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CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Surviving Syria's Prisons: Bravery of two brothers who exposed the atrocities of Assad's evil regime
What a strange power the television camera exercises over people. Point a lens at them and they will confess to crimes that, in court or under police questioning, they'd deny to their dying breath.
In 2011, he appeared on a U.S. talk show, attempting to justify his reign of terror by claiming the thuggish security services were not under his control. These days, as Oliver Bullough's brilliant book Moneyland makes plain, that's petty cash for tax-evading crooks and tech billionaires. Clearly, he was achieving a long-held ambition to appear on a prestigious U.S. show, and the fact millions of Americans would learn how his regime ruled by mass murder was a price worth paying.
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