Bashar blows it.

So, clearly Bashar didn't read my blog post of 28th March (no need to write me to apologise, mate. I understand that work's been putting you under a lot of pressure recently. It's fine).

Bashar al-Assad made an eagerly awaited speech in the Syrian Parliament today - his first since mass protests began on 15th March.  With this speech he had a great opportunity to regain the initiative and win over the large numbers of doubters. In my opinion, he blew it!

• Too many veiled threads and talk of stability. Blaming foreign plots and satellite TV just doesn't work in 2011 when you have a well educated and IT-literate population.
• Too few promises on concretes steps that will be taken to reform the country. Vague promises have been made for 11 years. Syrians are getting tired of waiting for the Godot of reforms that never quite arrive.
• Virtually no mention of the dead, and certainly no apology. Even many Bashar supporters are shocked at the killings and want to see some kind of justice for the victims and their families.

It'll be interesting to see what happens on Friday.