New US sanctions part of drive to ‘choke’ Syrians – President Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday has denounced the latest US sanctions on the country, claiming the measures were part of the long-standing US efforts to “choke” the living standards of Syrians. The leader blamed new US sanctions – called the Caesar Act – for a drop in Syria’s currency, which resulted in Syrians buying dollars over fears that their economic situation would worsen. In a speech to deputies at the presidential palace, Assad claimed the sanctions were part of the US’s economic war against Syria, and called for the nation to root out corruption and to enact measures that would promote food self-sufficiency. Assad urged his subjects to support the currency, which has lost around almost two thirds of its value since the start of Syria’s nearly decade-old conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and made millions refugees. “Our support of the pound is a source of our strength,” Assad said, criticizing a scramble by ordinary Syrians to buy foreign currencies as a safe haven to cushion themselves from skyrocketing inflation. The pound touched a record low of 3,000 to the dollar in June as many feared the new sanctions would tighten the noose around Assad and worsen Syria’s dire economic plight. It traded at 47 to the dollar before protests against Assad’s rule erupted in March 2011. The collapse of the currency has driven up inflation and aggravated hardship as Syrians struggle to afford food, power and other basics. Assad said Western adversaries were waging a long-term economic war that Syria could withstand by raising its food self-sufficiency and by cracking down on corruption, which he said was wasting public funds needed to raise living standards. “The Caesar Act is not a separate case, it is another phase in stages of sanctions that preceded it for years and which have caused huge damage,” he told the deputies. Washington says the goal of the new sanctions is to hold Damascus to account for war crimes and deter it from further pursuing the war. The sanctions exempt humanitarian aid. Earlier, state media had flashed that Assad had suffered low blood pressure for a few minutes while delivering a speech to parliament, before resuming normally, and that it would broadcast it later in the evening. Assad was shown in a pre-recorded speech asking for a chair to rest after he stopped the address, and in the edited footage he reappeared on television in front of the deputies. “Doctors are the worst patients, in truth I have not had anything to eat since yesterday. I had some sugar and salt,” the 55-year-old former eye doctor said, without elaborating. (Source: CNA)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more