Syrian president Bashar al-Assad called the United States "the greatest country in the world" during his interview with Fox News Wednesday, placing him at public odds with the viewpoint of his ally, Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Assad sad the distinction for the U.S. as being the world's greatest was "self-evident."
Putin decried the idea of American exceptionalism in his op-ed printed in the New York Times last week, writing, "I would rather disagree with a case [President Obama] made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is "what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional." It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation."
DENNIS KUCINICH: You're not saying our president doesn't have credibility. I'm asking you if this is an opportunity for you to reset relations with the United States.
ASSAD: As I said, the relation depends on the credibility of the administration. We never looked at the United States as an enemy. We never looked at the American people as an enemy. We always like to have good relations with every country in the world, first of all the United States, because they are the greatest country in the world. That's normal. That's self-evident. But that doesn't mean to say and to go in the direction that the United States want us to go in. We have our interests, we have our civilization, we have our will, and they have to accept and respect that. If there's mutual respect, we don't have a problem. We want to have good relations, of course.