Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

In America, the question of whether to compensate the sentence of slaves is again being raised.

But beyond, lie many more questions.

How much is enough? How to distribute it?

And how to make sure it tackles inequalities that have long histories.

And start with the outermost utensils and work your way in.

Don't tap the teaspoon against the cup as you stir.

Always use formal titles.

We ask why civil servants in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India have to take Victorian era etiquette lessons.

But first.

In Syria this week, a sweeping new set of American sanctions takes hold.

State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortega's says the goal is to cut off the revenue that President Bashar al-Assad uses to wage war against his people.

We begin a sustained campaign of sanctions against the Assad regime under the Caesar Act.

Named after the brave photographer who six years ago brought the world documented proof of the Assad regime's brutality against fellow Syrians.

The defector code named Caesar smuggled out tens of thousands of images of men tortured and starved to death in regime prisons.

The sanctions come at a hard time for Mr. Assad and for the country's exhausted people.

After more than nine years of fighting, Mr. Assad has all but won the civil war.

The few rebel holdouts are greatly weakened.

But the regime now faces new challenges that can't be resolved with force.

This ought to be a great time for the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

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