sanc·tions: noun plural noun: sanctions
Economic sanctions: Commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a sovereign state, group, or individual.
The primary goal of an economic embargo or sanctions is to bring a country to heel or to break a country’s will and bow to the demands of the country imposing sanctions.
Sanctions are supposed to affect or cripple an economy being targeted, thus creating economic turmoil for the countries citizens targeted and in turn, coerce citizens to do the bidding of the country responsible for the economic destruction.
The country implementing sanctions is depending on the targeted citizens of the country affected to blame their own Government in charge, and not the ones that originally created the economic turmoil.
Secondary goals of an Economic Embargo & Sanction
According to a U.S Government report from U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE, The Secondary goals are purely symbolic and serve to enhance the
prestige or status of the sanctioning government. Sanctions can also increase the standing of the sanctioning government in the eyes of its domestic interest groups.
Countries under an Economic Embargo & Sanctions:
- Cuba – The United States economic embargo on the Republic of Cuba
- Venezuela – Economist Jeffrey Sachs: U.S. Sanctions Have Devastated Venezuela & Killed Over 40,000 Since 2017
Questioning the moral ethics of creating an economic calamity with Sanctions
More and more people are questioning the moral ethics behind using sanctions.
Discontent in #Cuba is real + a consequence of forces out of Cuba’s control- #US sanctions, Covid-19, US + #EU preventing fuel suppliers from Venezuela- We shouldn’t accept erasure of history + context every time we see a protest in a country US has targeted for Regime Change… pic.twitter.com/xd7tAvgGlz
— Mick Wallace (@wallacemick) July 17, 2021
“The sanctions mean that Cuba is unable to trade freely with other nations, causing acute shortages of goods..that cannot be made on the island. In 2014, the UN estimated that the sanctions had caused $1.1 trillion worth of damage to the island’s economy” https://t.co/jciGbufWJY
— Dorothy Chapman ⏳ (@Dottcha) July 18, 2021
Obviously the US can’t technically “force” countries and foreign companies to not trade with Cuba (or Venezuela & Iran). Duh. But it can and does *threaten them* with secondary sanctions if they do
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) July 16, 2021
But the dirty job of corporate propagandists like @DPFunke is to muddy the waters