Thread - Was #Syrian Ba’ath Party Economic Policy which was built on Self-reliance and local industry ahead of its time? Did that policy anticipate what we know now as the power of Western Economic Sanctions? Has Erdogan been lately repeating words taken from Baathist textbooks?
2-It’s hard to argue with possibility that the answers to all the above questions is in the affirmative. Coming from a Neo-Liberal Free Markets proponent like myself, I must admit to now seeing the political rationale behind deciding to shun globalization & purity of free markets
3-Having just listened to Erdogan’s lspeech calling on shunning imports and trying on local industry instead, one can’t help but see the similarities with the Baathist policies that I grew up with in #Syria . His attack on America and its economic power also sounded too familiar
4-Fact of the matter is that once a country enters the globalized economy, develops its banking system to Western standards and allows its currency to be fully convertible on world markets, it is one White House executive order away from going on its knees
5-The recent wave of Economic Sanctions are regrettable because what they are giving the excuse to developing countries to look inward and move away from free markets knowing that one set of American sanctions is enough to knock their economies back to the ground
6-As a student of economics, there is little doubt that entering the world economy, banking and finance brings countries more prosperity than adopting socialism and policy of industrial self-reliance. But, in this new real world, it is hard to separate economics from politics
7-Economic Sanctions merely prove that Western capitals can and have brought lesser developing countries to their knees. The reaction of the latter is inevitable. Regrettably, even a country like #Turkey now seems to be pivoting away from blind embrace of globalized open markets
8-Of course leaders want high economic growth and many may be convinced that free markets and globalization is the roadmap to follow but the recent wave of economic sanctions are forcing those leaders to think about the political & strategic costs of doing so
9-To be sure, #Turkey did not suffer latest currency crisis just because of the sanctions. Credit expansion was too high and relied on short term foreign financing. With high inflation and refusal to hike interest rates, foreign funding dried and the domino effect took place.
10-Economic Sanctions merely speeded the fall of the dominos but more importantly they offered Erdogan the perfect excuse to blame them as the mere reason for his country’s economic crisis.
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