U.S. Officials Are Sanction-Happy

 By David Starr

 

How can a country with a degree of democracy put sanctions on various countries resulting in inevitable consequences while it brags that it’s spreading democracy and freedom worldwide? A country that has the rule of capital as its main objective. True, there are other systems with negative characteristics. But capitalism is inherently geared toward maintaining and expanding the rule of capital, in the bottom line.

 

The United States, as an empire, is that country, and with the change in the international situation since 1991 (when the USSR dissolved), the USA is trying to take full advantage of it. 

 

The USA has quite a number of sanctions imposed on countries branded as “evil doers.” Especially nowadays, the USA does not practice much diplomacy as it does war mongering. Countries are demonized really because they want to take an alternative path in a multi-polar world as opposed to a bi-polar one, which the USA, and its’ allies, currently imposes. The U.S. monetary empire cannot stand having a rival system that threatens its dominance in the world.

 

Agencies like The Office of Assets Control (OFAC), a part of the U.S. Treasury, has imposed 1/3 of the sanctions worldwide. So, the USA is the country with the most sanctions. But who are the “evil doers?” From Princeton University’s Research and Project Administration, here are examples:

 

Cuba, North Korea (DPRK), Syria, Iran, Russia, and regions in Ukraine like Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk.

 

Actions against the above: “Most transactions, including those involving persons and entities ‘ordinarily resident’ require an [OFAC] License.”

 

Balkans, Dem. Rep. of Congo, Lebanon, Belarus, Ethiopia, Libya, Burma (Myanmar), Iraq, Sudan.

 

Actions against the above: “Transactions related to activities with specific parties in these countries are prohibited.”

 

Afghanistan, China (PRC), Cyprus, Iraq, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Lebanon, North Korea (DPRK), Sudan, Zimbabwe, Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, Haiti, Liberia, Somalia, Syria, Central African Republic, Dem. Rep. of Congo, Iran, Libya, South Sudan, and Venezuela.

 

Actions against the above: “The U.S. Department of State prohibits the export of military/space equipment or technical data to these countries or foreign nationals of these countries.”

 

As shown, some countries are in more than one category.

 

More Specifically, here are examples of sanctions against the following countries:

 

Cuba – It has been the victim of decades of sanctions, totaling about 64 years. The U.S. embargo, or El Bloqueo, (the Blockade) as Cubans call it, has been morally bankrupt and a failure. If U.S. officials were truly concerned about the welfare of Cubans, the embargo would have been lifted long ago. Instead, it was tightened after the dissolving of the Soviet Union, of which Cuba was getting decades of aid from. It was, and is, a cruel set of actions to try to make Cuba subservient to the U.S., similar to pre-1959 Cuba. 

 

The enforcement of sanctions has come in the form of several acts: the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917; the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961; the Cuban Assets Control regulations of 1963; the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992; the Helms-Burton act of 1996; and the Trade Sanction Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000.

 

The Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) and the Cuban Democracy Act (CDA) have, in particular, pretty-sounding names. But that’s as far as it goes. The FAA spawned the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which, despite the name, is a CIA front. The CDA contradicts democracy because if it was that way, the embargo would be lifted.

 

For 31 years, the UN General Assembly has voted overwhelming to lift the embargo. The last vote had 187 countries voted to lift it and just two countries to continue with it, those countries being of course the USA and Israel. Ukraine abstained.

 

North Korea (DPRK) – With the 38^th parallel dividing North Korea and South Korea (ROK), due to the Korean War, lasting from 1950 to 1953, it has been about 70 years since this alignment was established; and it has been impossible for the two Koreas to unite, mainly based on ideological differences. The USA has controlled the south while the USSR controlled the north. A demilitarization zone (DMZ) was established. 

 

An agreement was made in 1948 where the U.S. military and the Soviet military would withdraw from both Koreas after five years. The USA, however, left military advisors in the south, and eventually reoccupied it. 

 

The DPRK has gotten its share of condemnation. The West has consistently claimed that the DPRK wants to invade the ROK in an attempt at reunification. So, the DPRK is seen as the “aggressor.” The reality, however, is more complicated. 

 

The DPRK, led by Kim Il Sung, and the ROK, led by Syngmann Ree, both considered civil war to unify the peninsula. But it wasn’t the DPRK who began drawing up battle plans for another war. It was the ROK.  Nevertheless, the DPRK was still interested in reunification.

 

In 1994, an agreement was signed to lesson the hostility between the DPRK and the USA. It was the US-DPRK Agreed Framework, with conditions that were not favorable to the DPRK. It was to close down its nuclear facilities and have IAEA inspections. The USA didn’t honor the agreement. There were still military threats and trade and economic barriers.

 

The sanctions placed on the DPRK are as follows: Trade restricted to food, medicine and other humanitarian necessities, but require a license; imports from the DPRK have been prohibited starting in 2011; arms sales and arms transfers are fully prohibited; financial transactions are prohibited; new U.S. investment is prohibited; U.S. foreign aid is minimal, except for those “fleeing” the DPRK; U.S.-based assets are blocked; Kim Jong-un and the Korean Workers Party, etc. are identified as being involved in illicit and punishable activities: U.S. travel requires a special valid passport.

 

With these sanctions, the U.S. empire is practicing overkill. It’s the usual hostility against an “evil-doer.” 

 

Russia – Like other “enemies,” Russia is portrayed as being “evil.” Ideally-speaking, its invasion of Ukraine is violating international law. But, since the change of the international situation in 1991, with the dissolving of the USSR, tragic changes took place in the former Soviet Republics. Instead of democratic reforms that would have complimented socialism, capitalist-shock therapy economics was imposed causing tragedy and suffering among the Soviet population. Since then, Russia has been on the defensive, with the U.S./NATO alliance expanding near its borders with weapons pointed at it.

 

Recent history shows that there was a U.S.-backed coup in Ukraine in 2014. In the Donbas, and Crimea, where the Black Sea fleet is located, many ethnic Russians were attacked because they were Russian. The attackers included Ukrainian Nazis who committed war crimes, resulting in the death of 14,000 ethnic Russians. In response, Russia invaded the Donbas and Crimea, not wanting to lose the Black Sea fleet. There were referendums in both regions, and the majority voted to separate from Ukraine. 

 

Still, the Ukrainian military, which includes the Azov Battalion, a Nazi group, continued to attack those regions. In February 2022, Russia added more troops to its invasion in  the Donbas and Crimea, among other areas, to battle the Ukrainian military. It has been a tragic affair, with many Ukrainians and Russians dying. 

 

There was a chance for negotiations, but the alliance put a stop to that. For example, former British PM Boris Johnson visited Kyiv and talked to Ukraine’s President Zelensky. Johnson persuaded him not to negotiate. Thus, more weapons were sent to Ukraine by the alliance. 

 

The U.S. empire acted quickly, putting sanctions on Russia. The majority of sanctions began in 2014, with Russia’s invasion. Examples of the sanctions are as follows, enacted with executive orders by President Barak Obama:

 

Executive Order 13660 – “Targets those responsible for undermining Ukraine’s democracy and threatens its peace.”

 

E.O. 13661– “Targets Russian officials operating in the arms sector, as well as entities they own and control.”

 

E.O. 13662 – “Targets entities and individuals operating in Russia’s financial services, energy and defense sectors.” 

 

E.O. 13685  “Prohibits U.S. business or investment in occupied Crimea.”

 

Given U.S. imperialism, these sanctions are the height of hypocrisy. Further, the U.S./NATO alliance is trying to turn Ukraine into a market satellite assisted by a willing Ukrainian government whose president, Zelensky, is a neoliberal. The idea is to take advantage of cheap Ukrainian labor.

 

Venezuela – The reaction by right-wing/fascist Venezuelans and their “sugar daddy,” the USA, toward the Venezuelan presidential election is typically arrogant and pretentious outrage. A statement by Venezuelanalysis sums it up:

 

“For more than 25 years, The U.S. has been hellbent on overthrowing the Bolivarian Revolution. Unable to see its surrogates succeed at the polls or trigger an outright coup, Washington settled on a weapon of choice: economic sanctions.”

 

Some examples are as follows:

 

Visa Restrictions – “Since FY 2018, the State Department has imposed visa restrictions related to corruption or human rights abuses…the State Department has also privately revoked the visas of Venezuelans, including those of current Venezuelan officials and their families.”

 

Terrorism-Related Sanctions – “Since 2006, the Secretary of State has made annual determination that Venezuela is not ‘cooperating fully with United States anti-terrorism efforts’… the United States has prohibited all U.S. commercial arms sales and transfers to Venezuela.”

 

Drug Traffic-Related Sanctions – “Treasury has imposed asset-blocking sanctions on 11 individuals and 25 companies with connections to Venezuela by designating them as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers…”

 

Targeted Sanctions Related to Antidemocratic Actions, Human Rights violations, and Corruption – “In response to increasing repression in Venezuela, Congress enacted the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014. [T]he law required the President to impose sanctions on those responsible for significant acts of violence, human rights abuses, or antidemocratic actions.”

 

For the last sentence, those acts in reality are the handiwork of U.S.-backed right-wing/fascists. They are the main instigators of violence. But the USA would call them “pro-democracy demonstrators.” Again, the hypocrisy.

 

Former UN Special Rapporteur Alfred de Zayas wrote a piece in CounterPunch that condemns the U.S. empire’s own terrorism:

 

“In the US State Department’s toolkit, unilateral coercive measures (UCMs) are used to blackmail, bully and intimidate States that do not readily accept US hegemony. Placing a country in the US list of countries sponsors for terrorism is intended to lend some phony legitimacy to UCMs imposed against targeted States.”

 

The United States, while having a degree of democracy, is nevertheless a monetary empire that for decades imposed brutal sanctions on other countries charting an alternative path. This makes the USA sanction-happy.