It’s the personality cults versus the quite brutish figures that they actually were,” Berry remarks. “Elena liked to present herself as a scientist but couldn’t recognise basic chemistry formulas. That didn’t stop her getting an honorary doctorate from the Royal Society of Chemistry; there’s a campaign at the moment to get her stripped of them.”

Banker, princess, warlord: the many lives of Asma Assad Banker, princess, warlord: the many lives of Asma Assad

The petitions were turned down and Elena had to settle for an honorary degree from the Central London Polytechnic and an honorary fellowship from the Royal Institute of Chemistry. According to Behr, the chancellor of London University, Professor Sir Philip Norman, publicly praised Elena's work, despite the fact that she never wrote a single word of any of her publications. In 1975, she was awarded Doctor Honoris Causa at both the University of Tehran and Jordan University in Amman. Later, the University of Manila awarded Elena with an honorary doctorate thanks to a large donation that the Ceausescus made during a trip to the Philippines. Elena never admitted to any research malpractice and insisted that institutions really wanted to grant her recognition for her scholarly work. She wanted to be called Professor Doctor Engineer, and she found no opposition at the Romanian Academy, since resistance was both futile and dangerous. Those few people who dared to resist her demands were removed from their positions. Forced international "recognition" The charm offensive worked. Just months after Hariri’s assassination, the New York Times asked whether they represented “the essence of secular Western-Arab fusion”. “I was enchanted,” says a Syrian diplomat now in exile, who organised a European tour for the pair. “She’s lovable the moment you meet her. He’s different to other dictators in the Middle East. He looks modern and sophisticated. That’s what makes him so dangerous.” Dominance in the scientific establishment within Romania was only one step on Elena's path to prestige. She routinely sought international recognition from other scientists. When the Ceausescus traveled abroad for state visits, ceremonies had to be negotiated prior to the trip in which Elena would receive honorary degrees and other rewards for her scientific work. Not a single scientist in either the West or the East ever wondered why she never participated in scientific debates.Asma seemed a promising consort for the new Syrian leader. Queen Rania of Jordan, Sheikha Moza of Qatar, even Princess Diana in Britain, all served as models for how a glamorous first lady might become a force for reform. Syria’s secularist Baath party made it more receptive than most Arab countries to women taking public roles. “I thought the combination of these two would make Syria a heaven,” said Wafic Said, a wealthy Syrian expat who befriended the couple. Asma hired PR firms in Britain and America to buff her image. They flew in parliamentarians from around the world to admire her good deeds. Celebrities came to Damascus, including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Sting and Damon Albarn. The grand mufti invited Syrian Jews who had fled persecution decades earlier. Brown Lloyd James, an American PR company, arranged a cover story in Vogue in March 2011, which portrayed Asma as “a rose in the desert” who was determined to make Syria into a “brand”. A dictator’s wife, overthrown and awaiting trial, pleads her case to a young female lawyer, while also drawing her into a tangled web of lies and dark, dangerous secrets. This dazzling and devastating debut is a Lead Launch for Headline Review for Spring 2021. Over the course of Ceausescu's rule, Nicolae and Elena constructed a personality cult around themselves, which in many ways paralleled those of Mao, Stalin, and Hitler. This cult positioned Elena as the doyen of the European scientific community and as an academic powerhouse whose publications and international recognition were the result of sustained hard work.

Velvet gloves to iron fists: how complicit are the wives of

In his inaugural speech, Bashar vowed to fight corruption and allow genuine multi-party elections. Soon after, he closed one of the country’s biggest prisons. In the cafés of Damascus, people cautiously began to discuss politics. This was a pivotal moment for the couple. Until now Asma, the foreign wife, had been relegated to the sidelines. Now she came to play a central role in Bashar’s international rehabilitation. “She was his ambassador to all the countries with whom he couldn’t mingle and mix,” says Abdel Nour, Bashar’s former adviser. Ultimately, when an offer from a Washington-based organization did not appear, she was forced to accept the honorary membership from the IAS. She showed her disgust and vehement anti-semitism by claiming that she had to accept a "low-ranked" degree from the hands of a "dirty Jew," Dr. Emanuel Merdinger, then head of the IAS (Pacepa 181).It is an intriguing prism through which to consider Melania Knauss, a Slovenian model who came to America married Donald Trump in 2005. With his election a decade later, she became only the second foreign-born first lady in American history – and one of the most divisive. Akhras was frank about his proximity to power: his preferred opener when giving speeches was, “As the father-in-law of the president...”. “Compared to him the Syrian ambassador was a busboy,” said Yahya al-Aridi, who ran communications for the Syrian government in London. It was said that even Syria’s prime minister asked Asma’s father to forward messages to Bashar. The Dictator’s Wife is published by Headline Review, and is available on Book Depository from 17 February. It’s hard to compute the scale of destruction in Syria over the years that followed. In 2014 Islamic State, a Sunni extremist group, took advantage of the chaos to establish a so-called caliphate straddling Syria and Iraq. Its sectarian ferocity presented a serious threat to Bashar’s forces but also weakened support for his opposition and justified Iran and Russia in propping him up.

The Dictator’s Wife by Freya Berry | Theresa Book Review: The Dictator’s Wife by Freya Berry | Theresa

As Behr explains in his history of the Ceaucescus' reign of terror, Mircea Corcioveci, one of the top scientists at the Institute, eventually discovered that Elena "didn't know what a chromatograph was and didn't recognize the formula for sulfuric acid," which was "taught to first-year chemistry students" (141). Ultimately, she became Chair of the National Council for Science and Technology and controlled all scientific research in the country, although she knew nothing about it. Clogg, Richard. “Let Us Now Praise a Famous Woman: The Questionable Wisdom of British Institutions in Honouring Elena Ceausescu in the Late 1970s.” New Scientist, Jan. 1990, https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12517004-500-forum-let-us-now-praise-a-famous-woman-the-questionable-wisdom-of-british-institutions-in-honouring-elena-ceausescu-in-the-late-1970s/. Alawite hardliners are unlikely to support any bid by Asma for the presidency. Perhaps her most powerful potential opponent is Maher, Bashar’s younger brother, who still commands the feared Fourth Armoured Division of the army. “The military and the sect will conspire to stop her standing as president,” said a well-connected Syrian trader in Dubai. If you think that people who deliberately engage in dubious scientific practices like plagiarism, falsification of results, or attendance at fake conferences represent the worst of scientific misconduct—then you have clearly never heard of Elena Ceausescu.Soon afterwards, Asma issued her first official statement since the start of the uprising: “The president is the president of all of Syria, not the head of a faction of Syrians, and the First Lady supports him in this role.” She was standing by her man. Behr, Edward. Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite: The Rise and Fall of the Ceausescus. Edited by P. Gethers, Villard Books, 1991. For months, Asma stopped giving interviews. Former friends describe her as looking emaciated on a rare public outing to a pro-government rally in January 2012. At some point she and her children moved to the family’s summer palace near the coast, far from any shelling or tear gas. These prosecutors are rummaging in my closets, hoping to find skeletons. But all they will find are my beautiful clothes.” So says the fictional Marija Popa, adapting an infamous phrase from Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines, as she prepares to stand trial for her late husband’s crimes. Wafic Said says he pleaded with Bashar to pursue a moderate course. “They love you and your wife, you’re not like Mubarak,” he told them. “Don’t miss this opportunity to become the greatest leader in the Arab world. Just give them some rights, a bit of dignity and you could be loved for ever.” But Bashar’s course was set. In a second speech, in June, he likened protesters to “germs”. A dark chapter was about to begin.