I found this article on aljazeera today that states that the EU and the US will ease sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran shutting down most of its nuclear work.
Reading this brought me back to the debate on sanctions that my class has last semester.
Economic sanctions are a political tool predominately used by the US to exert soft power in international diplomacy.
But is it ethical?
Some say that sanctions on Iran are a completely warranted manner to get the Iranian government to respond to the wishes of the international community without resorting to military force.
But the people who are affected most aren't government officials- its the common citizens who are most vulnerable to the skyrocketing inflation and scarcity of food, medicine, and other commodities that result. Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman
acknowledges this fact and even defends the Iran sanctions regime this way: "Critics of sanctions argue that these measures will hurt the Iranian people.Quite frankly, we need to do just that."
Please fully read this article in the Guardian that skillfully (and more eloquently than I could put it) details the ways that "smart" sanctions by the US is wrecking the lives of 75 million Iranian civilians. In case you don't, let me highlight this section:
Reading this brought me back to the debate on sanctions that my class has last semester.
Economic sanctions are a political tool predominately used by the US to exert soft power in international diplomacy.
But is it ethical?
Some say that sanctions on Iran are a completely warranted manner to get the Iranian government to respond to the wishes of the international community without resorting to military force.
But the people who are affected most aren't government officials- its the common citizens who are most vulnerable to the skyrocketing inflation and scarcity of food, medicine, and other commodities that result. Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman
acknowledges this fact and even defends the Iran sanctions regime this way: "Critics of sanctions argue that these measures will hurt the Iranian people.Quite frankly, we need to do just that."
Please fully read this article in the Guardian that skillfully (and more eloquently than I could put it) details the ways that "smart" sanctions by the US is wrecking the lives of 75 million Iranian civilians. In case you don't, let me highlight this section:
So extreme was the suffering caused by sanctions in Iraq that one former UN official, Denis Halliday, resigned in protest, saying that the sanctions policy met the formal definition of "genocide":
"We are now in there responsible for killing people, destroying their families, their children, allowing their older parents to die for lack of basic medicines. We're in there allowing children to die who were not born yet when Saddam Hussein made the mistake of invading Kuwait."
Is indirectly causing the deaths of millions of civilians from starvation or lack of medicine different from killing civilians directly with bombs? Is it morally superior because of this indirectness? I believe not.
Yet, proponents of economic sanctions with counter with the argument that the Iranian government holds responsibility for the death of its' citizens because it has the power to make a deal end all nuclear programs and end the sanctions.
Are economic sanctions even legitimate? Iranian president Hassan Rouhani says, "When it comes to sanctions, have they been successful so far? Sanctions first and foremost are illegal." This quote is significant because it raises questions pertaining to both the legitimacy and the success of sanctions. Perhaps America actually undermines the sovereignty of other states by over-asserting its dominance.
Okay, by this point I have expressed a few...... bold remarks. I am not a fan of sanctions as a diplomatic tool and I have left my argument pretty one-sided. I highly encourage viewers to argue with me (or agree with me) in the comment section. I would really like this to be more like a conversation. Give me your thoughts~~
relevant articles:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/01/eu-us-sanctions-iran-2014120151047877828.html
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/07/iran-santions-suffering
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/23/world/meast/rouhani-calls-sanctions-illegal/
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/the-hawks-hypocrisy-on-the-iran-sanctions-bill/283287/
As a side note, this TED talks conversation from 2012 links the sanctions debate and media coverage in Iran. There are some pretty interesting opinions about the use of media in America.
http://www.ted.com/conversations/13683/is_the_current_lack_of_media.html
Yet, proponents of economic sanctions with counter with the argument that the Iranian government holds responsibility for the death of its' citizens because it has the power to make a deal end all nuclear programs and end the sanctions.
Are economic sanctions even legitimate? Iranian president Hassan Rouhani says, "When it comes to sanctions, have they been successful so far? Sanctions first and foremost are illegal." This quote is significant because it raises questions pertaining to both the legitimacy and the success of sanctions. Perhaps America actually undermines the sovereignty of other states by over-asserting its dominance.
Okay, by this point I have expressed a few...... bold remarks. I am not a fan of sanctions as a diplomatic tool and I have left my argument pretty one-sided. I highly encourage viewers to argue with me (or agree with me) in the comment section. I would really like this to be more like a conversation. Give me your thoughts~~
relevant articles:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/01/eu-us-sanctions-iran-2014120151047877828.html
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/07/iran-santions-suffering
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/23/world/meast/rouhani-calls-sanctions-illegal/
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/the-hawks-hypocrisy-on-the-iran-sanctions-bill/283287/
As a side note, this TED talks conversation from 2012 links the sanctions debate and media coverage in Iran. There are some pretty interesting opinions about the use of media in America.
http://www.ted.com/conversations/13683/is_the_current_lack_of_media.html