His regime is unleashing its ire. Leading a murderous campaign on its own citizens. As international monitors and the world look on, Bashar Al-Assad remains ruthless and defiant. But the Syrian president is also described as mild-mannered and reserved. A duality only a few outsiders have personally witnessed. Today, we talk to the author of a book who spent time getting to know Syria's first family... first hand.

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Today's guest host was Piya Chattopadhyay.

Part One of The Current

Satire

It's Thursday, December 29th.

Syrian security forces cut back their violent confrontations with protestors as Arab observers arrive to monitor the unrest.

Currently, Syria says the halt in violence has nothing to do with the arrival of the observers and when the repression resumes it will have nothing to do with their departure.

This is The Current.

Andrew Tabler on his lost faith in Syria's President

Whatever the Syrian military has in mind for its country, it seems untroubled that the protests are growing larger or that the world is watching. Arab League observers are monitoring the chaos, but the violence continues. Syrian activists say 47 more protesters have been killed in the past two days alone. And Amnesty International says as many as 15 thousand people are being detained.

Many Syrians had put their hopes for reform in their President when Bashar al-Assad came to power back in 2000. His father was the previous leader, a man far more likely to massacre than modernize. And despite the younger Assad's western education and soft-spoken manner, he seems unwilling or incapable of making change.

Bashar al-Assad is not well-known outside his circle. But for seven years, U.S. reporter Andrew Tabler had unparalleled access to Assad's Syria. He's written about it in his latest book, In the Lion's Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington's Battle with Syria. Andrew Tabler is a Next Generation fellow at The Washington Institute and he was in Washington D.C.

Related Link:

• Will Asma al-Assad take a stand or stand by her man? By: Ashley Fantz - CNN.Com
  
  

Other segments from today's show:

• To Serve With Pride (Documentary Repeat)
• How the NYC music scene in the 70s changed music forever