A call for March 13-15, 2020:
Sanctions Kill! Sanctions are War!
End Sanctions Now!
Endorse this call for international
action at:
https://sanctionskill.org/
____________________
Crimes against Humanity:
US Sanctions Harm One Third of
World’s People
By Sara Flounders
Global Research, December 05, 2019
Workers World 3 December 2019
The most insidious and pervasive form of modern warfare by
Wall Street and the Pentagon, acting in coordination, is passing largely
unnoticed and unchallenged. This calculated attack is rolling back decades of
progress in health care, sanitation, housing, essential infrastructure and
industrial development all around the world.
Almost every developing country attempting any level of
social programs for its population is being targeted.
U.S. imperialism and its junior partners have refined
economic strangulation into a devastating weapon. Sanctions in the hands of the
dominant military and economic powers now cause more deaths than bombs or guns.
This weapon is stunting the growth of millions of youth and driving desperate
migrations, dislocating tens of millions.
‘A crime against humanity’
Sanctions and economic blockades against Venezuela, Cuba and
Iran are well known. But the devastating impacts of U.S. sanctions on occupied
Palestine — or on already impoverished countries such as Mali, Central African
Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Kyrgyzstan, Fiji, Nicaragua and Laos — are not even on
the radar screen of human rights groups.
Most sanctions are intentionally hidden; they don’t generate
even a line of news. Some sanctions are quickly passed after a sudden news
article about an alleged atrocity. The civilians who will suffer have nothing
to do with whatever crime the corporate media use as an excuse. What are never
mentioned are the economic or political concessions the U.S. government or
corporations are seeking.
Sanctions cannot be posed as an alternative to war. They are
in fact the most brutal form of warfare, deliberately targeting the most
defenseless civilians — youth, the elderly, sick and disabled people. In a
period of human history when hunger and disease are scientifically solvable,
depriving hundreds of millions from getting basic necessities is a crime
against humanity.
International law and conventions, including the Geneva and
Nuremberg Conventions, United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, explicitly prohibit the targeting of defenseless civilians,
especially in times of war.
Sanctions draw
condemnation
Modern industrial society is built on a fragile web of
essential technology. If pumps and sewage lines, elevators and generators can’t
function due to lack of simple spare parts, entire cities can be overwhelmed by
swamps. If farmers are denied seed, fertilizer, field equipment and storage
facilities, and if food, medicine and essential equipment are deliberately
denied, an entire country is at risk.
The Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel
Moncada, spoke to the XVIII Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement held in Baku,
Azerbaijan, Oct. 26. Addressing the 120 countries represented, he denounced the
imposition of arbitrary measures, called “sanctions” by the U.S., as “economic
terrorism which affects a third of humanity with more than 8,000 measures in 39
countries.”
This terrorism, he said, constitutes a “threat to the entire
system of international relations and is the greatest violation of human rights
in the world.” (tinyurl.com/uwlm99r)
\
The Group of 77 and China, an international body based at
the U.N. and representing 134 developing countries, called upon “the
international community to condemn and reject the imposition of the use of such
measures as a means of political and economic coercion against developing
countries.”
The Group explained:
“The criminal, anti-human policy of targeting defenseless
populations, which is in clear violation of United Nations Charter and
international law, has now become the new weapon of choice for these powerful
states since they are faced with strong opposition from the majority of their
own population to the endless wars of occupation that they are already involved
in.”
The power of banks
The mechanism and the ability of one country or one vote to
destroy a country on the other side of the world are not well understood.
International capital uses the dollar system. All
international transactions go through U.S. banks. These banks are in a position
to block money transfers for the smallest transaction and to confiscate
billions of dollars held by targeted governments and individuals. They are also
in a position to demand that every other bank accept sudden restrictions
imposed from Washington or face sanctions themselves.
This is similar to how the U.S. Navy can claim the authority
to intercept ships and interrupt trade anywhere, or the U.S. Army can target
people with drones and invade countries without even asking for a declaration
of war.
Sometimes a corporate media outlet, a U.S.-funded “human
rights” group or a financial institution issues charges, often unsubstantiated,
of human rights violations, or political repression, drug trafficking,
terrorist funding, money laundering, cyber-security infractions, corruption or
non-compliance with an international financial institution. These charges
become the opening wedge for a demand for sanctions as punishment.
U.S. Sanctions:
Economic Sabotage that Is Deadly, Illegal and Ineffective
Sanctions can be imposed through a U.S. Congressional
resolution or Presidential declaration or be authorized by a U.S. government
agency, such as the departments of the Treasury, Commerce, State or Defense.
The U.S. might apply pressure to get support from the European Union, the U.N.
Security Council or one of countless U.S.-established regional security
organizations, such as the Organization of American States.
A U.S. corporate body that wants a more favorable trade deal
is able to influence numerous agencies or politicians to act on its behalf.
Deep-state secret agencies, military contractors, nongovernmental organizations
funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, and numerous corporate-funded
foundations maneuver to create economic dislocation and pressure resource-rich
countries.
Even sanctions that appear mild and limited can have a
devastating impact. U.S. officials will claim that some sanctions are only
military sanctions, needed to block weapons sales. But under the category of
possible “dual use,” the bans include chlorine needed to purify water,
pesticides, fertilizers, medical equipment, simple batteries and spare parts of
any kind.
Another subterfuge is sanctions that supposedly apply only
to government officials or specific agencies. But in fact any and every
transaction they carry out can be blocked while endless inquiries are held.
Anonymous bank officials can freeze all transactions in progress and scrutinize
all accounts a country holds. Any form of sanctions, even against individuals,
raises the cost and risk level for credit and loans.
There are more than 6,300 names on the Specially Designated
Nationals and Blocked Persons List of individuals sanctioned by the Office of
Foreign Assets Control at the U.S. Treasury Department.
The OFAC describes its role this way:
“OFAC administers a number of different sanctions programs.
The sanctions can be either comprehensive or selective, using the blocking of
assets and trade restrictions to accomplish foreign policy and national security
goals.”
There is also a Financial Action Task Force list and an
International Traffic in Arms Regulations list.
The sanctions weapon has become so extensive that there is
now a whole body of law to guide U.S. corporations and banks in navigating
sales, credit and loans. It is intended to be opaque, murky and open to
interpretation, payoffs and subterfuge. There seems to be no single online site
that lists all the different countries and individuals under U.S. sanctions.
Once a country is sanctioned, it must then “negotiate” with
various U.S. agencies that demand austerity measures, elections that meet
Western approval, cuts in social programs, and other political and economic
concessions to get sanctions lifted.
Sanctions are an essential part of U.S. regime change
operations, designed in the most cynical way to exact maximum human cost.
Sudden hyperinflation, economic disruption and unexpected shortages are then
hypocritically blamed on the government in office in the sanctioned country.
Officials are labeled inept or corrupt.
Agencies carefully monitor the internal crisis they are
creating to determine the optimum time to impose regime change or manufacture a
color revolution. The State Department and U.S. covert agencies fund numerous
NGOs and social organizations that instigate dissent. These tactics have been
used in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Iran, Syria, Libya, Zimbabwe, Sudan and many
other countries.
A weapon of
imperialism in decline
Gone are the days of Marshall Plan-type promises of
rebuilding, trade, loans and infrastructure development. They are not even
offered in this period of capitalist decay. The sanctions weapon is now such a
pervasive instrument that hardly a week goes by without new sanctions, even on
past allies.
In October the U.S. threatened harsh sanctions on Turkey, a
70-year member of the U.S.-commanded NATO military alliance.
On Nov. 27, Trump suddenly announced, by presidential
decree, harsher sanctions on Nicaragua, calling it a “National Security
Threat.” He also declared Mexico a “terrorist” threat and refused to rule out
military intervention. Both countries have democratically elected governments.
Other sanctions sail through the U.S. Congress without a
roll call vote — just a cheer and a unanimous voice vote, such as the sanctions
on Hong Kong in support of U.S.-funded protests.
Why Wall Street can’t
be sanctioned
Is there any possibility that the U.S. could be sanctioned
for its endless wars under the same provisions by which it has asserted the
right to wreak havoc on other countries?
The Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court,
Fatou Bensouda, in November 2017 asked the Hague-based ICC to open formal
investigations of war crimes committed by the Taliban, the Haqqani network,
Afghan forces, and the U.S. military and the CIA.
The very idea of the U.S. being charged with war crimes led
then White House National Security Advisor John Bolton to threaten judges and
other ICC officials with arrest and sanction if they even considered any charge
against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
“If the court comes after us, Israel or other U.S. allies,
we will not sit quietly,” Bolton said. He noted that the U.S. “is prepared to
slap financial sanctions and criminal charges on officials of the court if they
proceed against any U.S. personnel. … We will ban its judges and prosecutors
from entering the United States. We will sanction their funds in the U.S.
financial system, and we will prosecute them in the U.S. criminal system. … We
will do the same for any company or state that assists an ICC investigation of
Americans.” (The Guardian, Sept. 10, 2018)
Bolton also cited a recent move by Palestinian leaders to
have Israeli officials prosecuted at the ICC for human rights violations. The
ICC judges got the message. They ruled that despite “a reasonable basis” to
consider war crimes committed in Afghanistan, there was little chance of a
successful prosecution. An investigation “would not serve the interests of
justice.”
Chief Prosecutor Bensouda, for proposing an even-handed
inquiry, had her U.S. visa revoked by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Sanctions are a weapon in the capitalist world order used by
the most powerful countries against those that are weaker and developing. One
hundred years ago, in 1919, President Woodrow Wilson advocated sanctions as a
quiet but lethal weapon that exerts pressure no nation in the modern world can
withstand.
Sanctions demonstrate how capitalist laws protect the right
of eight multibillionaires to own more than the population of half the world.
U.N. sanctions
demanded by Washington
The U.S., with the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet and
800 military bases, claims — while engaged in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria
and Libya — that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Islamic
Republic of Iran are the greatest threats to world peace.
In the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. succeeded in winning
harsh new sanctions against Iran and the DPRK by threatening, on the eve of
“war games,” that the U.S. would escalate hostilities to an open military
attack.
This threat proved sufficient to get other Security Council
members to fall in line and either vote for sanctions or abstain.
These strong-arm tactics have succeeded again and again.
During the Korean War, when the U.S. military was saturation-bombing Korea,
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Warren Austin held up a submachine gun in the
Security Council to demand expanded authority in the war from that body.
Throughout the 1990s the U.S. government used sanctions on
Iraq as a horrendous social experiment to calculate how to drastically lower
caloric intake, destroy crop output and ruin water purification. The impact of
these sanctions were widely publicized — as a threat to other countries.
Bill Clinton’s Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, when
asked about the half a million children who died as a result of U.S. sanctions
on Iraq, replied, “We think the price is worth it.”
The sanctions imposed by the U.S. against Iran are
book-length, spanning 40 years since the Iranian Revolution. The blockade and
sanctions on Cuba have continued for 60 years.
Sanctions Kill
campaign
It is an enormous political challenge to break the media
silence and expose this crime. We need to put a human face on the suffering.
Targeted countries cannot be left to struggle by themselves
in isolation — there must be full solidarity with their efforts. The sheer
number of countries being starved into compliance via U.S.-imposed sanctions
must be dragged into the light of day. And one step in challenging the
injustice of capitalist property relations is to attack the criminal role of
the banks.
The effort to rally world opinion against sanctions as a war
crime is beginning with a call for International Days of Action Against
Sanctions & Economic War on March 13-15, 2020. Its slogans are “Sanctions
Kill! Sanctions Are War! End Sanctions Now!”
These coordinated international demonstrations are a crucial
first step. Research and testimony; resolutions by unions, student groups,
cultural workers and community organizations; social media campaigns; and
bringing medical supplies and international relief to sanctioned countries can
all play a role. Every kind of political campaign to expose the international
crime of sanctions is a crucial contribution.
The original source of this article is Workers World
Copyright © Sara Flounders, Workers World, 2019
