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Geopolitics

Syrian Leaders Hedge Their Bets, Transfer Fortunes

As repression grows more and more violent, Syrian leaders have reportedly been discreetly preparing to transfer portions of their fortunes abroad. But is it a sign President Assad is preparing to flee?

Assad (newtown grafitti)
Assad (newtown grafitti)

Worldcrunch NEWS BITES

How can we gauge the Syrian regime's confidence that it can hold on to power? One way is to follow the money.

While the harsh repression continues against the popular uprising, well-informed sources in Damascus say that Syrian political leaders and businessmen recently met with four Turkish financiers based in Germany and The Netherlands. President Bachar al-Assad and members of his inner circle – including his cousin and the country's most powerful businessman, Rami Makhlouf -- may be preparing the foreign transfer of $250 million in financial assets. At least two transfers, totaling $59 millions, are scheduled to be made to accounts in Malaysia, the sources say.

Syrian leaders are also said to be looking for ways to relocate their assets through a Turkish NGO said to have links to radical Islamic groups. Turning to Turkey would be surprising given recent comments by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who described the Syrian repression as "appalling." The Turkish leader recently asked his former ally to stop targeting civilians.

Over the years, Syrian military and political leaders are suspected of having accumulated billions of dollars through corruption. Indeed, if just $250 million has been transferred outside of the country in recent weeks, insiders say it is a sign that the regime is still quite confident of its survival.

Read the full version in French by Yves Bourdillon

photo -newtown grafitti

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Economy

Lithium Mines In Europe? A New World Of Supply-Chain Sovereignty

The European Union has a new plan that challenges the long-established dogmas of globalization, with its just-in-time supply chains and outsourcing the "dirty" work to the developing world.

Photo of an open cast mine in Kalgoorlie, Australia.

Open cast mine in Kalgoorlie, Australia.

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — It is one of the great paradoxes of our time: in order to overcome some of our dependencies and vulnerabilities — revealed in crises like COVID and the war in Ukraine — we risk falling into other dependencies that are no less toxic. The ecological transition, the digitalization of our economy, or increased defense needs, all pose risks to our supply of strategic minerals.

The European Commission published a plan this week to escape this fate by setting realistic objectives within a relatively short time frame, by the end of this decade.

This plan goes against the dogmas of globalization of the past 30 or 40 years, which relied on just-in-time supply chains from one end of the planet to the other — and, if we're being honest, outsourced the least "clean" tasks, such as mining or refining minerals, to countries in the developing world.

But the pendulum is now swinging in the other direction, if possible under better environmental and social conditions. Will Europe be able to achieve these objectives while remaining within the bounds of both the ecological and digital transitions? That is the challenge.

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