External conspiracy in Syria

I do watch Syrian state TV in order to look at the official propaganda of the lousy regime.  Now they refer regularly to developments in Syria: but always as "the external conspiracy" against Syria. The rhetoric is suffocatingly chauvinist Syrian nationalist (mimicking Lebanese Phoenician nationalism).  They also refer to the "criminal gangs".  But why did we not hear of those criminal gangs before the protests?  And for a regime that bases its political legitimacy on providing security to its people, it is undermining its own claims of legitimacy with such propaganda.   One thing that bothers me about the crisis of Syria; Bashshar Al-Asad revealed himself to be a most arrogant potentate.  His speech before the puppet parliament will be taught at Damascus University in courses on "past regime propaganda."