The Revolutionary Distemper in Syria That Wasn’t

"On top of this, Assad underscored his allegiance to socialist values against what Washington had once called the “moral imperative” of “economic freedom,” by writing social rights into the constitution: security against sickness, disability and old age; access to health care; and free education at all levels. ... If Assad was a neo-liberal, he certainly was one of the world’s oddest devotees of the ideology."