{"id":326550,"date":"2021-09-26T21:50:13","date_gmt":"2021-09-26T21:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dissidentvoice.org\/?p=121528"},"modified":"2021-09-26T21:50:13","modified_gmt":"2021-09-26T21:50:13","slug":"new-report-exposes-the-us-brutal-and-illegal-economic-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/09\/26\/new-report-exposes-the-us-brutal-and-illegal-economic-war\/","title":{"rendered":"New Report Exposes the US\u2019 Brutal and Illegal Economic War"},"content":{"rendered":"
NOTE: In April of this year, my family had a medical emergency that required most of my time and attention. The result is that I am now the sole legal and physical guardian of two young children with significant needs. I hope to return to writing a regular newsletter now that they are in school. There is a lot going on and a lot to do. Solidarity, Margaret Flowers<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This month, the Sanctions Kill coalition (Popular Resistance is a member) released its report: \u201cThe Impact and Consequences of US Sanctions<\/a>.\u201d The 35-page report was written in response to the Biden administration\u2019s January call for a review of the US sanctions to determine if they \u2018unduly hinder\u2019 the ability of targeted nations to address the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
To date, there is no word on whether that review has been conducted, but given that the State Department and Treasury are tasked with conducting it, the same institutions that impose sanctions, the Sanctions Kill coalition had no confidence their report would challenge the US\u2019 current foreign policy path of escalating economic war on 39 countries, or a third of the world population.<\/p>\n
The Sanctions Kill report found that sanctions, which are being increasingly imposed by the United States in lieu of or in addition to military aggression, cause tremendous suffering and death, violate international laws, harm US industries, place the US in a position of civil and criminal liability and are isolating the US from the community of nations. The corporate media are silent on these harmful effects and criticism of sanctions.<\/p>\n
Venezuelan UN Ambassador Samuel Moncada\u00a0described the impact of sanctions this week<\/a>\u00a0at The People\u2019s Forum (view the\u00a0event here<\/a>):<\/p>\n
Sanctions are killing us\u2026. They are homicidal. One of the awful effects of sanctions as a weapon, because it\u2019s a kind of war, is that you don\u2019t feel it here. You don\u2019t even realize that sanctions are acting abroad\u2026. You don\u2019t feel it in any way. But we feel them\u2026. That\u2019s why they are so insidious and dangerous. [The US] is waging economic war against millions of people.<\/p>\n
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The sanctions imposed by the United States include restrictions on financial transactions, trade and travel, blockades on foreign loans and aid and the seizure of assets. The Sanctions Kill report found these measures violate the human rights of people in affected countries because they block access to basic necessities such as food, medicines and fuel and they prevent maintenance of important infrastructure such as water services, power generation and transmission and transportation. The so-called humanitarian exceptions that are supposed to prevent sanctions from blocking food and medicine don\u2019t work \u2013 banks won\u2019t allow the sales and shipping companies won\u2019t transport the goods.<\/p>\n
Technically what the United States is doing are not sanctions but are unilateral coercive measures (UCMs), which violate international law because they operate outside the structure provided by the United Nations. Legal sanctions are used as a punishment after a legal process determines a country violated a law. Unilateral coercive measures are imposed by the US and its western imperialist allies based on lies and without due process in order to effect a desired political outcome, such as regime change or retaliation.<\/p>\n
For example, following the failed US-backed coup attempt in 2018 against Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega, the United States Congress passed the NICA Act, which began an economic war against socialist Nicaragua. With presidential elections being held this November, the United States has ramped up both a propaganda campaign against the popular Ortega, who is expected to win, and Congress is in the process of passing the RENACER Act, which will impose more UCMs against Nicaragua.<\/p>\n
Here<\/a>\u00a0is what US activists are saying about the RENACER Act and\u00a0what you can do<\/a>\u00a0to stop it. If you want to learn more, BreakThrough News\u00a0recently interviewed<\/a>\u00a0Jill Clark-Gollub of Friends of Latin America about the RENACER Act.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Sanctions Kill report also found that the US is imposing secondary sanctions on countries that do business with sanctioned countries, another violation of international law, and is using sanctions to target business people, such as Meng Wanzhou of Huawei, and diplomats, such as Alex Saab. Saab is\u00a0being held in Cabo Verde<\/a>\u00a0where he stopped last year on his way to Iran to negotiate the purchase of food and medicines for Venezuela. The US is working to extradite him while international support for Saab, whose imprisonment violates the Vienna Convention, is growing. Clearing the FOG\u00a0spoke earlier this year with Roger Harris<\/a>\u00a0of Task Force on the Americas after he traveled with a delegation to Cabo Verde to visit Alex Saab.\u00a0Click here to take action<\/a>.<\/p>\n