The international proxy war on Syria destroyed more than $388 billion in physical capital, according to a UN commission. But political economist Ali Kadri says this conservative figure underestimates the damage imperialism does to humans, and how such destruction is inherent in capitalism.
The economy of permanent war, by Clare Connelly
War is not an anomaly, nor an exception to the rule, but a prerequisite of free trade, or so says Dr Ali Kadri, Senior Fellow at the National University of Singapore.
Dr Kadri specialises in the economics of accumulation through destruction, the production of waste and militarism, particularly in the Middle East.
He is a former visiting fellow at the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics and the principal author of several United Nations reports addressing the right to development in Western Asia.
https://medium.com/@ClaireConnelly/the-economy-of-permanent-war-bab348df0de0
2 comments:
At 2:58 in the YouTube video, political economist Ali Kadri says, “Although Syria had incurred a lot of damage under the neoliberal state that was experienced prior to the war, Syria has maintained an economic structure which is capable of self-rebuilding.”
Notice that neoliberal reference.
When Bashar al-Assad became president on 17 July 2000, he vowed to impose neoliberal “reforms” on Syria. This made him a darling of the Western media. At the same time, Muammar Gaddafi started to move from Arab socialism toward privatization. Again these neoliberal “reforms” made Gaddafi a darling of the western media.
Nonetheless, both Assad and Gaddafi were targeted for elimination because they would not grovel to Israel.
By 2011 the neoliberal “reforms” had caused so much suffering and inequality in Libya and Syria that the people were ripe for outside manipulation, followed by destruction. (Syria was also experiencing a prolonged drought, which caused food prices to skyrocket.)
It began with people demonstrating in the streets of Syria and eastern Libya. The CIA placed rifleman on rooftops, had them shoot the protesters, and then had the western media blame it on the government. Then the CIA and Gulf oil sheikhs sent in terrorist mercenaries. Then NATO bombed Libya to rubble, and would have eventually done the same to Syria if Russia had not entered the picture.
MY POINT IS that Assad and Gaddafi made themselves vulnerable by going neoliberal.
Normally this pleases the Empire, but if you do not also grovel to Israel, you get targeted by the Empire.
Yes, Konrad, I did notice what he said about neolibralism and I was going to mention it above, but it just slipped my mind at the last moment for some reason. Neoliberalism is a curse!
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