Tuesday, April 15, 2003
The American Kaiser has some thoughts on why economic sanctions against Syria are a bad idea. Worth checking out. [Permalink doesn't seem to be working - just scroll down if necessary and look for the "AGAINST ECONOMIC SANCTIONS" entry.]
[...]Bad move. Economic sanctions against dictators have a long and rich history of backfiring horribly and will, inevitably, lead to more problems. Economic sanctions against Syria will not be burdened by history's failures because they'll simply fail. I can't even imagine a more ineffective measure than American sanctions against Syria.
The first reason that sanctions against Syria will be a dazzling failure is that they will be unilateral. If you look at statistics on Syria's economy, you'll notice that the US accounts for only 4% of Syrian imports and a negligible amount of Syrian exports. (Has anyone ever seen a product here in the States that says "Made in Syria?") Most Syrian products are bound for the Arab world, Turkey, or Europe. Good luck getting any of those parties to join sanctions against this country. These nations didn't even abide by international sanctions to which they agreed (against Iraq). How can anyone logically expect France or Saudi Arabia to impose economic sanctions on Syria? What will stop Russia, China, or Libya from sending weapons and other goods into Syria? If the sanctions are unilateral, will the miniscule amount of Syrian-American trade really make a difference to Assad?[...]
The first reason that sanctions against Syria will be a dazzling failure is that they will be unilateral. If you look at statistics on Syria's economy, you'll notice that the US accounts for only 4% of Syrian imports and a negligible amount of Syrian exports. (Has anyone ever seen a product here in the States that says "Made in Syria?") Most Syrian products are bound for the Arab world, Turkey, or Europe. Good luck getting any of those parties to join sanctions against this country. These nations didn't even abide by international sanctions to which they agreed (against Iraq). How can anyone logically expect France or Saudi Arabia to impose economic sanctions on Syria? What will stop Russia, China, or Libya from sending weapons and other goods into Syria? If the sanctions are unilateral, will the miniscule amount of Syrian-American trade really make a difference to Assad?[...]
