On Friday, Syria’s central bank announced that a shipment of local currency had arrived from Russia, where the Syrian lira has been printed for years.
The move follows a phone call between Syria’s de facto president Ahmad al-Sharaa and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, and may provide a clue about the future relations between the countries.
While the fall of Assad was welcomed and even celebrated by many western states, they remain largely hesitant when it comes to lifting sanctions that were meant to weaken the ousted president’s grip on power.
Syria’s economy, battered by years of war, was further weakened by these sanctions, which make it nearly impossible for investment and serious reconstruction efforts.
The West’s sanctions morality theater continues, punishing civilians while warlords and autocrats laugh over caviar. Syria’s economy lies in ruins, but Brussels and D.C. would rather clutch pearls than admit their “principled stands” achieved nothing but a humanitarian disaster.
Russia’s cash flights? A calculated chess move dressed as charity. Moscow knows every pallet of banknotes buys deeper hooks into whatever’s left of Syria’s carcass. Let them eat printed money while the ruble’s artillery does the real work.
Meanwhile, the Gulf monarchies pour billions into reconstructing Dubai’s skyscrapers of sin while Damascus crumbles. Priorities, right? But why rebuild nations when you can just host another COP summit and call it progress?