The Syrian regime has recently been hit with a group of sanctions that will as its crafters hope begin to turn the business elite against the regime. The sanctions are not designed to effect the people of Syria in their access to basic needs but they do limit the mobility of general Assad's government and its broader economic activity in regard to luxury items and foreign investment. Economic sanctions are the usual first step in international actions against a country who is seen to be in violation of international law. The recent bloody crack down of Syrian protesters calling for government reform has left 4500 dead and many more wounded.
The Syrian government calls the measures a declaration of "economic war". When looking to our need to reassess the monetary system and its functions it is interesting to see the way foreign policy of our country is exercised through economic avenues. In a rare veto Russia and China have opposed sanctions in the past for Syria as they are close trading partners. Also, Iraq and Lebanon are also expected to disregard the sanctions as their economies are so closely linked. It seems interesting to me in regard to foreign policy that the economy takes center stage but the curtains are drawn. With the direct violation of human rights and gross abuses of power it would seem any thinking person would condemn such atrocities. I suppose its how these folks get away with this stuff in the first place.
The information is presented with multiple views from various countries and a bit of history about the nature of the Arab League as it has never placed sanction against a member state before. I would have liked to have seen more divers opinions about the sanction like what the people of Syria say in particular. But I guess that is what we are all waiting for. The people to speak.
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