Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Obama’s New Year Resolution: More Middle East War

Steohen Lendman, Veterans Today, January 2, 2011

Syria and Iran are targeted. Regime change is planned. At issue is replacing them with client ones, controlling the region’s strategic resources, and depriving key rivals China and Russia from access. 

Pressure keeps building relentlessly. For months, Syria’s been ravaged by externally generated violence. Its economy’s also suffered enormously. According to a Damascus University assessment:

“The general financial situation of the country is suffering from the inability of the state budget because of the inability of the general revenue to cover expenses.”

Moreover, conditions ahead look worse because tax revenues are half what’s needed. Economic sanctions also impede oil revenues. As a result, the estimated 2012 budget deficit will be about 529 billion Syrian pounds ($9 billion dollars) out of a total $1,316 billion budget. A 40% revenue shortfall amounts to 18% of GDP.

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