Let others waster their commercial life blood trying to coercively buy influence

From Tehran pressures for debt collection; Assad unable to pay by Enab Baladi.  Everything always eventually comes back to productivity as the basis of prosperity.  War and civil disturbances undermine productivity and destroy wealth.  War is expensive and someone has to pay.  

Totalitarian and authoritarian regimes are usually able to sustain war and war-like activities longer than consent based systems but that generally only makes the failure more crushing in the end.  Eventually the piper pipes the tune for payment and either the lender or the borrower (or both) end up having to acknowledge losses.

So it is with Syria, Iran and Russia.  They are all mixed up in Syria (along with intra-Syria factions and parties), destroying the country.  And have been for decades.  All those militia and armies are not cheap.  

At the end of April, the Saudi newspaper, Asharq Al-Awsat, reported from sources described as being well-informed in Damascus, stating that Iran has been pressuring the Syrian regime government to recover its debts since the latest visit made by Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, to Damascus in May 2023.

The sources added that Iran is pressuring the regime to recover debts amounting to 50 billion US dollars by obtaining investment projects, especially after the two sides signed a “Memorandum of Understanding for Strategic Cooperation” during Raisi’s last visit.

Tehran insists on implementing the numerous agreements signed between the two countries in order to repay the debts, according to the sources.

[snip]

Qaddour believes that Tehran feels aggrieved in Syria, as its presence there is deemed the most failed project it has led in foreign policy, aimed at protecting the regime’s rule without receiving anything in return, according to his expression.

The researcher also noted that Iran is still forced to provide more in Syria, without signs of getting something in return, making it an unproductive and negative economic investment.

Qaddour pointed to a dispute between the Syrian regime and Iran that has begun to surface, highlighted by Iranian pressures for larger investments on one hand, and unprecedented criticisms by regime loyalists regarding the Iranian presence in Syria.

[snip]

espite multiple commercial failures, Iran continues to strive to increase trade for various purposes, most notably to recover as much debt as possible and because of the importance of this exchange for its soft power needs, which are essential for developing long-term influence and economic relationships.

According to the study, after 2015, Iran sought to establish itself in all the main sectors in Syria; despite its significant efforts in this area, the actual success and level of its control vary from one sector to another, amidst ongoing and continual Iranian attempts to increase its positioning in each one individually.

The study indicated that, generally, a common characteristic distinctively marks Iranian economic directions in Syria, which is the success in concluding agreements but failing to materialize them, due to three main factors: Russian competition, the impact of western sanctions, and Syria’s weak economy.

This has something of the hallmarks of China's Belt and Road Initiative.  Also the World Bank.  Funneling money from a repressive regime into dysfunctional states to buy influence and prestige is usually undertaken under the guise of bold commercial visions and expectations and end in commercial failure and the evaporation of capital into graft and failure.  

Two lessons over the past fifty years that most of the OECD have still not fully absorbed:

1)  Let other people fight their own wars.  Stay away from them and from nation building.

2)  There is no substitute for enlightened self interest expressed in free markets based on consent.  Don't waste money trying to buy influence and power in dysfunctional countries.  It doesn't work and you lose your money.  At best.