McFeatters: Syria's Asma al-Antoinette

The Arab Spring appears to have produced its own Marie Antoinette -- brighter and better educated than the original and with a much tougher husband, but with the same acquisitive tastes.
She is Asma al-Assad, 36, wife of Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad, and all through the yearlong uprising that has left more than 9,000 of her countrymen dead in the indiscriminate shelling of neighborhoods, whole cities even, Asma has been ordering tens of thousands of dollars' worth of luxury goods from Europe.
The Syrian opposition somehow got hold of emails detailing her extensive purchases -- such as handmade furniture, expensive jewelry, ornate candlesticks, a pair of Christian Louboutin patent-leather pumps with towering heels for $1,230, a custom dining-room table with seating for eight.
After 12 previous rounds of sanctions, these purchases persuaded the European Union and Turkey to finally get tough. "It is perhaps this that persuaded us to toughen the sanctions," said French foreign minister Alain Juppe.
Her credit cards, and those of the other womenfolk in the Assad family, have been blocked in the EU and they, with the exception of Asma, are barred from traveling there.
Asma, British-born but of Syrian descent, is a British citizen and can still travel there, however. She just can't spend any money. A look at her purchases indicated that this might be a real hardship.
The Guardian posted online (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2012/mar/14/bashar-asma-assad-shopping-pictures?INTCMPSRCH) some of her shopping trophies. Not that she was totally profligate. She boasted of her agent getting a 15 percent discount on a $3,445 glowing red Ming Luce vase. Just what one needs, along with a silver fondue set and a gold-leaf mirror decorated with butterflies, to ride out a revolution.
Only twice do her purchases indicate any sense of danger -- a bulletproof twill blazer and bulletproof barn coat for her husband.
The woman is no dummy. Born in England, her father was a London cardiologist. She graduated from a prestigious college with a degree in computer science and went on to a successful career as an investment banker.
She married Bashir in December 2000, and the couple have three children. But her husband's tight cocoon of family members and fellow Alawite tribesmen, plus that unlimited expense account, seems to have divorced the entire Assad clan from what was happening in the Arab street.
According to an email obtained by The Guardian, she sought a friend's opinion of a pair of $4,900 shoes with crystal-encrusted 6-l/4-inch heels. The friend replied, perhaps presciently, "I don't think they're going 2 B useful anytime soon unfortunately." May we suggest a good pair of running shoes instead? Better for beating the mob to the airport.
Dale McFeatters is a senior writer for the Scripps Howard News Service.
http://www.newsday.com/opinion/oped/mcfeatters-syria-s-asma-al-antoinette-1.3628846