Top ten signs that your authoritarian regime is in trouble

Ellen Barry reports in the New York Times that the Russians see the handwriting on the wall in Syria:  Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia’s top envoy for Syria, said on Thursday that President Bashar al-Assad’s government was losing control of the country and might be defeated by rebel forces. “Unfortunately, it is impossible to ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

Ellen Barry reports in the New York Times that the Russians see the handwriting on the wall in Syria

Ellen Barry reports in the New York Times that the Russians see the handwriting on the wall in Syria

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia’s top envoy for Syria, said on Thursday that President Bashar al-Assad’s government was losing control of the country and might be defeated by rebel forces.

“Unfortunately, it is impossible to exclude a victory of the Syrian opposition,” he said — the clearest indication to date that Russia believed Mr. Assad, a longtime strategic ally, could lose in a civil war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

“We must look squarely at the facts and the trend now suggests that the regime and the government in Syria are losing more and more control and more and more territory,” said Mr. Bogdanov, in remarks to Russia’s Public Chamber carried by Russian news agencies.

This comes a day after Syria launched Scud missiles at opposition forces — which everyone and their mother seems to think is a desperate move by the Assad regime — and the United States announced it would recognize the new Syrian opposition council

Now, as someone who has been expecting Assad to go for quite some time now, these appear to be pretty powerful signs that the regime is, if not facing the end, the beginning of the end.  On the other hand, as Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alistair Smith note in Foreign Policy, Assad still seems able to command the necessary resources to fund his coercive apparatus. 

So, how can we really tell that Assad — or any other leader facing an insurrection — is actually on his way out?  In the spirit of David Letterman, might I suggest the following:

TOP TEN SIGNS THAT YOUR REGIME IS IN TROUBLE:

10)  Your Minister of Transportation decides to cash in all his frequent flyer miles.

9)  Barbara Walters bumps you from her Most Fascinating People of the Year special in favor of a boy band;

8)  Your press agent tells you, "I don’t know what happened, but we can’t find that Vogue profile of you anywhere on the Internet!" 

7)  The RSVPs for your year-end holiday party don’t seem to include anyone from the Defense Ministry.

6)  Fox News interrupts its War on Christmas coverage to actually report on your country

5)  Your last name, as a hashtag, is trending higher than a Kardashian. 

4)  For no apparent reason, your radio station is playing this song nonstop. 

3)  The traffic jam to your international airport is far worse than usual.

2)  All those posters of you in the downtown are now covered by posters of the latest Liam Neeson film. 

and the #1 sign that your regime is in trouble…

1)  The U.N. Security Council says so!! 

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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