Sanctions

Mexico’s AMLO Announces Campaign Against US Blockade Of Cuba

February 14, 2023 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy Report. Resistance Report AMLO, Cuba, Mexico, Sanctions, US Imperialism

Mexico’s progressive President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that his country will lead an international movement to end the US government’s illegal blockade against Cuba. The Mexican president, known popularly by his initials AMLO, condemned the six-decade US blockade of Cuba as “inhumane”. He said the global campaign to overturn it must be more “active”, complaining that, while the vast majority of countries on Earth vote against the US embargo every year at the United Nations General Assembly, nothing ever changes.

Wilson Center Think Tank Reloads The US Roadmap Against Venezuela

February 13, 2023 Misión Verdad, Orinoco Tribune Educate! Sanctions, US Foreign Policy, US Imperialism, Venezuela

The recent teachers’ protests in Venezuela took place in a climate where, along with the inflationary pressure of the beginning of 2023, they seem to be linked to a type of mobilization that has been gradually getting expressed, at the national level, with unions and other ”visible” platforms of “civil society,” in the background of the advances and tensions around the government-opposition dialogue process in Mexico. In the midst of this, the definitive collapse of the “Guaidó project,” the reckoning of Voluntad Popular with the G3 [other main parties of the opposition], and the loss of initiative of the opposition in general, seem to force a correction of Washington’s approach to Venezuela.

US Sanctions Block Aid To Syria, After Earthquake Killed Thousands

February 10, 2023 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy Report. Educate! Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, Natural Disasters, Sanctions, Syria, US Imperialism

Illegal US and EU sanctions have prevented some humanitarian aid from being sent to Syria, after a devastating earthquake killed thousands of people. The death toll is increasing by the day, but at least 3000 Syrians had lost their lives due to the earthquake as of February 9. Thousands of buildings were also destroyed. This is especially damaging because Syria had already been destabilized by a decade of war, fueled with billions of dollars and foreign meddling by the US, Europe, and Israel. Syrian Arab Red Crescent director Khaled Hboubati told the Associated Press that unilateral Western sanctions have exacerbated the “difficult humanitarian situation”. “There is no fuel even to send (aid and rescue) convoys, and this is because of the blockade and sanctions”, Hboubati warned. Syria’s United Nations Ambassador Bassam al-Sabbagh explained that US and EU sanctions have prevented planes from landing in Syrian airports, “So even those countries who want to send humanitarian assistance, they cannot use the airplane cargo because of the sanctions”.

Sanctions Hamper Relief And Rescue Work In Earthquake-Devastated Syria

February 7, 2023 People's Dispatch. Educate! Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, Natural Disasters, Sanctions, Syria, Türkiye, US Imperialism

The head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, Khaled Hboubati, demanded on Tuesday, February 7, that Western countries, specifically the US and its allies, lift their siege and sanctions on Syria so that rescue and relief work can proceed unimpeded, after the country was devastated by a powerful earthquake on Monday. “We need heavy equipment, ambulances and fire fighting vehicles to continue to rescue and remove the rubble, and this entails lifting sanctions on Syria as soon as possible,” Hboubati said at a press conference on Tuesday, as reported by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). A powerful earthquake registering a magnitude of 7.8 struck Turkey and Syria on Monday. Over 5,000 people have been reported dead so far. In Syria alone the death toll was 1,602 on Monday. These numbers are only expected to rise as a large number of people are suspected to be still buried under the debris of houses that collapsed in the earthquake and its aftershocks.

Earthquake Damage In Syria Must Lead To Sanction Relief

February 6, 2023 Moon of Alabama. Educate! Environment, Sanctions, Syria, Türkiye, US Imperialism

Earlier today two large earthquakes have caused widespread damage in south Turkey and north Syria. Some 10 million people live in the affected area. The current count of death is already above 2,500. Whole city blocks have 'pancaked' (vid) and were destroyed. Many dead will likely still be under the rubble. The area is prone to earthquakes. Just days ago an expert had warned that a big one was coming. International support for the areas has started. Turkey is generally earthquake prone and has a lot of rescue stuff. It will now get more. Unfortunately Syria, which is under devastating sanctions, will get little. This would be a good time to lift those sanctions if only for purely humanitarian reasons.

UN Human Rights Chief: End Venezuela Sanctions

February 4, 2023 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy Report. Educate! Human Rights, Sanctions, United Nations, US Imperialism, Venezuela

The United Nations human rights chief has called for sanctions on Venezuela to be lifted, stating that they “exacerbated the economic crisis and hindered human rights” and created “hurdles” for “the country’s recovery and development”. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk visited Venezuela in January. There, he met with government officials, right-wing opposition leaders, civil society groups, and religious institutions. “I heard from across the spectrum of people I spoke to, including humanitarian actors and UN agencies, about the impact of sectorial sanctions on the most vulnerable segments of the population and the hurdles sanctions create for the country’s recovery and development, not least in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic”, Türk said.

Lawyers Ask Biden To Remove Cuba From State Sponsors Of Terrorism List

January 24, 2023 The Alliance for Cuba Engagement and Respect. Resist! Cuba, Joe Biden, Sanctions, US Imperialism

ACERE, the Alliance for Cuba Engagement and Respect, announces the release of a letter to President Biden signed by prominent lawyers nationwide expressing concern over the continued placement of Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list. The letter, which was sent to the President today January 20th as he begins the second half of his term, highlights the lack of legal or moral justification for Cuba’s inclusion on the SSOT list, especially in light of the fact that it had been removed from the list just a few years prior by the Obama-Biden administration. The letter, which is signed by 160 lawyers, comes on the heels of a similar letter sent to the President by 18 former heads of state, as well as petitions signed by hundreds of civil society organizations and thousands of citizens, all calling for the United States to lift its embargo and for Cuba to be removed from the SSOT list.

Sanctions: A Wrecking Ball In A Global Economy

January 11, 2023 John Perry, Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Educate! Global Economy, Sanctions, US Imperialism

Sanctions imposed without United Nations endorsement are illegal. That is why they could be legally imposed on South Africa by a resolution of the UN General Assembly in 1962, but are unlawful when imposed by one government, often with selected allies, against any other country, for whatever reason. Known correctly as “unilateral coercive measures,” such actions are not only contrary to international law in themselves, but may lead to other breaches of the law if their effects are so severe as to become “crimes against humanity.” The report, Sanctions: A Wrecking Ball in a Global Economy, is a comprehensive overview of sanctions on more than 40 countries, imposed by the US and in turn by many of its allies.

How Western Sanctions Blow Back

January 11, 2023 Renate Bridenthal, Geopolitical Economy Report. Educate! China, Europe, Global Economy, New Cold War, Russia, Sanctions, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

Economic coercion, through the imposition of sanctions, is an act of war. Many of these sanctions have caused hardship, especially for the civilian populations of targeted countries. But just as a rifle recoils on the shooter’s shoulder, potentially causing injury, so too can sanctions backfire on the user. That is the title of a new book, “Backfire: How Sanctions Reshape the World Against U.S. Interests.” This is not to say that sanctions don’t cause suffering, but they have a mere 13% success rate in altering a targeted state’s behavior in the way desired. The failure of sanctions has long been recognized, although that seems not to have dampened U.S. persistence in adding ever more of them. The blowback effect has begun, and more is predictably on the horizon.

How Sanctions Contributed To Venezuela’s Economic Collapse

January 10, 2023 Francisco Rodríguez, Global Americans. Educate! Economic crisis, Sanctions, US Imperialism, Venezuela

During the past decade, Venezuela lived through the largest economic contraction documented in the history of the Western Hemisphere. The implosion took place at the same time as the U.S. government barred oil purchases, froze government bank accounts, prohibited the country from issuing new debt, and seized tankers bound for Venezuela. One would think it should be self-evident that any account of Venezuela’s economic contraction would place economic sanctions in a central role. However, sanctions play a surprisingly limited role in most mainstream accounts of the Venezuelan crisis. A recent Council on Foreign Relations background piece on Venezuela mentioned sanctions only in passing and instead attributed the country’s economic collapse to “decades of poor governance” and the “perils of becoming a petrostate.”

US Spreads Misery By Imposing Sanctions On A Third Of Humanity

January 2, 2023 Jeremy Kuzmarov, Covert Action Magazine. Educate! Economic crisis, Global Economy, Sanctions, US Imperialism

On November 14, the Biden administration announced yet another round of sanctions on Russia, targeting this time Russia’s military supply chains by imposing sanctions on 14 individuals and 28 entities that it said were part of a transnational network that procured technology to support Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine. One of the companies blacklisted was Milandr, a Russian microelectronics company that Washington says is part of Moscow’s military research and development structure. The sanctions additionally targeted several aviation-related companies and two individuals—Abbas Djuma and Tigran Khristoforovich Srabionov—who facilitated the Russian mercenary Wagner Group’s acquisition of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from Iran, which have been used in the Ukraine War.

Venezuelan Children Continue To Die Under US Sanctions

December 30, 2022 Andreína Chávez Alava, Venezuelanalysis. Educate! Children, Sanctions, US Imperialism, Venezuela

Venezuelan human rights organization Fundalatin recently announced the death of Gabriel Cisneros, a Venezuelan child who could not receive a liver transplant because Washington’s murderous sanctions continue to paralyze the state-funded program that covered these procedures. Gabriel is sadly one more in a long list of victims of the US economic war. The Simón Bolívar Foundation is the social program of US-based Venezuelan oil subsidiary CITGO. It was created in 2006 by former President Hugo Chávez to help patients with rare cancers, especially children with leukemia, receive transplants and other life-saving treatments in hospitals abroad when these were not available in the country. However, financial sanctions imposed in 2017 against Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, CITGO’s parent company, blocked the Venezuelan government from using the international financial system, thus impeding payments for kids' treatments.

UN Experts: US Sanctions Violate Iranians’ Human Rights

December 25, 2022 Ben Norton, Multipolarista. Educate! Human Rights, Iran, Sanctions, United Nations

Top United Nations experts have criticized US government sanctions for violating the human rights of Iranians. They made it clear that the unilateral coercive measures that the United States has imposed on Iran violate international law. A group of UN special rapporteurs stressed that these sanctions have a “negative impact” on “the enjoyment of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in the Islamic Republic of Iran and on the right to health and the right to life.” Violating Iranians’ right to life is a roundabout diplomatic way of saying that US sanctions are killing them. The UN experts sent a formal letter to the United States condemning its sanctions and requesting that it investigate and remove them.

The Real Reason The US Is Against The Entire World On Cuba

November 18, 2022 Lee Camp, Mintpress News. Resistance Report Cuba, Economic Blockade, Sanctions, US Imperialism

The entire world just voted to end the 60-year blockade against Cuba…except for two countries. Can you guess which ones? (Luxembourg was neither of them.) I take you back to September 1961. The U.S. was a younger, naive nation. We drove around with children in our laps because the seatbelt law was still years away. And the top song of the day was Barry Mann’s “Who put the bomp into bomp bah bomp bah bomp?” (Turns out it was Henry Kissinger. He was a childlike 73 years old back then, and he was actually into “bomping” before he was into bombing.) In 1961 the United States began a massive embargo against the island country of Cuba. This was just a few months after the Bay of Pigs invasion, in which the U.S. tried to retake Cuba from the communist revolutionaries who had wrested it away from the American-backed capitalist oligarchs.

UN Expert Calls For Lifting Unilateral Sanctions ‘Suffocating’ Syrian People

November 11, 2022 OHCHR. Educate! International Law, Sanctions, Syria, United Nations

UN Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures and human rights Alena Douhan today urged sanctioning States to lift unilateral sanctions against Syria, warning that they were perpetuating and exacerbating the destruction and trauma suffered by the Syrian people since 2011. “I am struck by the pervasiveness of the human rights and humanitarian impact of the unilateral coercive measures imposed on Syria and the total economic and financial isolation of a country whose people are struggling to rebuild a life with dignity, following the decade-long war,” Douhan said. In a statement following her 12-day visit to Syria, the Special Rapporteur presented detailed information about the catastrophic effects of unilateral sanctions across all walks of life in the country.

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