Slashdot Mirror
How the Syrian Games Industry Crumbled Under Sanctions and Violence
Fluffeh writes "Syria's games industry now looks like just another collateral casualty of dictator Bashar Al-Assad's struggle to hold power. 'Life for Syrian game developers has never been better,' joked Falafel Games founder Radwan Kasmiya, 'You can test the action on the streets and get back to your desktop to script it on your keyboard.' Any momentum Syria may have been building as a regional game development hub slowed considerably in 2004, when then-US President George W. Bush levied economic sanctions against the country. Under the sanctions, Syria's game developers found themselves cut off from investment money they needed to grow, as well as from other relationships that were just as important as cash. 'Any [closure of opportunity] is devastating to a budding games company as global partnerships are completely hindered,' said Rawan Sha'ban of the Jordanian game development company Quirkat. 'Even at the simplest infrastructure level, game development engines [from the US] cannot be purchased in a sanctioned country.'"
Economic sanctions dont mean we roll in there and take their money; they amount to one country saying "we dont like what youre doing, so we wont trade with you freely, and will encourage others not to as well".
If there WERENT sanctions, I imagine wed be seeing an article about how Bush was in bed with Syrian leadership and is to blame for the hardship there now.