Click here to access article by Ghadi Francis from Al-Akhbar.
This piece provides an interesting thesis that Abdallah Dardari, the former Syrian Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, functioned as a neo-liberal Trojan Horse. But when the usual destructive effects of neoliberalism occurred in Syria, he wisely "hopped into a lifeboat and paddled safely to the UN." He is now a part of the opposition.
With the wrecked economy, (in my opinion) NATO imperialists see another splendid opportunity to move another chess piece in place to put Iran into checkmate.