and Murdoch’s wsj spoke as always in support of the Saudi+Gulf States+Turkey backed regime change agenda against Assad. Why? Because he was a dictator like them? No. Because he is an Alawite Muslim, a branch considered infidels by most fundamentalist Muslims, like the Saudis. And because he ran a secular government that did not even require the president to be a Muslim, and he had no Sharia laws. To them he is an apostate. Why has he been friends with Iran? Because he knew the top Sunni leaders were (a) not his friends and (b) slowly working to back up civil strife against him.