Most Assad supporters used to say they were uncomfortable with his human rights crimes but ISIS & the US-backed militias were much worse. They outright said “Wahhabi/Salafi head chopping jihadis” were much worse than gulags & lynching thousands of dissidents. They must think it’s more humane to be hung by the neck than have your head cut off. That’s the derangement of Assadism.

Paid propagandists like Beeley & Bartlett denied Assad was anything but a stellar fellow maligned to justify US intervention. But they get paid big bucks to talk rubbish.

Then the reluctant Assadists moved into defending him against charges of gassing civilians at Khan Sheikhoun & became aligned, if not indistinguishable, from the paid propagandists.

Now the reluctant ones have gone over full monty to the dark side & are circulating a misanthropic apologetic, complete with an interview with Beeley & that 24-second exposé by John Pilger. It’s titled “You Only Hate Assad Because Your TV Told You To” by Caitlin Johnstone.

It’s a slippery slope from feigning equivocation to falling in love with a dictator.