Sanctions

I Crashed An Anti-Syria Lobby Meeting

August 30, 2023 Hekmat Aboukhater, Orinoco Tribune. Resist! Earthquakes, Sanctions, Syria, US Regime Change

This July 30, I registered under an alias to join a workshop organized by the Syrian American Council (SAC), the leading voice of the lobby that aims to starve and destabilize Syria into submission to the West’s demands. The workshop instructed SAC members to advocate for the most recent Syria regime change bill, H.R. 3202, during those visits. During the seminar, I was able to witness firsthand the impact of the anti-Syria lobby and understand the cynical tactics it employs to condemn the population of Syria to poverty and famine. Most recently, the lobby successfully ended the life-saving sanctions exemption known as General License 23 (GL 23), which allowed humanitarian aid into Syria following the catastrophic earthquake that struck the country this February.

The Enduring Aftermath Of The US’ Occupation Of Afghanistan

August 29, 2023 Brian Berletic, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Afghanistan, Occupation, Sanctions, US Imperialism

The US’ invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, beginning in 2001 and enduring until 2021, left a lingering but familiar aftermath. The nationwide destruction Afghanistan suffered and the ongoing instability that persists to this day following the US’ withdrawal is reminiscent of the devastation and destitution that followed after the US’ withdrawal from Southeast Asia in the 1970s after nearly two decades of war there. Even long after the US withdrew from Afghanistan, the country continues to struggle to pick up the broken pieces left behind. This is partly due to the immense loss of life and destruction caused by the US, but also owed to very deliberate and malicious efforts by Washington who refuses to allow the Afghan people to finally move on with their lives, their nation, and their resources as they themselves determine. Even long after the US withdrew from Afghanistan, the country continues to struggle to pick up the broken pieces left behind. This is partly due to the immense loss of life and destruction caused by the US, but also owed to very deliberate and malicious efforts by Washington who refuses to allow the Afghan people to finally move on with their lives, their nation, and their resources as they themselves determine.

BRICS Calls For Economic Decision Making In The Interest Of The Majority

August 24, 2023 Abdul Rahman, People's Dispatch. Educate! Africa, BRICS, China, De-dollarization, Global South, IMF, New Development Bank (NDB), Sanctions, Structural Adjustment, World Bank

The first day of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg saw calls for a more democratic global economic order with greater participation of countries from the Global South. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa set the tone by underlining that BRICS stands for inclusiveness and transparency in its development agenda and must continue to do so. Speaking on the second day, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said that India fully supports the expansion of the bloc, adding that it welcomed “moving forward with consensus on this.” India also reiterated its proposal for the African Union’s membership in the G20.

The People Do Not Want War: Mass Protests Continue In Niger

August 23, 2023 Tanupriya Singh, People's Dispatch. Resist! Burkina Faso, Coups, ECOWAS, France, Imperialism, Mali, Niger, Niger coup, Sanctions, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

The political situation in Niger and West Africa as a whole continues to be in a flux. While people and their movements across the region are mobilizing against war and neo-colonial intervention, regional bodies have taken a stand in favor of the status quo. In a communique released on August 22, the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) announced its decision to suspend Niger from all the bloc’s activities in response to the July 26 military takeover. The declaration released by the PSC on Tuesday had been adopted at a meeting held on August 14.

Dilemmas Of Humanity Conference Calls For Pan-African, Working Class Power

August 20, 2023 Tanupriya Singh, People's Dispatch. Strategize! Africa, BRICS, Class Struggle, Colonialism, Multipolarity, Neocolonialism, Pan Africanism, Sanctions, Socialism

The world’s attention will be on the city of Johannesburg next week as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa will convene the 15th annual BRICS Summit (August 22-24). Organized under the banner of “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development, and Inclusive Multilateralism,” this year’s conference could potentially usher in a new era of cooperation among the global South. Over 40 countries have expressed their interest in joining BRICS, including 23 countries that have officially applied for membership. Meanwhile, leaders from 71 countries across the Global South have been invited to participate in the upcoming conference’s dialogues.

Cuba’s Worsening Food Crisis Means US Blockade Must End Now, Not Later

August 19, 2023 W. T. Whitney, Counter Punch. Educate! Cuba, Food and Agriculture, Food Security, Sanctions, US Imperialism

At a meeting in Havana on August 11 attended by government ministers and the press, Cuban National Assembly President Esteban Lazo communicated a message to Cuba’s Minister of Agriculture from the Assembly, whose recent session ended on July 22. The ministry would be “transforming and strengthening the country’s agricultural production,” to initiate “a political and participatory movement that would unleash a productive revolution in the agricultural sector.” The National Assembly dealt primarily with Cuba’s present food disaster. The lives of many Cubans are precarious due to food shortages, high prices, and low income.

Portugal’s Novo Banco Ordered To Return $1.5 Billion To Venezuela

August 14, 2023 Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Legal System, Portugal, Sanctions, Venezuela

Venezuelan authorities have announced that Portuguese courts have ruled in favor of Venezuela and ordered Novo Banco to return $1.5 billion illegally seized from accounts belonging to the Venezuelan government, following the failed 2019 US-led regime change operation that attempted to oust President Nicolás Maduro. “Breaking news: the Bolivarian [Venezuelan] government wins trial and recovers its assets in Portugal,” wrote the Venezuelan minister for communication and information, Freddy Ñáñez, officially disclosing Portugal’s judiciary decision via social media this Wednesday, August 9. “$1.5 billion were released by Novo Banco.”

People’s Movements Worldwide: ‘Cuba Is Not A State Sponsor Of Terror!’

August 12, 2023 People's Dispatch. Resist! Cuba, Economic Blockade, Joe Biden, Sanctions, US Imperialism

On August 11, artists, intellectuals, political leaders, people’s movements, trade unions, and political parties from around the world launched a historic campaign to call on US President Joe Biden to remove Cuba from the state sponsors of terrorism list. The convening organizations of this campaign, the International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA), ALBA Movimientos, Foro de São Paulo, Trade Union Confederation of the Americas, Jornada Continental por la Democracia y Contra el Neoliberalismo, World March of Women, Continental Latin American and Caribbean Network in Solidarity with Cuba, and La Vía Campesina, seek to collect more than one million signatures on a letter addressed to Biden asking that Cuba be removed from the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

Nicaraguan Officials Hit With Sanctions Based On False Accusations

July 31, 2023 John Perry and Erik Mar, Covert Action Magazine. Educate! Human Rights, International Law, Nicaragua, Sanctions

On December 9, 2022, the government of the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Sadrach Zelodón Rocha and Yohaira Hernández Chirino, the well-known Sandinista mayor and vice mayor of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, accusing both of “promoting and supporting grievous violations of human rights.” The sanctions, subjecting both to “an asset freeze and travel ban,” also extended to members of their immediate families. As one of us has known Zeledón Rocha and the rest of his immediate family for more than 30 years, the accusations struck us mostly as false. Furthermore, if they turned out to be true, the punishments seemed strangely irrelevant given the magnitude of the crimes, since they almost certainly would have close to zero personal impact.

US Sanctions Block UN Software For Earthquake Response In Syria, Iran

July 30, 2023 News Desk, The Cradle. Educate! Earthquakes, Iran, Sanctions, Syria, United Nations

Life-saving humanitarian coordination software used by the UN’s emergency response network was blocked in Syria after February’s devastating earthquake because of US sanctions, Middle East Eye (MEE) reported on 28 July. The online system is also inaccessible in Iran, which has suffered from devastating earthquakes in the past, and where the rapid coordinated deployment of search and rescue teams may prove crucial to save people trapped under rubble after an earthquake in the future. The 6 February earthquake killed tens of thousands of people across hundreds of kilometers of southern Turkiye and northern Syria, but thousands of people were also saved from collapsed buildings by search and rescue teams.

The Afghanistan Lithium Great Game

July 27, 2023 Binoy Kampmark, Counter Punch. Educate! Afghanistan, Lithium, Sanctions, US Imperialism

While the United States, along with its allies, left Afghanistan in August 2021 in spectacularly humiliating circumstances, the departure was never entirely complete, nor bound to be permanent. Since then, Washington has led the charge in handicapping those who, with a fraction of the resources, defeated a superpower and prevailed in two decades of conflict. In a fit of wounded pride, the United States has, in turn, sought to strangulate and asphyxiate the Taliban regime, citing human rights and security concerns. The Taliban’s Interim Foreign Minister, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, makes the not unreasonable point that “the ongoing crisis is the imposition of sanctions and banking restrictions by the United States.”

Sanctions Are An Act Of War

July 23, 2023 Phyllis Bennis, In These Times. Educate! Economic Blockade, Human Rights, Sanctions, Wars and Militarism

Economic sanctions have a long and brutal history, almost as long as the history of war itself. What they don’t have— especially in recent memory— is a history of accomplishing their ostensible goal of changing governments’ behavior. Over the past 30-plus years, roughly beginning with the 1990 – 1991 Gulf crisis and U.S.-led war against Iraq, Washington’s imposition of harsh economic sanctions has vastly expanded. Whether imposed directly or compelled by the United Nations under U.S. pressure, sanctions are often described as an “alternative” to war — softer, less deadly, more humane.

Nicaraguans Celebrate Anniversary Of The Sandinista Revolution

July 20, 2023 Lauren Smith, Covert Action Magazine. Educate! History, Nicaragua, Sanctions, Sandinista Revolution, US Imperialism

In the United States, the word “socialism” has come to have a negative meaning. In that meaning, the word implies the loss of individual sovereignty, rejection of religion and the institution of authoritarian political measures. While denounced as socialist by U.S. propagandists and repeated by the ill-informed media, in fact, Nicaragua has a mixed economy based on traditional humane Christian spiritual beliefs under the concept of Sandinismo. It also encourages multiple political parties in line with genuinely social democratic ideals. The foreign media denounce the Ortega administration for its alleged oppression though, in reality, the people who have suffered at its hands are individuals and groups who have repeatedly taken part in U.S. regime-change violence against Nicaragua’s government, people and public institutions.

Sanctions: The Long Game

July 15, 2023 Ricardo Vaz, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Regime Change, Sanctions, US Imperialism, Venezuela

In the past six years, US foreign policy towards Venezuela can be encapsulated in one word: sanctions. There have been other aspects to it, like the propping up of a self-proclaimed “interim government.” But economic coercive measures have been front and center, both in terms of their widespread use and their impact on the Venezuelan people. The calls for sanctions relief have grown steadily in recent months, from multilateral organizations, some Democratic officials and even foreign policy experts. The first group points to the collective punishment of Venezuelan civilians, the second to the pressure on US borders from increased migration, and the third argues that the policies have “failed.”

Inscrutable Sanctions

July 14, 2023 Erik Mar and John Perry, Consortium News. Educate! Nicaragua, Sanctions, United Kingdom (UK), US Imperialism

The U.K., along with the U.S. and Canadian governments and the European Union, has created a sanctions regime targeting around 40 countries across the globe. While economic sanctions against states are best-known, they also include thousands of individuals whose assets have been frozen or confiscated, their travel restricted and their ability to do business constrained. Typically, names are added to a government’s sanctions lists with no prior warning or “due process.” The individuals affected are in practice unable to challenge their inclusion, since it would require expensive legal action in different countries with an uncertain chance of success.

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