesty International. Or they might just have talked about The Dream of the Blue Turtles.
Sting has since claimed that the photo was taken when the dictator was considered a potentially liberalising force in the Middle East- youd guess sometime before he was re-elected with a dubious 97.6% of the popular vote in 2007. Oh wait, these photos were taken in 2008? Ah. Well, Ill give Sting a break anyway. He was probably thrilled to find someone with more embarrassing facial hair than his. And its not as if history holds any other examples of bad people with moustaches, is it?
I am Scotland's 278,000th best export and a self-proclaimed expert on all things Bond-related. When I'm not expounding on the delights of A View to a Kill, I might be found under a pile of Dr Who DVDs, or reading all the answers in Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. I also prefer to play Playstation games from the years 1997-1999. These are the things I like.
