Economic Efects of a Strike on SyriaWill We Go to War?War is risky business but a business nonetheless, with economic implications that are far toopotent to ignore.Ever since images surfaced of dead and dying victims of a sarin nerve gas attack in the Ghoutadistrict of Syrias capital city of Damascus on August 21st, the leaders of several Western nations,including the U.S., the U.K., and France, have been sounding a rallying cry for the internationalcommunity to mount a punishing strike against the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, whomthey believe is responsible.It will defnitely have a negative impact on the world economy, warned Chinas Vice FinanceMinister Zhu Guangyao, citing International Monetary Fund projections that the confict could addanother $10 to the price of oil, which would in turn erode some 0.25% from global economicgrowth.Chinas and Russias concerns were echoed by India, Brazil, and South Africa, who all share akinship as the BRICS group of developing nations.The destructive implications of war on an economy are easily understood. Depleted reserves ofcash, food, and fuel, plus the loss of a large percentage of the workforce through death anddisability, can leave nations devastated if not bankrupt. As a result, many a revolution have beentriggered by the turmoil of war, such as Russias in 1917 toward the end of World War I.Yet economists and politicians will just as adamantly stress that war can sometimes bail certaincountries out of terrible economic depressions, as the Second World War did for the U.S., the U.K.,and a whole host of their allies.20th century economist John Maynard Keynes wrote to U.S. President F. D. Roosevelt in 1933 thatwar has always caused intense industrial activity, as cited by New Deal Documents. In the past,Keynes references, orthodox fnance has regarded a war as the only legitimate excuse for creatingemployment by governmental expenditure.Although the positive economic implications of war have come to be known as MilitaryKeynesianism, Dr. Keynes was not advocating war in his letter to the President. He was, instead,advocating borrowing to pay for public works that the government take out loans and spend itsway out of the depression. He merely referenced war as the only other known means of spurringeconomic growth. War stimulates an economy as the government ramps up its war machine andgoes on a shopping spree for food, clothing, arms, and transportation. It builds factories and drivesproduction. It recruits soldiers and other personnel, putting people to work. It even lays thegroundwork for innovation in science and technology, giving us such inventions are radar, wirelessphones, jet engines, computers, and even the Internet.It is not like me to be so cynical. But if the fve-year-old economic crisis that has paralysed theglobe is comparable to the Great Depression of the 1930s, then perhaps the only thing that will getus out now is what got us then a world war.Chinas Deputy Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao has warned that any militaryaction against Syria would harm the global economy through causing a hikein oil prices.Military action would have a negative impact on the global economy, especially onthe oil price - it will cause a hike in the oil price, the Chinese minister told reporterson the sidelines of a Group of 2 !ummit in the "ussian city of !t# $etersburg on%hursday#