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For those Russians trying to go about their daily lives, the sanctions are economic terrorism. How is this nice at all? Let's turn this around ~ what if the wo

For those Russians trying to go about their daily lives, the sanctions are economic terrorism. How is this nice at all? Let's turn this around ~ what if the world put similar sanctions on the US after the Iraq/Afghanistan blunders?

wil421 12y ago
Welcome to politics and foreign policy.
bhouston 12y ago
> what if the world put similar sanctions on the US after the Iraq/Afghanistan blunders? Actually it probably would have been a good idea to use the threat of economic sanctions to stop the US invasion of Iraq based on false pretenses (remember it was about WMD) -- it was a mess all around, hugely costly in terms of Iraqi life (aren't the estimates in the +100,000 range these days?) and US money (2 trillion if I remember correctly) and US credibility. I doubt you could have gotten wide support for sanctions regarding stopping the larger multinational force in Afghanistan. Ironically, it is likely because of the Iraq debacle that the US is in favor of economic sanctions.
ahallock 12y ago
I agree, the wealthy and politically connected will weather the storm while the middle class and poor will suffer the most. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/11/19/sanctions-successes-and-failures/in-iran-sanctions-hurt-the-wrong-people http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/11/19/sanctions-su...
tokenadult 12y ago
The economic sanctions imposed so far on certain leaders and on certain state-owned enterprises in Russia are about as finely targeted as economic sanctions possibly could be. Economic sanctions in general are meant to be a less violent alternative to military action. Putin has plainly organized an effort for Russian military units not in uniform to be operating in Ukraine in violation of Ukraine's national sovereignty, so Putin is already engaged in acts of war. Thus far, the response from the West has been intended to help the common people of Russia (and of Ukraine) avoid deeper involvement in war while still putting tough pressure on Putin to conform his foreign policy to international law. The deep economic problems Russia now faces could have happened to any Russian leader who pursued a similarly kleptocratic, state-enterprise oriented economic policy. If Russia had a more free and more diverse economy, with a genuinely free press and rule of law, the daily life of the common people would be more resistant to economic shocks caused by the drop in the world price of petroleum, which is the major source of revenue for the Russian government.
skylan_q 12y ago
I don't get why this was downvoted. Blocking trade is a way to ruin people's lives. If goods don't cross borders, soldiers will.
sgnelson 12y ago
I for one would be okay (morally) if the rest of the world wanted to sanction the US for the invasion of Iraq. However, the real politik of it is simply: "The rest of the world needs the US more than the US needs them." Now,that's not totally true and hyperbole, but the point is, the US economy is such a large factor in the overall world economy, the costs from sanctioning the US would hurt many other countries much more so than sanctioning a country like Iran, Iraq, Cuba, or Russia, which are usually very small (economically speaking), somewhat isolated (economically and politically speaking) countries. For better or worse, that's one of the things that makes the US a superpower.

wil421 12y ago

Welcome to politics and foreign policy.

bhouston 12y ago

> what if the world put similar sanctions on the US after the Iraq/Afghanistan blunders? Actually it probably would have been a good idea to use the threat of economic sanctions to stop the US invasion of Iraq based on false pretenses (remember it was about WMD) -- it was a mess all around, hugely costly in terms of Iraqi life (aren't the estimates in the +100,000 range these days?) and US money (2 trillion if I remember correctly) and US credibility. I doubt you could have gotten wide support for sanctions regarding stopping the larger multinational force in Afghanistan. Ironically, it is likely because of the Iraq debacle that the US is in favor of economic sanctions.

ahallock 12y ago

I agree, the wealthy and politically connected will weather the storm while the middle class and poor will suffer the most. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/11/19/sanctions-successes-and-failures/in-iran-sanctions-hurt-the-wrong-people http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/11/19/sanctions-su...

tokenadult 12y ago

The economic sanctions imposed so far on certain leaders and on certain state-owned enterprises in Russia are about as finely targeted as economic sanctions possibly could be. Economic sanctions in general are meant to be a less violent alternative to military action. Putin has plainly organized an effort for Russian military units not in uniform to be operating in Ukraine in violation of Ukraine's national sovereignty, so Putin is already engaged in acts of war. Thus far, the response from the West has been intended to help the common people of Russia (and of Ukraine) avoid deeper involvement in war while still putting tough pressure on Putin to conform his foreign policy to international law. The deep economic problems Russia now faces could have happened to any Russian leader who pursued a similarly kleptocratic, state-enterprise oriented economic policy. If Russia had a more free and more diverse economy, with a genuinely free press and rule of law, the daily life of the common people would be more resistant to economic shocks caused by the drop in the world price of petroleum, which is the major source of revenue for the Russian government.

skylan_q 12y ago

I don't get why this was downvoted. Blocking trade is a way to ruin people's lives. If goods don't cross borders, soldiers will.

sgnelson 12y ago

I for one would be okay (morally) if the rest of the world wanted to sanction the US for the invasion of Iraq. However, the real politik of it is simply: "The rest of the world needs the US more than the US needs them." Now,that's not totally true and hyperbole, but the point is, the US economy is such a large factor in the overall world economy, the costs from sanctioning the US would hurt many other countries much more so than sanctioning a country like Iran, Iraq, Cuba, or Russia, which are usually very small (economically speaking), somewhat isolated (economically and politically speaking) countries. For better or worse, that's one of the things that makes the US a superpower.