Syria Ill-Equipped to Combat Sanctions--Daily Star

[Gloria]

From the new World Media Watch up now at URL in sig,
Tomorow at Buzzflash.com

2//The Daily Star, Lebanon Thursday, October 27, 2005

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=19620



SYRIA ILL-EQUIPPED TO COMBAT SANCTIONS

Growing international isolation already damaging state-controlled economy

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

DAMASCUS: Syria looks set to escape immediate UN sanctions over Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri's murder but its growing international isolation is already damaging the fragile state-controlled economy.


(snip)


A spokesman for Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Moscow, as a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, would do "everything necessary" to prevent sanctions being imposed against Damascus.



But a Western diplomat posted in the Syrian capital warned that even targeted sanctions rather than an all-out embargo would damage confidence in the Syrian economy.



"Who would want to invest in a country which has been punished by the international community," the diplomat said, asking not to be named.



Syria - unlike major oil producers Iraq and Libya - does not have the resources to stand up to the pressure of sanctions, with its output having declined to 485,000 barrels per day (bpd) last year from 590,000 in 1996.



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