Assad Song Says So Much

Bashar al-Assad is not only still alive, he’s still in power in Syria. And he recently held a press conference of sorts, where The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins heard a familiar theme. “Assad expressed a frustration sometimes heard in extreme partisan circles in the United States — that it is impossible to get a fair hearing in the established media. The Western press, he said, publishes countless stories on his regime, while ignoring the crimes of the rebels.”

+ Many parts of Syria are in ruins, and hundreds of thousands of people have been killed. But some Syrian refugees are now paying smugglers to take them back