US Treasury Targets Additional Syrian Government Officials For Sanctions
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Tuesday the designations of three senior officials of the Government of Syria –Syria’s Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid Al-Moallem, Syria’s Presidential Political and Media Advisor Bouthaina Shaaban and Syria’s Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali – pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13573.
“Building on our sanctions targeting the entire Government of Syria, we are bringing additional pressure to bear today directly on three senior Asad regime officials who are principal defenders of the regime’s activities,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen.
Walid Al-Moallem was appointed Foreign and Expatriates Minister in February 2006 and Bouthaina Shaaban has served as Syria’s Presidential Political and Media Advisor since July 2008. As Syria’s primary link to Lebanon, Ali Abdul Karim Ali has served as the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon since May 2009 and has maintained close ties to Syrian intelligence throughout his diplomatic career.
Signed by President Obama on May 18, 2011, E.O. 13573 targets senior officials of the Government of Syria. On August 18, 2011, the President signed E.O. 13582, imposing additional sanctions – the strongest to date – against the Government of Syria and its instrumentalities, including its Central Bank and its energy sector. As a result of today’s action, U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with any of the designees and any assets they may have subject to U.S. jurisdiction are frozen.
Identifying Information:
Individual: Al-Moallem, Walid
AKA: MUALLEM, WALID
AKA: AL-MOUALEM, WALID
AKA: AL-MUALEM, WALID
AKA: AL-MUALLEM, WALID
AKA: MUHI EDDINE MOALLEM, WALID
AKA: MOALLEM, WALID
AKA: AL-MOUALLEM, WALID
DOB: 1941
POB: Damascus, Syria
Individual: Shaaban, Bouthaina
AKA: Shaaban, Buthaina
DOB: 1953
POB: Homs, Syria
Individual: Ali Abdul Karim Ali
AKA: Ali Abdul Karim
AKA: Ali Abd-al-Karim
AKA: Ali Abd-al-Karim Ali
AKA: Ali Abdel Karim Ali
AKA: Ali Abdulkarim Ali
AKA: Ali Abdulkarim
DOB: 1953
POB: Latakia Governorate, Syria
According to Zero Hedge, countries outside of the U.S. dumped 74 billion dollars in U.S. Treasuries, most of it over the weekend:
“Over the weekend, we observed the perplexing sell off of $56 billion in US Treasurys courtesy of weekly disclosure in the Fed’s custodial account (source: H.4.1) and speculated if this may be due to an asset rotation, under duress or otherwise, out of bonds and into stocks, to prevent the collapse of the global ponzi (because when the BRICs tell the IMF to boost its bailout capacity you know it is global). We also proposed a far simpler theory: “the dreaded D-day in which foreign official and private investors finally start offloading their $2.7 trillion in Treasurys with impunity (although not with the element of surprise – China has made it abundantly clear it will sell its Treasury holdings, the only question is when), has finally arrived.” In hindsight the Occam’s Razor should have been applied. Little did we know 5 short days ago just how violent the reaction by China would be (both post and pre-facto) to the Senate decision to propose a law for all out trade warfare with China. Now we know – in the week ended October 12, a further $17.7 billion was “removed” from the Fed’s custodial Treasury account, meaning that someone, somewhere is very displeased with US paper, and, far more importantly, what it represents, and wants to make their displeasure heard loud and clear. (Source)
Undoubtedly, the Chinese and other countries have recently discovered that Italy and Greece, with smaller debt to income ratios than the United States, are less riskier and carry a higher rate of return. This is because, unlike the US, the Rothschild/Rockefeller bond rating agencies have trashed their country’s debt ratings, forcing them to pay a much higher interest rate than U.S. Treasuries. Hey, if you take the risk, you might as well earn the reward!