US Sanctions

Biden’s $7 Billion Afghan Heist

February 17, 2022 Cheryl Benard, Medea Benjamin And Masuda Sultan, Responsible Statecraft. Educate! 9/11, Afghanistan, Joe Biden, US Imperialism, US Sanctions

With his Executive Order redefining Afghanistan’s Fiscal Reserve as a slush fund to be disbursed on his whim and with the stroke of his pen, President Biden has taken what may well be the final step in an experiment gone amok. The U.S. first attempted to make Afghanistan into a Western democracy, instead installed a kleptocracy, made Afghans endure 20 years of violence and then left in a whirlwind of chaos. With Biden’s latest move to deprive Afghanistan of its monetary reserves, the nation is likely to come full circle, turning once again into a failed state that, in the absence of economic recovery, will become a breeding ground for extremism and the recruitment of terrorists.

The Persecution Of Alex Saab

February 15, 2022 Leonardo Flores, Popular Resistance. Educate! Alex Saab, Political Prisoner, US Sanctions, Venezuela

“It’s not a crime to fulfill a diplomatic mission. It’s not a crime to evade sanctions that are harming an entire country. It can’t be illegal to help a people.” Camilla Fabri Saab made these impassioned remarks when explaining the situation behind the illegal arrest and extradition - the kidnapping, in essence - of her husband, Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. Alex Saab is virtually unknown in the United States, where he is currently languishing in a Miami prison, but he has been vital to Venezuela’s ability to survive the brutal economic war being waged by the U.S. He is a political prisoner whose case has parallels to that of Julian Assange. Both have been subjected to extraterritorial reach by U.S. authorities, as neither are U.S. citizens, and their alleged crimes took place outside of the country.

Valentines Day Vigil To Promote Aid To Afghanistan

February 15, 2022 Massachusetts Peace Action, Popular Resistance. Resist! Afghanistan, Hunger, Joe Biden, US Sanctions

With the UN reporting that hunger in Afghanistan could kill more civilians than the 20-year Afghanistan war, an international debate is raging over the policy by the U.S. and other governments about getting aid to that country. The president just announced a plan to confiscate $7 Billion in Afghan funds and set aside half of it for families of 9/11 victims and to create a "third-party trust fund" to pay for humanitarian aid with the other half. Critics of the decision, including those who worked for the former U.S.-backed Afghan government, lambasted Biden's decision saying that the currency reserves belong to the Afghan people. With those debates as a background, peace groups and humanitarian groups are coming together in a Valentine's Day Vigil to memorialize the loss of life and to ask that the U.S. change its policies.

On Contact: The Precarious State Of The US Economy

February 14, 2022 Chris Hedges, RT. Resistance Report Chris Hedges, Finance and the Economy, Ukraine, US Sanctions

A bipartisan group of senators are crafting legislation to impose sweeping sanctions on Russia if it engages in what they consider hostile action of any kind against the Ukraine. New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, calls the legislation “the mother of all sanctions bill.” The bill led in the House by Gregory Meeks of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, like Menendez a Democrat, demands that the administration “not cede to the demands of the Russian Federation regarding NATO membership or expansion.” This cuts off the ability to discuss Moscow’s core demands, including a ban on future NATO membership for Ukraine.

Are Western Countries Determined To Starve The People Of Afghanistan?

January 17, 2022 Vijay Prashad, People's Dispatch. Educate! Afghanistan, Hunger, International Monetary Fund, US Sanctions

On January 11, 2022, the United Nations (UN) Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths appealed to the international community to help raise $4.4 billion for Afghanistan in humanitarian aid, calling this effort, “the largest ever appeal for a single country for humanitarian assistance.” This amount is required “in the hope of shoring up collapsing basic services there,” said the UN. If this appeal is not met, Griffiths said, then “next year [2023] we’ll be asking for $10 billion.” The figure of $10 billion is significant. A few days after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in mid-August 2021, the US government announced the seizure of $9.5 billion in Afghan assets that were being held in the US banking system. Under pressure from the United States government, the International Monetary Fund also denied Afghanistan access to $455 million of its share of special drawing rights, the international reserve asset that the IMF provides to its member countries to supplement their original reserves.

Nicaragua Slams US And EU Sanctions

January 12, 2022 Steve Sweeney, Morningstar Online. Educate! Nicaragua, Sandinista Revolution, US Imperialism, US Sanctions

Nicaragua has hit out at a new raft of sanctions imposed on the country just hours before President Daniel Ortega’s inauguration on Monday. The measures targeting a number of Nicaraguan officials were announced as Mr Ortega was sworn in for a fourth consecutive term of office in a ceremony in the capital Managua attended by dignitaries and guests from across the world. Sanctions were imposed by the European Union and the United States, which denounced the November 7 elections won convincingly by Mr Ortega and his Sandinista National Liberation Front as “a sham.” They have presented no concrete evidence to back their assertions, however, and hundreds of international observers described the elections as free, fair and transparent.

UK Gold Ruling Based On ‘Illegal Interference’ In Venezuela

December 23, 2021 José Luis Granados Ceja, Venezuela Analysis. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Juan Guaido, US Sanctions, Venezuela

Mexico City, Mexico, December 20, 2021 – The United Kingdom’s highest court issued a ruling on Monday favoring opposition figure Juan Guaidó and his efforts to wrest control of US$1.7 billion worth of Venezuelan gold stored at the Bank of England (BoE). The Monday decision is the latest episode in the legal struggle by the democratically-elected Nicolás Maduro government to regain access to the reserves. Following what the court described as the “one voice principle," the court ruled that under the UK’s constitutional arrangements political recognition of foreign states falls to the country’s executive. In 2019, Conservative UK Prime Minister Theresa May recognized Guaidó, then president of the National Assembly, as “interim president” as part of the US-led effort to oust the Maduro government.

Despite Appeals, US Denies Possibility Of Unfreezing Afghan Assets

December 15, 2021 People's Dispatch. Educate! Afghanistan, Human Rights, Taliban, US Sanctions

US White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified on Tuesday, December 14 said that the government has no plan to unfreeze Afghanistan’s assets. Psaki was responding to a public call by Afghanistan’s foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi made a day earlier to unfreeze the assets. The US government had announced a freeze of nearly USD 10 billion worth of Afghanistan’s assets days after the Taliban took over power in the country on August 15, claiming the possibility of misuse of the funds. It also severed all diplomatic relations with Afghanistan after the complete withdrawal of its troops on August 30. The Taliban government in Afghanistan, the UN, and several other governments, including China, have demanded that the US release the funds to facilitate necessary public expenditure in Afghanistan.

Ethiopians, Eritreans Hold #NoMore March Outside US State Department

December 11, 2021 Morgan Artyukhina, Sputnik News. Resist! Eritrea, Ethiopia, US Imperialism, US Sanctions

Washington, DC - Thousands of Ethiopians, Eritreans and their allies rallied outside the US State Department on Friday as part of the #NoMore campaign opposing US intervention in the Horn of Africa. Their protest comes as the US’ chief envoy to the Horn, Jeffrey Feltman, is visiting several countries connected to the conflict after failing to secure a ceasefire. The crowd chanted “fake news CNN” and “no more TPLF,” referring to the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, a rebel group with Western support that earlier this year made a blitz on the capital from the northern Tigray state. Their offensive was blunted and reversed by the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), the military forces loyal to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Many at the rally carried signs hailing Abiy’s democratic victory in July, the country’s first-ever contested elections, and asking why the US would support the TPLF’s attempt to overthrow him.

Ten Problems With Biden’s Foreign Policy – And One Solution

December 10, 2021 Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies, Popular Resistance. Educate! Joe Biden, US Foreign Policy, US Sanctions, Wars and Militarism

By and large, Biden’s foreign policy already seems stuck in the militarist quagmire of the past twenty years, a far cry from his campaign promise to reinvigorate diplomacy as the primary tool of U.S. foreign policy. In this respect, Biden is following in the footsteps of Obama and Trump, who both promised fresh approaches to foreign policy but for the most part delivered more endless war. By the end of his second term, Obama did have two significant diplomatic achievements with the signing of the Iran nuclear deal and normalization of relations with Cuba. So progressive Americans who voted for Biden had some grounds to hope that his experience as Obama’s vice-president would lead him to quickly restore and build on Obama’s achievements with Iran and Cuba as a foundation for the broader diplomacy he promised.

Biden Keeps Crushing Sanctions Yet Blames Iran For Nuclear Impasse

December 9, 2021 Aaron Maté, The Grayzone. Resistance Report Iran, Joe Biden, Nuclear Weapons, US Sanctions

At the Vienna talks on restoring the Iran nuclear deal, the US and EU are accusing Iran of refusing to compromise. Mohammad Marandi, a University of Tehran professor advising the Iran delegation in Vienna, says that the compromise was the nuclear deal itself, and the problem is the US refusal to abide by its own commitments and lift the sanctions that target Iranian civilians. Guest: Mohammad Marandi. Professor at the University of Tehran and adviser to the Iran delegation at talks on restoring the JCPOA in Vienna.

Interview: Wife Of Venezuelan Diplomat ‘Kidnapped’ By The US

November 30, 2021 Mnar Adley And Alan Macleod, Mintpress News. Resistance Report Alex Saab, International Law, US Sanctions, Venezuela

On Wednesday, November 24, MintPress News Editor in Chief Mnar Adley sat down to speak with Camila Saab, the wife of imprisoned Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. Saab was on a diplomatic mission to Iran in June 2020, where he was tasked with securing deals for food, medicine and personal protective equipment. His plane stopped off in Cabo Verde — a group of islands off the west coast of Africa — for a routine refueling. He would never finish his journey, as, on orders from the United States government, local authorities stormed the vehicle, forcing him off the plane — an event that would begin his 18-month detention. “I never imagined that Cabo Verde was going to kidnap a diplomat,” said the Italian-born former model and mother of two.

Jorge Arreaza On Venezuela Recovering From Sanctions

November 26, 2021 Mnar Adley, Mintpress News. Resistance Report Finance and the Economy, Oil and Gas Industry, US Sanctions, Venezuela

UN Special Rapporteurs estimate that 100,000 people have died in Venezuela in the last decade because of the lack of medicine brought on by U.S. sanctions. Nearly 60% of those deaths took place under the Trump administration after Washington escalated its economic warfare on the Bolivarian state. During the Trump era, Jorge Arreaza served as Venezuela’s foreign minister and spent years building diplomatic ties with other nations amid Washington’s aggressive hybrid war. “After 22 years of revolution, we have had to deal with President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama, President Trump, and President Biden. And there are no major differences between them because it is not a matter of who is in the Oval Office; it is a matter of who really controls the decisions in the United States,” Arreaza told MintPress.

Ethiopia: Abiy Will Lead Army In Anti-TPLF Struggle ‘From The Battlefront’

November 23, 2021 Morgan Artyukhina, Sputnik News. Educate! Ethiopia, Terrorism, TPLF, US Sanctions

In a Monday statement, the Ethiopian head of government said he would "lead the fight from tomorrow onwards," calling on all Ethiopians to unite in defense of their country and on all Black people across the world to defend Ethiopia in the spirit of pan-Africanism. "Starting tomorrow, I will mobilize to the front to lead the defense forces," Abiy said in the release. "Those who want to be among the Ethiopian children who will be hailed by history, rise up for your country today. Let's meet at the front." “We are now in the final stages of saving Ethiopia,” he added. “Our enemies are attacking us on the outside and on the inside … This is the struggle of all Black people. It is a conspiracy to humiliate Black people and subdue Ethiopia in a new colonial yoke.”

US Sends Clear Message To African Nations As It Turns Its Back On Ethiopia

November 15, 2021 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast Ethiopia, Terrorism, US Regime Change, US Sanctions

The corporate media in the United States is waging a misinformation campaign as part of the hybrid warfare being used to try to subjugate Ethiopia. Ajamu Baraka of the Black Alliance for Peace states there "is a coordinated effort to criminalize and delegitimize the Ethiopian state in order to cripple or balkanize it, maybe even to provide the political will for a direct military intervention." For 27 years, the United States-backed Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) ruled Ethiopia until it was overthrown by a popular movement in 2018. Ethiopians then elected their Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, who refuses to bend to pressure from the US. To clarify what is happening in Ethiopia and the fight to protect its people's right to self-determination, Clearing the FOG speaks with Deacon Yoseph Tafari, the chairman of the Ethiopian American Civic Council.

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