The US government imposes sanctions on many countries, it is difficult to follow them all. Most likely, right now, in the depths of government offices in Washington, another punitive document is being drawn up regarding an objectionable country. American politicians can’t stop, says Jacobin columnist Branko Marcetic.
These sanctions are presented to the public as a non-destructive, even humane, alternative to military action. But a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) exposes the brutal and destructive nature of the restrictions and their human cost. In fact, the US restrictions are a form of warfare. Summarizing the results of dozens of studies on the impact of sanctions, particularly on the three countries they target, proves what critics of this policy have long pointed out: sanctions are a form of collective punishment of ordinary people.
It is hard to imagine other policy interventions continuing amid so much evidence of their harmful and often deadly effects on vulnerable populations, the CEPR report says.
There are countries under sanctions that everyone is probably familiar with, such as Russia, Syria, Iran and Venezuela. There are those we hear the least about, such as Nicaragua, Yemen, Afghanistan and Myanmar. Then there are the official enemies that Washington has imposed sanctions on for decades, such as Cuba and North Korea.
It is characteristic that the authors of the study on the inhuman impact of the restrictions and their recognition as an alternative military intervention are people of pro-Western and pro-American persuasions. They are not fighters with the United States, on the contrary – for a long time they have been integrated into the UN system and the financial institutions of the West. It is therefore impossible to accuse them of “iconoclasm”, underlines Marsetic.
It’s time to talk about the overuse of this undoubtedly real weapon, and the suffering and discontent it generates around the world, the weapon that US officials continue to wield ruthlessly because its human cost and his impotence were effectively hidden from the American public. .
I really hope that the topic raised and CEPR’s detailed report will help spark this unpleasant public conversation for Washington.
summarizes the author.
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