'Nearly A Third Of The World Economy Is Now Subject To Sanctions'
The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) just published a study about:
The Human Consequences of Economic Sanctions.
The results are as any observer of such acts would expect. Sanctions are used too broadly. They hardly ever serve their supposed original purpose and do not reach their aims. They hurt the poor more than the supposedly targeted leaders of this or that country.
These numbers though are astonishing:
Over the past six decades, there has been significant growth in the use of economic sanctions by Western powers and international organizations. Less than 4 percent of countries were subject to sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union, or United Nations in the early 1960s; today, that share has risen to 27 percent. The magnitudes are similar when we consider their impact on the global economy: the share of world GDP produced in sanctioned countries rose from less than 4 percent to 29 percent in the same period. In other words, more than one fourth of countries and nearly a third of the world economy is now subject to sanctions by the UN or Western nations.
Under international law only sanction imposed by the United Nations' Security Council have legal standing. Sanctions by the U.S. or EU are under international law an illegal use of state instruments. The U.S. is using sanctions constantly to press under nations to do its bidding. Until the recent war in Ukraine the EU has used sanctions mostly to 'do something' because it had run out of ideas or diplomatic abilities.
The recent sanctions on Russia proved to be hurting the Russians much less than they are hurting the people living in the European Union. It was a catastrophic mistake by EU leaders to preemptively agree to the sanctions the U.S. had been pushing for before Russia entered the civil war in Ukraine on the side of its Ukrainian brethren. The consequences had obviously not been gamed out and thought through.
When nearly one third of the world economy is under sanctions the other two-third are losing out too. It would therefore make sense for everyone to abolish all sanctions that have not been issued by the UNSC. Even UNSC sanctions should only be used sparsely and in a very narrowly targeted manner. Sanctions that hit the whole economy of a country are inhuman and should be prohibited.
Posted by b on May 5, 2023 at 15:31 UTC | Permalink
UNSC has applied only 31 sanctions (since 1966), and 15 are currently active (https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/information) for details.
While US and EU have 1000s upon 1000s of sanctions.
Mixing in UN with US/EU sanctions regime is only to hide the criminality of the latter countries.
Posted by: marcel | May 5 2023 16:35 utc | 2
Sanctions are what bullies do when they have to be "above board" with their aggression.
The RoW will build build a better way and marginalize the bullies......it is happening all around us.
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth........in this case the meek are all who are not bullies.
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 5 2023 16:36 utc | 3
Even the most cursory look at what sanctions have done to Iraq should lead to their banishment. Sanctions are truly war by another means. I don't know what Madeleine Albright is to suggest hundreds of thousands of dead kids are acceptable, but it isn't human.
The self inflicted sanctions from hell were imposed when Russia recognized the republics (baby twins as Escobar called them) as independent states and before Russia kicked off the SMO. Russia still sitting there solid as a rock and smoke starting to emit from the US printing press. Banks going bankrupt.
John Cleese no doubt out of work of work and bumming a smoke. It appears fact is indeed stranger than fiction.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 5 2023 16:42 utc | 5
On a GDP basis one transaction in six occurs on the the black market. One transaction in three being sanctioned would imply that of the 4/6 non sanctioned transactions 1 in 4 occurs on the black market, or 25% of the total marketplace is black.
Stated otherwise 1/3 transactions by value sanctions implies 1/4 transactions occur on the black market.
Posted by: too scents | May 5 2023 16:43 utc | 6
The overuse of sanctions, a hegemonic expression of sanctimonious hypocrisy tied to hubristic zero-sum mentalities, has already triggered the structural revision toward a multi-polar world and the demise of the US dollar as central currency. Perhaps the various “Magnitsky Acts” passed by western governments a decade ago will be seen as the line of white powder or the shot of fine liquor too many whereby the politicians lost their grasp on reality - ironically derived from an entirely false and self-serving narrative.
Imagine a proud complex nation such as India being told who they could or could not do business with, with a condescending caveat that the western powers might grant them a “waiver” should they apply. Of course there was going to be a reaction.
Posted by: jayc | May 5 2023 16:59 utc | 7
The only sanctions the UN should approve are those that would limit commerce to the US war machine. These should have been issued in March 2003.
Posted by: Wilikins | May 5 2023 17:04 utc | 8
Note the 1/3 of world GDP is the only part of World economy that’s growing. Also note it’s 87% of the world population.
Washington and Brussels is isolating themselves from the growth engine of the world
Posted by: Exile | May 5 2023 17:16 utc | 9
Prigozhin is a master Kabuki. He sets the stage (hanamichi) where he stands and ends it where we stand. But unlike (jidaimono)he goes straight to the "shogunate's" (or shoigunate) jugular. Through (haragei) his play range from weak, moralizing, cunning, to threatning, faked characters. We can safely assume that we are in the (Ha) period of the play and close the end (Kyu) as events seem to accelerate. He is the perfect PR counter for the green clown and all his clique. Don't take this too seriously and watch the play.
Posted by: Izanami | May 5 2023 17:16 utc | 10
I thought the argument last month was that the rest of the world is going to outproduce the US & isolate it. Now it's, 'it's immoral for the West to not trade.' What happened to 'America is outnumbered, it's only cutting off trade to itself,' and the dedollarization you were championing? Not a consistent argument.
The West built the tech, has the legacy financial structures, has the knowhow and the resources, but somehow it's unfairly choking off the rest of the world?
It looks pretty bad that you're flipflopping on your theses b.
And international law? What a stretch. Law only exists where there's police power. All these weak countries want to talk about law when they're individually incapable of enforcing laws.
It's one thing to be disgusted by propaganda. It's quite another thing to disdain the opposition's propaganda while delighting in one's own.
Well, competition is only good, when the other person loses.
The Americans have never played by their own rules, when it was disadvantageous for them.
And Anglo-American shysters always found and still find a way, to make it look like "law" anyway - always ...
Posted by: Humml | May 5 2023 17:21 utc | 12
Further to Humml @ 12, I always think of the endless softwood dispute between Canada and the US because Canada has more trees and that’s just un-American. The gentlest example of sanctioning but the same reasoning applies in the most brutal, barbaric cases.
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | May 5 2023 17:40 utc | 13
Gilbert Doctorow discusses another round of sanctions.
"Yesterday Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo announced that he will be sending the interest earned on frozen Russian assets presently under his country’s control to Ukraine as an assistance package.
"To be sure, this is not yet transfer of the 58 billion euros of Russian assets frozen by Belgium, the largest sum among all the 27 EU Member States. Until now we have heard from EU authorities that confiscation of frozen assets is not supported by EU or international law and is very problematic. What happens to interest earned on the frozen assets remains an open question.
"However, I do wonder if the Prime Minister has paid due attention to Russian state policy on such matters which is crystal clear: confiscations will be met by a mirror image response, meaning the freezing of all assets in Russia of the country perpetrating this atrocity. I wonder if he has consulted with Solvay, with Glaverbel and with the many other Belgian companies that have invested a fortune in industrial capacity and logistics infrastructure in Russia..."
gilbertdoctorow.com
Posted by: bevin | May 5 2023 17:47 utc | 14
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | May 5 2023 17:40 utc | 13
We has more water too! Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Posted by: Drinky Crow | May 5 2023 18:28 utc | 15
@ 11 aaron lee.. you won’t last long here with bs like that.. keep sticking to the ‘might makes right’ ideology.. it too always comes to an end..
Posted by: james | May 5 2023 18:30 utc | 16
Posted by: james | May 5 2023 18:30 utc | 16
"I'm in group. You're outside. Refuted!"
Classic cargo-cult 'reasoning.' Would like the legitimacy debate confers to his position, but can't actually figure out how to make the magic thing work.
@ aaron lee.. ‘ i thought the argument last month….’ bullshit
Posted by: james | May 5 2023 18:56 utc | 18
>> Even UNSC sanctions should only be used sparsely and in a very narrowly targeted manner
Maybe that is why the SC has been designed the way it is? Balancing two fractions that hate each other so much they will only agree on sanctions if there is absolutely no other way.
Because, what our governments aren't telling us: Sanctions are war against the civilian population. The current situation in Iran? Sanctions worked exactly they way they were intended. When the goal is "regime change", sanctions have the goal of upsetting the civilians to a point where a revolution - with a serious risk of being killed by security forces - seems to be the better option than longer suffering. Like in Syria, where the West refused to help earthquake victims - letting them die on the roads was seen as a great tool to motivate the population to topple Assad.
Sanctions are worse than war, because they specifically target the civilian population. That is why the SC was designed the way it is, that is why the UNSC has passed so few sanctions.
Posted by: Marvin | May 5 2023 19:44 utc | 19
"It was a catastrophic mistake by EU leaders to preemptively agree to the sanctions the U.S. had been pushing for before Russia entered the civil war in Ukraine on the side of its Ukrainian brethren. The consequences had obviously not been gamed out and thought through."
RESPONSE: The Euopean Union had no choice but to go along with the U.S. sanctions. Since world war II, the world's reserve currency has been in the hands of the USA. With that golden position for its money, the United States Dollar, any nation that got out of line could be severely punished by the eagle. Also, the USA has borne the lion's share of the military might in which it also used to punish wayward nations.
The peoples of the EU are becoming more aware of what the sanctions are costing them. Yet, they can do little to change the direction their "leaders" are going in either supporting Ukraine or the USA.
The only solution for Russia is to take out the USA. The bear knows that either the USA will take them out or that they must take out the USA. With superior nuclear forces, Russia is in a better position to take out the USA. They must do so before the USA has time to develop hypersonic missiles and other that Russia now has.
Combined with the tremendous advantage of a first strike, Russia will be able to take down the USA within one hour. And this is exactly what they will do.
The USA will attempt to stall for time which they desperately need to bring their nuclear forces on the level with Russia's. Yet, this will not work.
There is no doubt that nuclear war is coming to the USA and to Russia. The only remaining question is when?
I guess this will occur soon after Russia takes and secures the Donbas. This will neutralize most of the Ukrainian army which the Russians prefer to be gone before they launch upon the USA. I have no idea when Russia will take and secure the Donbas.
With the significant help from the West, the Ukrainians have been able to hold the Russian advance to a crawl since Ukraine's advances in Kherson and Kharkiv offenses in October 2022.
Whenever the Russian bear looks to take all of the remaining territories within the Donbas, this is a very good time to get out of the USA. With what is going to happen to the USA, you really don't want to be anywhere within any of its boundaries nor within the boundaries of any of its territories.
Posted by: young | May 5 2023 20:00 utc | 20
" It's one thing to be disgusted by propaganda. It's quite another thing to disdain the opposition's propaganda while delighting in one's own.
Posted by: Aaron Lee | May 5 2023 17:19 utc | 11 "
Pretty good comment.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 5 2023 20:09 utc | 21
That didnt last long. Ultimately, India is a financial paper tiger depended on the US and no one wants Rupees.
" With a high trade gap in favour of Russia, Moscow believes it will end up with an annual rupee surplus of over $40 billion if such a mechanism is worked out and feels rupee accumulation is 'not desirable', an Indian government official, who did not want to be named, told Reuters. "
- Exclusive-India, Russia Suspend Negotiations to Settle Trade in Rupees -Sources -
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 5 2023 20:14 utc | 22
" It's one thing to be disgusted by propaganda. It's quite another thing to disdain the opposition's propaganda while delighting in one's own.
Posted by: Aaron Lee | May 5 2023 17:19 utc | 11 "
Pretty good comment.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 5 2023 20:09 utc | 21
Certainly. The best example here is the sentence above it:
"And international law? What a stretch. Law only exists where there's police power. All these weak countries want to talk about law when they're individually incapable of enforcing laws."
@16 was right. That is might makes right propaganda bs. So what if @11 likes the smell of his own farts so much he can't see his self-own? It's like watching a sit-com of an incompetent "truth teller."
Posted by: samm | May 5 2023 20:24 utc | 23
" @16 was right. That is might makes right propaganda bs. So what if @11 likes the smell of his own farts so much he can't see his self-own? It's like watching a sit-com of an incompetent "truth teller."
Posted by: samm | May 5 2023 20:24 utc | 23 "
In this regard hes correct. Please try to enforce any laws against the US or Israel, We have decades of proof of how that turns out. One could even include Russia, China, and North Korea in that equation. International law is a farce since it is never equitably applied. If it was, much of the US government would be hanging by their necks at this point.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 5 2023 20:34 utc | 24
India is a financial paper tiger depended on the US and no one wants Rupees.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 5 2023 20:14 utc | 22
This is why the English and Indians did so well together.
The Indians like railways and bureaucracy, and the English like tea.
Posted by: GT Stroller | May 5 2023 20:42 utc | 25
Military Summary (Yt channel) reports that the SBU has taken Gonzo Lira to jail. If you remember, it was over a year ago that Lira had his first encounter with the SBU and also had a preliminary hearing that released him back to what seemed to be his apartment where 'he just kept going'...
Posted by: t s | May 5 2023 20:50 utc | 26
'The peoples of the EU ... can do little to change the direction their "leaders" are going. The only solution for Russia is to take out the USA.' - young (20)
Such thumb-sucking passivity!
Clearly, three generations of US military occupation have turned Europeans into eunuchs, displaying learned helplessness and displacing their troubles onto hostile others.
Now another third party, Russia, is nominated as the deus ex machina needed to rescue Europe from its American oppressors.
Don't neglect another possibility: extraterrestrials in flying saucers, rescuing a cowering Europa from its occupiers for no reason other than to indulge in the last vestiges of its fast-fading quality of life.
Unfortunately, extraterrestrial visitors have no gas to spare. When Europe's lights go out, they're gone in a flash! :-(
Posted by: Jim H | May 5 2023 20:52 utc | 27
" Unfortunately, extraterrestrial visitors have no gas to spare. When Europe's lights go out, they're gone in a flash! :-(
Posted by: Jim H | May 5 2023 20:52 utc | 27 "
Dont worry, Russia's got Europe covered.
" Gas supply by Gazprom for Europe through Ukraine totals 40.8 mcm via Sudzha
The heating season in Europe ended on April 6. European UGS facilities are currently 60.36% full
https://tass.com/economy/1613341 "
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 5 2023 20:56 utc | 28
Previous O/T thread seems to have died down. Hence, I'm posting this (rare) good piece from Rob Urie at Counterpunch, which takes the new-new-left of the West and USA to task.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/05/05/things-fall-apart-3/
The historical basis of left analysis in class politics has been flipped on its head, with the liberal-left channeling Jonah Hill’s character in the movie Don’t Look Up when he prattles on about the ‘cool rich.’ The joke was directed at Donald Trump’s followers, if not his donors. But it fits the establishment left even better. The CIA, FBI, NSA, MIC (Military Industrial Complex), and large corporations now represent the institutional base of this new-new-left. These used to be the base of the old political right. So, the choices are to imagine that these institutions are now forces for good, or that the CIA has finally realized its long-held dream of manufacturing an ‘anti-communist left.’ My vote is for the latter explanation.How did ‘we’ get here? The deindustrialization of the US disempowered the rural and regional constituencies that now trend Republican. Federal support for Wall Street and Silicon Valley has empowered the bourgeois constituencies of the Democrats. Deindustrialization illustrated the venality and lack of foresight of American oligarchs, who imagined that breaking the back of organized labor would make at least some Americans richer. This program was ultimately both racist and classist. American oligarchs imagined that they were uniquely capable of managing capitalist production. If you don’t care about workers or the environment, it isn’t that hard.
This arrogance was in part based on misunderstanding the unique position of the US exiting WWII. The US had the only intact industrial infrastructure in the world. However, monopoly power is fundamentally different from skill. The ‘greedflation’ of the present, where companies raise their prices because they can, is an example of monopoly power put to malevolent use. But this has always been how capitalists operate. The New Deal, and the domestic constraints that it placed on capitalist predation, was what made the US livable in the post-war period.
Four decades later, this effort to pose Federally engineered outcomes as the result of ‘markets’ has lost its credibility. The US is in the midst of a new round of bank bailouts as the political leadership launches WWIII, as if to re-demonstrate that World Wars I and II were imperialist projects by assigning ‘economic competition’ as the rationale. Question: why is the US engaged in a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine? Answer: because Europe was integrating Russian oil and gas into its industrial production. Question: why is the US engaged in a Cold War against China? Answer: because China reproduced capitalist production at a much later stage in the evolutionary process.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 5 2023 21:29 utc | 29
A little glitch with the RSS feed for this article B.
My NewsBlur iPad app got five copies of the RSS notification. One was the usual version, and the usual link opened the story in a browser. The other four notifications linked to
https://www.moonofalabama.org/atom.xml
Which gave me a raw xml version of this page.
This is no big deal for me, but I thought you might like the feedback.
Posted by: C | May 5 2023 21:31 utc | 30
Sanctions- it's getting worse
EU ADOPTS NEW SANCTIONS FRAMEWORK TO PROTECT MOLDOVA’S SOVEREIGNTY AND INDEPENDENCE
By MOLDOVALIVE MAY 1, 2023
On Friday evening, April 28, the Council of Europe adopted a new framework of specific restrictive measures that offer the European Union the possibility to impose sanctions against individuals responsible for supporting or implementing actions that undermine or threaten the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Moldova. The Council issued a press release on this matter.
The EU Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, mentioned in the briefing note that Moldova is one of the countries most affected by the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Thanks to this new framework, the EU will be able to target, for example, individuals who obstruct or undermine the democratic political process or who attempt to overthrow the constitutional order, including through acts of violence. Future restrictive measures could also target individuals who commit serious financial irregularities regarding public funds and unauthorized export of capital, to the extent that they could take control of the state authorities’ activities. Also, sanctions will entail asset freezing and a ban on making funds available to individuals and entities, and a travel ban to the EU for individuals, according to the European Council’s press release.
Probably a testing stone- can we get away with this in Moldova...
And in Poland
Unintentional espionage. Lisicki: Anyone can be accused. Cejrowski: The authorities decide
group of Law and Justice deputies submitted to the Sejm amendments to the Criminal Code, in the part concerning the crime of espionage. The project was presented by Jarosław Krajewski, vice-chairman of the Sejm Committee for Special Services. The project introduces groundbreaking changes. For participation in the activities of foreign intelligence against the Republic of Poland, there is a risk of not less than 5 years, but already to the one who transmits messages that may cause damage to the country – from 8 years or life imprisonment (this applies to public officials and persons performing available territorial military service).
For eight years, he has been threatening disinformation – spreading false or misleading information aimed at causing serious disruption in the system or economy of the Republic of Poland. A minimum of 10 years or life imprisonment for sabotage, subversion or terrorist activities. A novelty is the punishment for the so-called intelligence readiness (from 6 months to 8 years) and for unintentional espionage – 5 years.
https://dorzeczy.pl/plus/antysystem/433384/nieumyslne-szpiegostwo-cejrowski-i-lisicki-komentuja.html
Huxley would be ashamed that he did not think of these options
Posted by: Paul from Norway | May 5 2023 21:40 utc | 31
Xuck
FREE GONZALO LIRA_ LETS ALL WORK TOGETHER_ MENTION HIM IN ALL SOCIAL MEDIA_ ALL THE TIME
WHAT HAS BEEN TAKEN FROM US JUST THE LAST YEARS:
FREE SPEECH, TOLERANCE, RESPECT FOR OTHERS ARGUMENTS, EQUALITY, NO CENCORSHIP- Eurropean and American VALUES- it all gone
Posted by: Paul from Norway | May 5 2023 21:55 utc | 32
AND OF COURCE ASSANGE
AND THE REST OF THEM (braver guys than most of us)
ASSANGE- SNOWDON
Posted by: Paul from Norway | May 5 2023 21:57 utc | 33
"The West built the tech, has the legacy financial structures, has the knowhow and the resources, but somehow it's unfairly choking off the rest of the world?
"...And international law? What a stretch. Law only exists where there's police power. All these weak countries want to talk about law when they're individually incapable of enforcing laws."
Aaron Lee@11
"...The Indians like railways and bureaucracy, and the English like tea..." GT Stroller@25
So you are agreed- with the tyrants who rule the world-we live in an empire and ought to relish its authority, founded on violence, deceit and theft. It's the Karl Rove view. The Carl Schmitt view. The view of time serving cowards through the ages.
In terms of the 'facts' that you adduce:
The "West did not "build the tech". Least of all did the ruling classes build anything- human labour over millenia built the tech. And the time has come for us to use it in our own interests. That is true too of 'knowhow'.
As to resources, unless you count stolen goods, the West is very short of resources and hell bent on poisoning those, air, farmland and water for example, it has.
As to the law, it only depends upon police power-violence- where it is imposed by an exploitative minority upon a disfranchised population. Most law is enforced by mutual agreement.
Law is born out of custom founded on social consensus. The principles of international law outlined in the UN Charter, for example, are acceptable to all save those who insist on their right to live outside the law and to employ violence to do as they wish, take what they fancy in disreard of the interests of all others.
You, no doubt, feel that this will always be accepted, that the last will never be first, that the
humble will inherit nothing, that the Four Horsemen will ride roughshod wherever and whenever they wish. I do not envy your neighbours or families, who will blame their looking forward to your inevitable destruction?
As to the railways in India, they were imposed on the people in order that the British could export the food and other commodities that Indians produced and the British stole from them, and move their forces rapidly from one end of the country to another. All the profits from the railways went to Britain, all the costs were borne by the over taxed Indian poor.
As to the tea it was another commodity, (such as opium, jute, cotton, sugar, indigo, coffee etc) produced on subsistence farmland by malnourished, forced labour alienated from its landholding, largely for export.
Posted by: bevin | May 5 2023 21:59 utc | 34
Posted by: Paul from Norway | May 5 2023 21:55 utc | 32
Sadly, countries like the UK, which has Assange sitting in Belmarsh prison, are in no position to lecture Ukraine on the human rights of citizen journalists. A shameful state of affairs.
Posted by: GT Stroller | May 5 2023 22:03 utc | 35
I tried to comment soon after this item was published but was prevented by the technical snafu that existed at that time; so, I posted it on another thread from which it's now been vacated. Here's its gist:
In the paper presented at the top of the article, it isn't until you get to page 21 that the illegality of non-UNSC sanctions is finally mentioned, and there merely twice for the entire paper. That information ought to be front and center on the first page of any paper on the topic presented; that it's not signals much about the author's credibility.
Posted by: young | May 5 2023 20:00 utc | 20
Your prediction that Russia will take the donbass and then immediately launch a full scale nuclear attack on America is completely absurd, never mind the insane notion that you can win a nuclear war.
Posted by: Tomp | May 5 2023 23:31 utc | 37
Tomp: What, you don’t believe young’s reading of the Book of Daniel? Heathen!!1! Infidel!!!1!!1!!
Posted by: malenkov | May 5 2023 23:36 utc | 38
Posted by: GT Stroller | May 5 2023 20:42 utc | 25
That and the indians were in a pretty bad place to challenge british superiority after a series of famines that killed more people than all Soviet famines put together.
Posted by: Tomp | May 5 2023 23:38 utc | 39
karlof1@36
You comments on this Thierry Meyssan article today would be interesting.
"Contrary to what the West thinks, they do not have to fear military domination by Russia and China, but the use by them of their military power to force it to honour its signed committments."
Here is the way it ends
"• Finland committed itself in writing in 1947 to remain neutral. Its membership in Nato is therefore a violation of its own signature.
"• the Baltic States committed themselves in writing, when they were created in 1990, to preserve the monuments honouring the sacrifices of the Red Army. The destruction of these monuments is therefore a violation of their own signature.
"• the United Nations passed Resolution 2758 on October 25, 1971, recognizing that Beijing, not Taiwan, is the sole legitimate representative of China. As a result, Chiang Kai-shek’s government was expelled from the Security Council and replaced by Mao Zedong’s. Therefore, for example, the recent Chinese naval manoeuvres in the Taiwan Strait do not constitute an aggression against a sovereign state, but a free deployment of its forces in its own territorial waters.
"• the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty committed signatory states not to transfer nuclear weapons to a third country. However, as part of NATO, the United States has transferred tactical (not strategic) nuclear bombs to some of its overseas bases. In addition, it has trained foreign military personnel to use them. This is a violation of their signature by the United States as well as by Germany, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.
• etc, etc.
"Ultimately, what we in the "West" have to fear from Russia and China is that they will force us to be ourselves and honour our word."
https://www.voltairenet.org/article219244.html
Posted by: bevin | May 5 2023 23:40 utc | 40
The peoples of the EU are becoming more aware of what the sanctions are costing them. Yet, they can do little to change the direction their "leaders" are going in either supporting Ukraine or the USA.
The only solution for Russia is to take out the USA.
Posted by: young | May 5 2023 20:00 utc | 20
Wars of annihilation were rarely a viable preposition, and in the nuclear age, they are not. Instead, Russia waited for the situation in which opposition to sanction would gather a critical mass. When Trump broke JCPOA, EU countries verbally protested and cowed. India resisted and gave up. Now India decided that it is enough. When India profits on its resistance, the example spreads, BRICS is alive as never before.
People of Europe are not that powerless either. Profound political change is difficult, but possible, especially in countries like Italy where old system of political parties broke down. Each election sees a new party raising, and while there is a lot of "wash, repeat" there, political discourse is quite open. It is a decent possibility for political changes in EU before USA will get good hypersonic weapons.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 5 2023 23:43 utc | 41
bevin | May 5 2023 23:40 utc | 40--
Okay, I'll give it a look, but it sounds like a compilation of what Lavrov's been saying about the Lying West and Putin's Empire of Lies along with what I wrote after the December 2021 security proposals that made clear those nations had willfully broken many treaties but didn't have the guts to admit their fault, their gross prevarications. I said at the time that the West is a collection of pathological liars that's been ongoing for several generations. I note with pride that Hudson included my descriptor for the West alongside his in Collapse--Pleonexia--which is a catch-all term for what we've seen transpire for centuries.
Bevin @40--
Nice, well argued read. However, the USA and its vassals have been violating the UN Charter since it went into force in October 1945, a critical fact the author ignored. It would have been excellent to have linked to "the framework note (S/2023/244)" for readers to consider. The problem is one of projection: the West cannot believe for one instance that Russia or China won't do what they would do--dominate. Also, the date and document to first consider is the 4 February Joint Declaration which seems to escape notice by everyone.
As noted, Russia's been trying to reason with the West since 1989, and even before then, but especially since the formation of the Putin-Lavrov team. Over the years they've noted the inability across different administrations from differing nations to negotiate along with a declining level of credibility to the point where those nations and organizations were deemed incapable of agreement and have now moved from "partners" to "enemies", from friendly nations to unfriendly nations. And given the entities that own the West today, the only way for change to come IMO is for collapse to happen--a la Rome--an implosion powerful enough to empower citizens to regain control of their nations from the Neoliberal Parasites and their Neocon allies that are now entrenched and in charge.
I can see RoW changing to its own separate Bloc segregated from the imploding West and thus remaining somewhat unscathed in the process. But those of us within the West either find a way to swiftly change the systemic nature of our countries or we're going to be subjected to the chaos of collapse and deep economic depression (although I do think there's a way to avoid a great deal of prolonged pain, but that requires recapturing our governments).
Thierry Meyssan is clear-eyed, but who within the corridors of power reads and is influenced by him? Yes, it's informative for the general openminded reader. It might help France untie itself from EU/NATO. Thanks for pointing it out to me.
Sanctions are not sanctions but economic warfare. That should always be made clear.
Posted by: Pnyx | May 6 2023 1:34 utc | 44
@ Piotr Berman | May 5 2023 23:43 utc | 41
re: The peoples of the EU are becoming more aware of what the sanctions are costing them. Yet, they can do little to change the direction their "leaders" are going in either supporting Ukraine or the USA.
The "peoples of the EU?" In Europe there are Italians, Germans, French, etc etc . . .and NOT European Unionists.
There are no real "peoples of the EU." The EU is a fabrication to disallow European people any natural human rights. The EU is an illegal entity, stealing sovereignty from its members, a violation of the UN Charter: "The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members."
Posted by: Don Bacon | May 6 2023 1:36 utc | 45
Sanctions that affect an entire national population or a distinct subgroup thereof were defined in the London memorandum that set up the guiding principles of the Nuremberg Tribunals as a crime against humanity.
The US and EU are committing crimes against humanity.
Posted by: Cato the Uncensored | May 6 2023 2:32 utc | 46
So the sanctioned countries should just start trading extra with each other.
Sanctioned countries should remove barriers with other sanctioned countries and have special trade status with each other.
"The recent sanctions on Russia proved to be hurting the Russians much less than they are hurting the people living in the European Union."
I don't fully believe that as those in the EU countries are still acting snobby and uppity and going on how they have such a higher standard of living than Russia.
Russia does still have a lot of work to do on itself and developing its industries. Sometimes war can help an economy and actually many of the U.S.'s inventions came from war. So...
Posted by: MiniMo | May 6 2023 4:36 utc | 47
https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/confessions-of-an-economic-hitman/
Maybe I will sound crazy, as I woke up at the dawn. In my little abode on the hill above the sea, in the south, I overlook the open waters of Adriatic sea, the ancient city fortress and an island enveloped in ancient trees, like a jewel in the blueness of water.
Suddenly all this noise coming from the crazed hegemon, and I admit I was worried for so long, means nothing anymore...
Empty noise...
I understand the Russian state of mind now, the fear is gone, and the fear is gone of more than 80% of the world. You who caused so much evil to the planet, are shrinking into oblivion. You with your sanctions can f.....off, irrelevant...
Posted by: stranger | May 6 2023 4:45 utc | 48
It’s colloquially known in English as:
‘ cutting off your own nose to spite your face ‘
👿
Oi, oi ! I suppose there are those who do that to themselves regularly.
But we aren’t allowed to do any personal BDS ourselves by local laws - which seems to have spread internationally, like a pandemic 🤡🤡🤡
Posted by: DunGroanin | May 6 2023 6:23 utc | 49
As stated above. Unilateral sanctions are illegal and a crime against humanity, affecting the most vulnerable in society.
PRC: US hegemony and it’s perils.
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjbxw/202302/t20230220_11027664.html
Posted by: Lev Davidovich | May 6 2023 9:02 utc | 50
Posted by: PaulaFox | May 6 2023 8:25 utc | 50
Your post barely stands for a sanction.
Please remain on topic.
Posted by: Greg Galloway | May 6 2023 9:49 utc | 51
Posted by: PaulaFox | May 6 2023 8:25 utc | 50
You didn't say how many kids you have. The M in MILF stands for mother(s).
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 6 2023 11:05 utc | 52
11.
What fucking propaganda? Got any speciifc examples? Such projection, so sterotypically Maerican.
What is happening here is discussion. And the fact that Maerica and its vassals have fucked thenselves through incalculable hubris...to be hoist on its own petard.. is irrefutable. But please do try, as your weak effort so far amounted to taking a shit in the punch bowl and then crowing like you were telling your mom you went potty.
A drive by comment by an pseudointellecutal coward. You sure showed us!
I'll be waiting for something, anything of substance.
Posted by: Doctor Eleven | May 6 2023 12:00 utc | 53
Thank you to @karlof1 and @bevin.Wise words.
I have noted that there is still a remnant, a residue of the belief in the govt, institutions which are supposed to work on our * us plebs) behalf.
Myself, and I believe many others in this world of 'golden billion', have now been cured of this misapprehension.They have long ago, if ever they cared, given up on the lies and now they openly work against us.
It would seem to be a paradox if we still beleived the pre-AI world ( but, abot 300 million of human jobs will be rendered extinct by AI by 2030, USA and EU).
We are simply not needed anymore like that disgusting Harary told us. 70% of us...
Thus I come to this war which from the beginning I considered to be the first spark of the war of civilizations...
The old paradigms are falling and being crushed. sunctions are proving to be old tools of a dying regimes...
Enormous changes are happening, I place hopes on the 80% plus who are fighting the terminally deceased so-called west. I do not hope they will save us, it is our responsibility to save ourselves.
The trust is broken, forever.
'As noted, Russia's been trying to reason with the West since 1989, and even before then, but especially since the formation of the Putin-Lavrov team. Over the years they've noted the inability across different administrations from differing nations to negotiate along with a declining level of credibility to the point where those nations and organizations were deemed incapable of agreement and have now moved from "partners" to "enemies", from friendly nations to unfriendly nations. And given the entities that own the West today, the only way for change to come IMO is for collapse to happen--a la Rome--an implosion powerful enough to empower citizens to regain control of their nations from the Neoliberal Parasites and their Neocon allies that are now entrenched and in charge.
I can see RoW changing to its own separate Bloc segregated from the imploding West and thus remaining somewhat unscathed in the process. But those of us within the West either find a way to swiftly change the systemic nature of our countries or we're going to be subjected to the chaos of collapse and deep economic depression (although I do think there's a way to avoid a great deal of prolonged pain, but that requires recapturing our governments).'
Posted by: stranger | May 6 2023 13:07 utc | 54
Excuses, difficult to edit...
The quote in my above post is by @ karlof1, thank you
Posted by: stranger | May 6 2023 13:15 utc | 55
Sanction vote in UN,
Jungle against - garden for
tHE FUKUS led garden always on the 'right' side of history
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/sanctions-map-US-768x360.jpg
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/04/06/west-sanctions-un-human-rights-council/
-------------
Two shitheads the commissar and Aeron Lee scratching each other's back
WTF
Posted by: denk | May 6 2023 13:54 utc | 56
I apologize if posting too much, my last post today...
In light of these impossibly funny and pathetic sanctions imposed by the so-called-west, I am thinking about North Stream terror attack.
Also about attack on Libya when they have destroyed 'The man made river' with their bombing.
You can find details with a little bit of search, Libya was working on the welfare of their citizens. The project was a miracle, from the aquifers in the desert to the citizens, providing clean water in the middle of the desert.
Who has not walked the western desert ( I did), can not imagine unbelievable beauty and cruelness of the landscape, can kill you in couple of hours. The man made river was enormous project for the benefit of people.
The moment I woke up to the evil of 'imposers of the sanctions' 2010:
The collective self y of EU leaders, the doughy paste Cameron, little cocky looking Hollande end more of the EU rats in line. Self congratulating themselves for destroying the country in the name of R2P. Such lies.
Enemies of humanity.
And, if you want to know of the desert, watch 'The English patient', one of the best movies ever made.
Good night, barflies
Posted by: stranger | May 6 2023 13:55 utc | 57
It is a well known fact that starvation is a favorit form of warfare by the Brits. The most well-known excaples are how thay starved Ireland and India. Lesser famously, their blockade against Germany which lasted For several years AFTER BOTH WORLD WARS. FUT ALSO MY OWN MOTHERLAND OF NORWAY: British wen-of-war throughout the Napoleonic wars hindered grain deliveries to Norway from Denmanrk for many years and caused terrible famine.
(In the North of Norway, fortiouisly, the Tzar of Russia arranged shipments of grain to be delivered from Arkhangelsk -- thereby averting extreme de-population through British-imposed hunger.
The sama may be said about China: After the Opium wars and far into the 1920ies, Britain controlled both Chinese costumes and the empire's internal policies. Thay forbade hoarding of grain and rice in state silos, so tha no relief help was available in local famine years.
Posted by: Tollef Ås/秋涛乐/טלפ וש | May 6 2023 15:17 utc | 58
The cost of sanctions compliance programs for businesses is HUGE. And while most of us won't shed a tear for corporations, bear in mind that they just pass the costs of these pointless exercises straight through to us struggling consumers.
Posted by: Figleaf23 | May 6 2023 15:42 utc | 59
In this regard hes correct. Please try to enforce any laws against the US or Israel, We have decades of proof of how that turns out. One could even include Russia, China, and North Korea in that equation. International law is a farce since it is never equitably applied. If it was, much of the US government would be hanging by their necks at this point.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 5 2023 20:34 utc | 24
------------------
Who block hundreds of UN resolutions against Israel ?
But who sanctioned Israel when it stepped outta line ?
'Washington sanctioned Israel over its arms sale to China.'
International law is a farce
No shit Sherlock !
But WTF has it gotta do with China, Russia , NK ???
Typical 'blame others' shithead.
Posted by: denk | May 7 2023 3:16 utc | 60
I heard the gringo pirates seized an Iranian oil tanker in Malacca Stratis and...the Iranians retaliated by seizing
TWO gringo tankers !
Bravo Iran, way to go.
Posted by: denk | May 7 2023 3:51 utc | 61
@denk, #61:
LOL! denk. Yeah, way to go. It shows that SCO membership broadens one's spectrum of strategic do-ables.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | May 7 2023 6:21 utc | 62
Posted by: Oriental Voice | May 7 2023 6:21 utc | 62
------------------------
1993
The USN waylaid a Chinese freighter, forced it to dock at Saudi port for 'inspection of illegal chemicals bound for Iran'.
These days , they simply seize a gawd damned tanker off international water.
The ship was carrying oil bound for China btw.
the hyena never changed its spots.
The garden had never shed their pirates
pedigree.
https://min.news/en/military/2119d536e16229d0192aa3fe6fb9f6de.html
Posted by: denk | May 7 2023 13:47 utc | 63
@denk, #63:
I know about the incident you referred. It's known as the Galaxy Incident in China. Early Clinton years. Even then aspiring young politicians (such as Clinton at the time, since he was an obscure former Arkansas governor at the time just elected to presidency) sensed the American hatred for anything Chinese and would do things to deliberately demean China so as to win popularity. In his second term he bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
Garden's animosity towards the Chinese civilization is plain and deep. It permeates the grassroot. It intensified after 1949, and again during 1950-1953 Korean War. It has never abated. Some called the late 70's to mid-80's a Honey Moon era of Sion-Gringo relationship. Honey Moon my foot! Among the populace the jealousy, the despise, the revulsion have never changed. There are other nationalities/ethnicities/ideological entities/ that Americans have distastes for, Russia/Islam/ being obvious examples, but none rivals the depth and intensity of Anglo-Saxon hatred towards the Cathay Civilization.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | May 7 2023 18:15 utc | 64
The comments to this entry are closed.
About the "Ukrainian brethen"
b, I think you have a huge misunderstanding about what people live in Donbas. The people who live in the cities are not "native ukrainians" but geniue ethnic-Russian people from northen-central russian territorities (Like Kursk) and also don-cossacks from southern Russia (Russian cossacks of Don-river) who immigrated in Donbas and Crimea around 400 years ago in the north to fortress cities like Bakhmut, and 200 years ago in the south, during the industrial revolution to mine coal. (Along with many germans and greeks who were gone by end of WW2. They were largely replaced by native ukrainians in Odessa, while cities in Donbas are still majorly Russian)
The original people of southeast ukraine were neither Russians nor Ukrainians, but mongol-turkic muslim Tatars, who were enemy of both. Before the mongol invasion there were cumanians and scythians but there werent any ukrainian cossacks. The nature of the steppes is very migratory.
While Russians settled in the cities, zaphorizian cossacks and serfs who were not ukrainian as in the modern definition (Which is a bolshevik invention) settled in the countryside and assimilated with the Russians.
Russia did not come for their "ukrainian brethen" but for Russian people of old age.
The reason the Donbass was given by Lenin to Soviet Ukraine was to make urban workers to be the dominant population in the political system of Ukraine, "So it wouldn't be monopolized by peasants".
Also the Donetsk and Luhansk republic were annexed in to the Russian Federation, but as autonomous republics like many other parts of Russia. Their units are now standard units in the Russian Forces.
Posted by: A200 | May 5 2023 16:34 utc | 1