Bashar Assad addressed his supporters:
A defiant President Bashar al-Assad called on Sunday for national mobilization in a "war to defend the nation", describing rebels fighting him as terrorists and agents of foreign powers with whom it was impossible to negotiate.
Appearing in an opera house in central Damascus packed with cheering supporters, the Syrian leader delivered his first speech to an audience since June last year, and his first public comments since a television interview in November.
Assad did not set out anything new that might offer the hope of victory or just survival, so the exhortation to simply fight harder won't change the outcome.
Or perhaps Assad speaking of national mobilization means he really is going to conscript every swinging Alawite of military age and press them into service. That's possible.
Although he'd need significant foreign financial support to pull so many people from the civilian economy (such as it is) to fight. Who coughs up the money for national mobilization?
Unless this is just an effort to bolster his rear guard so they'll sacrifice blood and soul for the short period of time it takes Assad to flee Syria with his family and closest friends. Just where is that Russian flotilla, anyway?
UPDATE: Doh! Is it too late to change the title to "The Fat Lady Sings" given that the speech took place in an opera house? Sigh. They handed me a title on a silver platter and I did not notice.
