After nearly 14 years of brutal civil war and political repression, most of Syria’s oil and gas wells, roads, electricity grids, farmland and infrastructure are in ruins. Ninety percent of the population is living in poverty. The value of the Syrian pound has plummeted, and the central bank’s reserves of foreign currency — needed to buy essentials like food, fuel and spare parts — are nearly depleted.
Before the war, oil accounted for two-thirds of Syria’s exports and agriculture made up roughly a quarter of economic activity.
“The whole economic system in Syria is not functioning,” said Samir Aita, a Syrian economist and the president of the Circle of Arab Economists.
Even so, there is widespread agreement that the single most important step in rebuilding Syria’s economy can be taken only by the United States: Lift the punishing layers of sanctions that have effectively cut off Syria from international commerce and investment.
I would think these could be lifted by an executive order.
Perhaps the president is too busy sending arms to Ukraine and Israel and issuing pardons?
The perp was a US citizen, and resident of Texas. Interestingly, earlier, Fox Noise was atwitter that that truck had supposedly entered the US from Mexico a few days ago.
Regardless what happened a couple weeks ago, the Islamic boogyman is now top of mind, and Mr “Muslim ban” takes office in less than three weeks.
After mowing down numerous people over a three-block stretch on the famed thoroughfare while firing shots into the crowd, the suspect – identified by sources as Shamsud Din Jabbar, 42 – allegedly got out of the truck wielding an assault rifle and opened fire on police officers, law enforcement officials briefed on the incident told ABC News.
An ISIS flag along with weapons were found in the vehicle and investigators were trying to assess the suspect’s connection to terror groups, the FBI said.
Improvised explosive devices found in and around the scene on Bourbon Street were apparently found to be viable and investigators were looking for more in the city’s French Quarter, multiple law enforcement sources tell ABC News.
The FBI said it does not believe Shamsud Din Jabbar was “solely responsible” for the Bourbon Street attack and asked for the public’s assistance. “We’re aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates," said Alethea Duncan, an assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans field office…
The FBI is working to determine Jabbar’s “potential associations and affiliations with terroristic organizations,” she said.
True, but that case never got the media attention this one is getting. I watched the presser this afternoon. Senator Kennedy was demanding “those people” be prosecuted. As the perp was a native born USian, by the Senator’s yardstick, all Muslims, including those born here, are now suspect.
You are not in this market. It is getting attention.
The subway murder never made the local Detroit news, but I did see it reported by the BBC feed from Singapore. Since then, there has been another thinly reported attempted murder by ignition in NYC.
Investigators found multiple improvised explosive devices, including two pipe bombs that were concealed within coolers and wired for remote detonation, according to a Louisiana State Police intelligence bulletin obtained by the Associated Press.
The bulletin, relying on information gathered soon after the attack, also said surveillance footage showed three men and a woman placing one of the devices…
Surveillance footage identified a second vehicle, registered to the same owner as the Ford-F150, that ran into the crowd Wednesday morning and was observed following the suspect’s pickup truck. Footage captured three men and one woman placing the first device at Orleans and Bourbon streets and then tracked them to the additional locations…
Both vehicles involved have a history of multiple border crossings into Mexico at the Eagle Pass and Brownsville points of entry, according to the source.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said it was investigating a fire at the entrance to the tower. The public was told to avoid the area, though the police noted the fire had been put out.
The driver pulled into the valet area of the hotel and the vehicle exploded, according to an official. The driver is apparently dead and, so far, the only casualty from the incident. Seven bystanders had minor injuries, authorities said.
UPDATE: Cybertruck ‘Explosion’ at Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas Being Investigated as Possible Act of Terrorism
Surveillance video shows a driver passing by the Trump Hotel in Vegas about an hour before the car exploded and then circling back near the end of that hour and stopping in front of the hotel, where the car exploded several seconds later, the official told CNN.
Authorities are exploring whether there is any connection between the explosion and the attack in New Orleans, where a suspect rammed into a crowd with a truck [an F-150 Lightning] rented on Turo…
NBC “news” long, long, report on the NOLA and Vegas events, tonight, reported law enforcement has been looking at those surveillance videos, and decided the people they first looked at had nothing to do with the bombs.
Fox Noise was very excited, this morning, to report the perp’s truck entered from Mexico. It very conveniently fed their narrative about everyone entering from Mexico being bad. The truck is a rental. Law enforcement can easily determine who was in possession of that truck on the day of the alleged border crossing.
Fox Noise may need to pivot back to it’s “monolithic, globe girdling, Islamic conspiracy” narrative to call for a pogrom against Muslims, including native born, USian citizen, Muslims, like the perp.
I heard an interesting commentary about Syria today,
“Why did the West take the new Syrian leader off the terrorist list?”
“To enable deporting Syrian refugees back to Syria.”
Israel’s Foreign Minister Drops a Bombshell Statement on Syria
In a recent interview on Israeli TV, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gidon Sa’ar dropped a shocking revelation about Europe’s evolving stance on Syria and its leadership. This video dives into the motivations behind granting legitimacy to controversial figures like Al-Julani, once associated with Al-Qaeda.
