Sunday, February 19, 2012

Syria 'disintegrating under crippling sanctions'


BBC News [excerpt]

Free Syrian Army members in Idlib, 18 Feb. The 11-month uprising against Mr Assad has claimed thousands of lives.

One of Syria's leading businessmen says its economy is being crippled by foreign sanctions and that the government is slowly disintegrating.

Faisal al-Qudsi, the son of a former Syrian president, told the BBC the military action could only last six months and then there would be "millions of people on the streets".

But he said President Bashar al-Assad's government would fight to the end.

The 11-month uprising against Mr Assad has claimed thousands of lives.

Human rights groups have put the figure at more than 7,000, while the government says at least 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed combating "armed gangs and terrorists".

The violence continued on Saturday, when Syrian troops fired on mourners during a funeral that turned into a mass demonstration in Damascus. Activists say at least one person was killed there and some 20 across the country.

'Catch 22'


Speaking to the BBC's Weekend World Today programme, Mr Qudsi said the economy had been crippled by sanctions and that although Iran was sending money, it was not enough.

Mr Qudsi now chairs a London-based investment banking firm and has been heavily involved in private sector investment in Syria.

He said the uprising had destroyed tourism and the sanctions on exports of oil and other products had dramatically reduced the gross domestic product.

"So, effectively the foreign exchange reserves of the central bank have come down from $22bn (£14bn) to about $10bn and it is dwindling very rapidly," Mr Qudsi said.

He said the military phase against protesters could only last another six months "because the army is getting tired and will go nowhere".

"They will have to sit and talk or at least they have to stop killing. And the minute they stop killing, more millions of people will be on the streets. So they are in a Catch 22."

He added: "The apparatus of the government is slowly disintegrating and it's almost non-existent in trouble spots like Homs, Idlib, Deraa. Courts are not there; police are not interested in any sort of crime and it is affecting the government very, very badly."

But Mr Qudsi said Mr Assad would fight to the end because he and his supporters think there is "a universal conspiracy against the government of Syria".

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Khmer people supports Syrian people for their freedom.

Khmer will be uprising soon to oust Hun Sen and ask illegal Yuon settlers to go back home.

Khmer people have already been fed up.

Anonymous said...

Syria history been written and this will come to pass soon as situations are unfolding in Syria:

“Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap." Prophecy

Something Big is going to destroy Damascus. Very scary for all the people living in that city.

Wild~Wisconsonite

Anonymous said...

Khmer men are cowards. Hun Sen said they are dogs if they want to come inside, he will kick them out. Hun Sen also said, he will give anyone a warehouse of weapons.

Khmer men did nothing and allowed a few Pol Pot soldiers to murdered 2 millions of its people. Now they watch Hun Sen sell the country.

Coward Khmer.

Anonymous said...

3:23 AM
You are partially right up to a point.
There are always die-hard freedom fighters in every culture to be correct. However in the Khmer case it has been the lack of LEADERSHIP and INITIATIVES. We Khmer have gotten used to be led by false prophets, then when crunch time hits we counldn't get our sorry ass together to put up resistance to save our own ass and come back to fight another day.

Go on and sleep tight Khmer..... Sen & Associates will even dig a larger hole for everyone of you to sleep in free of charge!

Anonymous said...

To 3:28,

Can you say, coward Vietnamese and Chinese also ?? There is no election in their country !! They are the communist countries.

Atleast Cambodia has the election, it is just the opposition didn't have alternative solutions for Cambodian. The only thing they have are "CPP is Yourn slave" and "Hun Sen is selling land to
Viet". That is not good enough to win the election.

SRP can learn some thing from US election campaign.

Anonymous said...

6:43 AM,

Some Khmer people and some of you as bloggers or readers are bullshit with your very low education. Please think logically.

San Rainsy has been trying to get help from us, but some Khmer people criticized him as the power hungry and not working together as teams no matter what types of parties have formed.

Sam Rainsy has done a very good to make the Khmer voices be heard. He has tirelessly tried to very hard to let the world and Khmer people abroad know that Yuon/Vietnamese leaders and folks at the borders and illegal Yuon/Vietnamese settlers in Cambodia have been following the footstep of Ho Chi Minh for several decades until now. Not just Yuon/Hanoi leaders followed the Ho Chi Minh's footstep and goal, but the Yuon/Vietname people have been following the Hi Chi Minh's secret agenda, just like a dream to have entire Cambodia and Laos to be one country called Vietnam after the name of Indochina.

So, Indochina is a fool name (that is like a scapegoat) in the blind eyes and deaf ears as Pol Pot and Lon Nol knew so well. The secret signs or symbols of "CVPP" that Ho Chi Minh invented in his evil mind. Those signs of CVPP have been hidden in the Mekong Lake and Tonle Sap lake where the illegal Yuon/Vietnamese settlers and fishermen have been living on. There are many illegal Vietnamese settlers have living in the small towns of Cambodia. All of these situations have been showing that they have been swallowing step by step for the next many years to come.

You can be the judges and tell us, Khmer people, how many illegal Yuon/Vietnamese settlers in Cambodia between 1979 and 2012.

Some very well educated Khmer people agreed with Penn Sovan, Sam Rainsy, Pol Pol, Lon Nol and other Khmer heroes.


Khmer Yeurng (part 1)

Anonymous said...

Hun Sen, Heng Samring and Chea Sim did not know the secret Ho Chi Minh's dirty secret to take the entire Cambodia. Maybe these three guys knew, but they did not understand or became well educated enough to know the purpose of Ho Chi Minh's footstep for their Vietnamese Dream or goal. Ho Chi Minh was dead before 21st century. The world is changing. The low-class and unedcated Vietnamese folks still believe in old footsteps of Ho Chi Minh as their God or something to wrongly swallow Cambodia and Laos. The past is over so that the stupid and uneducated Vietnamese folks are still following illegally to kill Khmer people and take land. The Vietnamese people are still stupid to post Picture of Ho Chi Minh everywhere. Yes, the saw the secret sign of Hi Chi Minh called CVPP = Cambodia-Vietnam People Party after CPP in Cambodia today.

Just think about it, Khmer folks. There are some Khmer folks like Heng Samrin, Chea Sim and Hun Sen are stuck in the hand of CPP Yuon/Vietnamese Officials in Phnom Penh and Hanoi until today.

These three guys are just a small piece of Khmer population and mean nothing for Khmer people. These three guys are just a piece of junk creating the jungle of law, enjoying the fake power illegally installed by Vietnam/Hanoi masters, having the wealth and destroying the natural resources of Cambodia, the Kingdom of Wonder.

The world know about the situations in Cambodia, but the world still want to figure out how to solve these problems without killing or injuring Khmer people plus the illegal Vietnamese settlers in Cambodia.

Khmer people have been protesting peacefully against the fake Cambodian government in CPP regime, but did not work before CPP under Yuon/Vietnamese cronies and Hun Sen abused the powers and used the military forces and weapons against the peaceful Khmer people who are seeking freedom and democracy in Cambodia.

Some Khmer people are successfully in doing the businesses and become wealthy, but those Khmer people do not see the bad things are coming from evil Ho Chi Minh's secret dream (or goal for his low-class and uneducated Vietnamese folks to follow to kill Khmer people)to destroy them (those wealthy Khmer people), innocent and powerless Khmer people and Khmer nation.

Khmer folks, please think about it and you want to do in your lives. What do you want to do? Do you want to vote CPP or the Khmer Democrat party (like Sam Rainsy Party and other freedom and democracy lovers parties).

Khmer Yeurng (part 2).

Anonymous said...

8:41 AM. I agree with you. As extreme as your reasons are, it is also very sad that we cannot do much other that to watch it further being destroyed.

I live overseas and I have a few Siems friends. We often get into debate about politics. Their view is why doesnt anyone just assisinate him to save the millions of lives. I dont why the dictator is alive either.

I also have Vietnamese friends, who have no idea about the political history, often they ask me why cant Cambodia move on and live in peace. I often reply that, our leaders are Vietnamese, speak fluent Vietnamese. Thats why Khmer people cant live in peace. THey often have no clue that millions of Vietnamese are living in Khmer, when asked how many Khmer are living in Vietnam. They often said Khmer people are to poor to own any land, but often street beggars.

Is this the future of our Khmer people, just beggars and migrant workers in our own country?