Tag: Sanctions

Do Sanctions Violate The Constitution?

I have made my thoughts on sanctions in the past….and now I would like to offer up another thought….this one from a FOX News pundit…..Napolitano…..keep in mind these are HIS thoughts not mine…..personally anyone that listens or believes anything from FOX News is basically adding to the confusion and misinformation (but that is me)……

For those that would like to check my thoughts on sanctions then by all means jump to my previous post….

Is Sanctions The Answer?

The US and most of the rest of the world has put into place crippling sanctions against Russia and its oligarchs….Napolitano says that these sanctions violate the US Constitution….

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration has undertaken a vast scheme against Russian economic actors, which it characterizes as “sanctions.” The scheme consists in seizing assets, freezing assets, and prohibiting lawful and constitutionally protected commercial transactions.

All of this is aimed at dissuading Russian President Vladimir Putin from his determination to use extreme state violence to neutralize the government of Ukraine and install a government more favorable to the Kremlin. Yet, the targets of these sanctions are neither Putin nor the Russian state. Rather, his friends and political supporters, as well as Russian banks and commercial entities, and even American banks and commercial entities, have been targeted – and hundreds of millions of consumers and investors have been harmed.

By prohibiting the use of assets and international money transfers, the sanctions have severely harmed folks in Russia who have nothing to do with Putin’s war by radically reducing their purchasing power and eliminating many everyday choices from their spending options. All of this was done by presidential edict.

Can the president constitutionally prevent Americans and foreign persons from the lawful use of their own assets and from engaging freely in lawful commercial transactions? In a word: No.

Sanctions on Russia Violate the Constitution

Now you have what a FOX pundit thinks…..do you agree?

Make your thoughts known!

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It’s Gonna Hurt!

Our dear president made his daily speech on the reactions to the invasion of Ukraine by ‘Vlad the Invader’……he explained the newest round of sanctions against Russia…..

The idea had been percolating for days, and it became reality on Tuesday: “We’re banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy,” President Biden said Tuesday at the White House, per CNN. “Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at US ports, and the American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin’s war machine,” he said. Bloomberg had reported the news before the official announcement, and the Wall Street Journaland the AP were among the early ones to confirm. Coverage:

  • The ban: The ban affects Russian oil, natural gas, and coal, per Bloomberg. Russia accounts for about 10% of US energy imports, notes the Hill. Allies in Europe, which are far more dependent on Russian oil than the US, have so far ruled out taking this step, notes Axios. The move is “one of America’s most far-reaching actions to penalize Moscow” since the invasion of Ukraine started, per the Washington Post.
  • Congress: The White House had been under pressure to act because Congress is already considering legislation, reports Politico. “I’d love for President Biden to do it on his own,” said Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who has put forward a bipartisan proposal with GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski. “It needs to happen.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also has voiced support for such a ban, and the White House risked being seen as lenient toward Vladimir Putin if it didn’t move first.
  • Political risks: All of this carries risks for Democrats and Biden, according to the Hill. A ban is expected to contribute to record-high gas prices going even higher, and it could give Republicans a boost in efforts to open up protected areas for drilling.
  • US wallets: Biden acknowledged the hit to American wallets. “The decision today is not without cost here at home,” he said. “Putin’s war is already hurting American families at the gas pump,” said Biden, adding that “with this action (the price of gas) is going to go up further.” But “I’m going to do everything I can to minimize Putin’s price hike here at home.” The US has been reaching out to Venezuela as a potential source of extra oil. Other options include Saudi Arabia and even Iran, per Bloomberg.
  • On the conflict: In regard to the invasion, Biden declared: “Ukraine will never be a victory for Putin. Putin may be able to take a city, but he’ll never be able to hold the country.”

You think food prices are high now….you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Not to worry us peasants will be paying more for everything and yet the CEOs will still enjoy their cold champagne and multi-million dollar bonuses while the rest of us struggle daily.

There is a reason that oil companies buy Congresspeople and this is one of those times.

Sorry to pee on your parade but this so-called ‘free market economy’ is killing the middle class.

When will the American people wake up to the oligarchs in this country?

JUst wondering.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Iranian Sanctions

Since 1979 there has been sanctions imposed on Iran by the US…..those and more continue until today…..some say there are “hundreds” of sanctions in place to punish Iran for various transgressions…..

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said even if the US rejoins the Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, “hundreds” of sanctions would still remain on Iran, including Trump-era measures.

“I would anticipate that, even in the event of a return to compliance with the JCPOA, hundreds of sanctions remain in place, including sanctions imposed by the Trump administration,” Blinken told a Senate hearing.

Blinken’s remarks are just his latest bad faith comment about the indirect negotiations between the US and Iran that have been ongoing since April. Because the Biden administration refuses to lift all Trump-era sanctions, the talks are being dragged out.

Blinken and other Biden officials justify their refusal to lift all of Trump’s sanctions by claiming they will only lift measures that are “consistent” with the economic relief Iran expects from the JCPOA. “If they are not inconsistent with the JCPOA, they will remain unless and until Iran’s behavior changes,” Blinken said.

The Trump administration imposed an enormous number of sanctions on Iran. Some were implemented over Tehran’s nuclear program, while others were put in place over claims of “terrorism” and alleged human rights violations. From the start of negotiations, the Biden administration has been clear that it is not going to lift all human rights and terror sanctions.

Since the US is the party that violated the JCPOA in the first place, and Iran is still technically in compliance, Tehran is calling on Biden to lift all of Trump’s sanctions if he is serious about reviving the deal. The fact that Iran is negotiating at all is a major concession. But if the talks don’t go anywhere due to the US’s refusal to lift enough sanctions, the Biden administration will undoubtedly blame it on Iran.

(antiwar.com)

Forty plus years of sanctions and what has it accomplished?

Very little to be honest.

I do not believe that sanctions are an effective tool in most cases….my thoughts here…..https://lobotero.com/2019/10/03/sanctions-and-tariffs/ and here……https://lobotero.com/2020/10/14/sanctions-what-are-they-good-for/

Sanctions hurt people that they say would help their lives get better…..instead it punishes civilians for the stuff their leaders do…..

Not the best way to win friends and influence people while they are struggling under the weight of sanctions.

So yes our Iran policy is seriously flawed…..

U.S. Iran policy is marred by many flaws, and some of the worst are threat inflation, imperial arrogance, and hypocrisy. Alarmist media reporting routinely overstates the threat that Iran poses to the US and the world, and hawkish politicians and pundits are only too eager to use this alarmism to agitate for more aggressive policies and to scuttle ongoing diplomacy. Even when Iran behaves like a normal state and abides by international law, their actions are spun as being somehow menacing and challenging to the United States. At the same time, the US tramples on the rules of the system that it claims to uphold so that it can pursue its economic war against Iran. The economic war itself is an illegitimate policy of collective punishment that the US has been waging for the last three years in a vain bid to compel deeper concessions from their government, and after almost half a year Biden has done nothing to change that policy. If we are ever going to have a peaceful and sane policy towards Iran, all of these flaws need to be rooted out.

Flaws in US Iran Policy

Flaws that NO one is willing to change or even review.

After 40+ years and nothing has changed in Iran….so what part of those sanctions are successful?

Turn The Page!

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Cheney/Greene Drama

The GOP is about to make history…..will they censure a fellow Repub for voting to impeach or will they show guts and take decisive action against the little blonde Nazi, Greene?

House Republicans decided Wednesday to stand by two GOP lawmakers who have polarized the party, voting to retain Rep. Liz Cheney as their No. 3 leader and saying they’d fight a Democratic push to kick Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene off her committees, the AP reports. In a 145-61 secret-ballot vote, House Republicans overwhelmingly rebuffed a rebellion by hard-right conservatives to toss Cheney, R-Wyo., from leadership after she voted last month to impeach then-President Donald Trump. Hours earlier, after Democrats slated a House vote for Thursday that would remove Greene from her committees, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy ridiculed them for it. His comments signaled he was dismissing bipartisan demands that the hard-right Georgia Republican be punished for her online embrace of racist and violent views and bizarre conspiracy theories.

The moves were typical of McCarthy’s preference to avoid ruffling feathers as he charts his path to someday becoming House speaker. “You know what that’s going to mean?” he told reporters after the lengthy evening meeting. ”Two years from now, we’re going to win the majority. That’s because this conference is more united. We’ve got the right leadership team behind it.” But each of the GOP’s wings remains concerned that the other is leading them down the wrong path, and to some, the day’s outcome seemed more an uneasy truce than a full-on peace treaty. As for Greene, attendants said the conspiracy theories she’s embraced came up during the spirited closed-door meeting. Some said Greene apologized to her colleagues, though there were conflicting, vague versions of exactly what she’d said. The Hill and other outlets report she received a standing ovation when she finished speaking.

There will be a floor vote on Greene in the House today…..

Democratic leaders in the House are set to hold a vote Thursday on whether Republican newcomer Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene should be removed from her two committee assignments. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said that his Republican counterpart, Kevin McCarthy, is not ready to remove Greene from her spots on the budget and education and labor committees, the Hill reports. “It is clear there is no alternative to holding a floor vote on the resolution to remove Rep. Greene from her committee assignments,” Hoyer said in a Wednesday statement. “The Rules Committee will meet this afternoon, and the House will vote on the resolution tomorrow.”

 

Greene has garnered controversy for embracing far-right conspiracy theories and false claims of election fraud, as well as for a video that recently surfaced that shows her mocking a survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting in Florida. Also, in 2018 and 2019, Greene indicated support for executing Democratic politicians in several social media posts, per CNN. “A member of this House is calling for assassinations. That’s the new precedent,” Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern, chairman of the Rules Committee, said at a meeting Wednesday, per the Washington Post. “If that’s the standard that we remove people from committees, I’m fine with that.”

Will Cheney be penalized for her honest vote?

Will Greene be penalized for her actions and words?

Any thoughts?

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Turkey And The US

Turkey is an NATO ally….an ally that we are having problems with their policies…..this illustrates the weakness within the ranks of NATO.

The US is attempting to “whack the pee-pee” of Turkey disobeying the desires of the US.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on Turkey Monday after the latter tested S-400 missile defense batteries it purchased from Russia. Washington says the S-400 technology could pose a threat to equipment used by the NATO alliance, of which Ankara is a member. Turkey denounced the Trump administration’s decision, saying it bought the S-400 batteries only because the U.S. blocked it from acquiring the Patriot missile defense system on its desired terms. Officials said Ankara would “retaliate in a manner and timing it deems appropriate,” leading to speculation that it might stop letting U.S. forces use Incirlik air base, for instance. The incoming Biden administration’s attitude toward this issue remains to be seen, says Crisis Group expert Berkay Mandiraci. But for the time being the sanctions threaten to have serious negative long-term implications for Turkey’s defense industry. Meanwhile, whether the U.S. eventually lifts the penalties or expands them, the fact of them will continue to strain Turkey-U.S. ties. 

(antiwar.com)

Economic warfare has begun between the US and Turkey…..

The Turkish-American marriage, solemnized by Ankara’s accession to NATO in 1952, is on the rocks. The partners were ill-matched from the beginning but stayed together so long as the Soviet threat loomed and the Turkish military was in charge.

The Evil Empire, as Ronald Reagan characterized it, disappear more than three decades ago. Nearly two decades of rule by Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) have transformed Turkey. In Abraham Lincoln’s enduring words, the resulting “passion” has strained the “bonds of affection” between the two nations to the breaking point and perhaps beyond. The incoming Biden administration should stop treating Ankara as an ally and instead recognize it as the independent and often hostile power that it has become.

US Goes to Economic War Against NATO Ally Turkey: Time for a Civil Divorce?

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said sanctions were “inexplicable” after Washington repeatedly rejected Ankara’s offer to form a joint working group. It called on its NATO ally to revise the “unjust” decision that will harm bilateral ties.

How far will this “war” escalate?

Will Turkey survive as a NATO member?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Iran And Nukes And Sanctions

The news is that the new president, Joe Biden, will return to the nuke deal with the Iranians……but what will all that mean after the gutting of a deal from the Trump clowns?

Iran has stated that they will return to the table as soon as the US does….

Reiterating his desire to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that Tehran could come into compliance with the agreement within an hour of the US doing so.

Rouhani also said that Iran would not accept any preconditions for returning to the deal, known as the JCPOA, including limitations on Iran’s ballistic missile program.

(antiwar.com)

The IAEA has said to return to the Nuke deal would require a new agreement…..

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog told Reuters in an interview published on Thursday that a new agreement would be needed to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA.

Over the past year, Iran began gradually violating its commitments to the JCPOA, a response to the US unilaterally withdrawing from the deal in 2018 by reimposing sanctions. Iran’s president and other officials insist these violations are easily reversible and that Iran can quickly come back into compliance in exchange for sanctions relief. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) seems to disagree.

“I cannot imagine that they are going simply to say, ‘We are back to square one’ because square one is no longer there,” Rafael Grossi told Reuters. “There is more (nuclear) material, … there is more activity, there are more centrifuges, and more are being announced. So what happens with all this?”

…

Iran’s public stance on the deal is that they will not negotiate any new arrangements with Washington until the US lifts sanctions and returns to its commitments under the JCPOA. For his part, Joe Biden has said he plans to work with Iran to return to the JCPOA and then negotiate a follow-on deal on top of it. Biden’s plan seems like it could be acceptable with Tehran, but Grossi’s comments are a sign of the complications ahead.

(antiwar.com)

Will the sanctions against Iran be rolled back by the Biden Admin.?

According to a report from Reuters, the incoming Biden administration will continue to use sanctions as a foreign policy weapon, a favorite tool of President Trump.

Sources told Reuters that when Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20th, he will immediately begin to reshape US foreign policy but will take time to deliberate over sanctions on top targets like China and Iran.

The report raises questions about Biden’s Iran policy. The former vice president has said he plans to work with the Islamic Republic to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, which would require the US to lift sanctions.

…

The report said Biden will sort through the Trump administration’s sanctions to decide what will be kept in place and what could be lifted. The sources said that while his strategy might be slightly different, Biden will make it clear that sanctions are still on the table.

“It won’t be a pullback or a push forward,” one source close to Biden’s transition team told Reuters. “It will be a readjustment in the use of the sanctions tool.”

Some changes Biden could make, according to the sources, are lifting sanctions on the International Criminal Court that the Trump administration slapped on over the court’s investigation of US war crimes in Afghanistan. Biden could also increase sanctions on Russia for its alleged role in the poisoning of Alexei Navalny.
(antiwar.com)

This will be an interesting test for the Biden policies…..I think he will try hard to make his own way….but will it succeed?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Sanctions, What Are They Good For?

I see that Donald the Orange has once again used his favorite tool for international situations….sanctions.

This time it is sanctions used against Iran….again.

The US slapped new sanctions on Iran’s financial sector on Thursday in an attempt to further isolate the Islamic Republic’s economy. The new measures target 18 Iranian banks and subjects foreign, non-Iranian institutions to penalties for doing business with them.

“Today’s action to identify the financial sector and sanction 18 major Iranian banks reflects our commitment to stop illicit access to US dollars,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The move comes after Washington’s European allies have been warning of the humanitarian consequences sanctions can have on Iran. The country is already facing an economic crisis due to previous US sanctions, which has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

European countries have been at odds with the Trump administration over its Iran policy. The US has been trying to enforce measures agreed to under the 2015 nuclear deal, an agreement the US withdrew from when it reimposed sanctions on Iran in 2018.

The US says the new sanctions do not apply to transactions that involve food or medical supplies. But the sanctions will discourage foreign banks from doing any business with Iran, including humanitarian deals. Sanctions imposed on Iran since 2018 also technically have exemptions for humanitarian goods, but have caused things like medicine shortages.

The new sanctions came just a day after Iran reported its highest number of daily deaths due to coronavirus. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif responded to the new sanctions on Twitter. “Amid Covid19 pandemic, US regime wants to blow up our remaining channels to pay for food & medicine,” Zarif wrote.

(antiwar.com)

I am not a big fan of sanctions…I believe they should be used only as a deterrent…..I dislike them for they usually hurt innocent people more than the intended recipients.

I have written my feelings about sanctions…..https://lobotero.com/2019/02/05/sanctions/

Sanctions are a cheap way to try and get the targeted nations to play ball with what the US wants…..but just how effective are they?

The imposition of sanctions is a relatively inexpensive political instrument compared to armed conflict, and is more popular with the public. However, when a sanctions regime is promulgated, it is impossible to determine the exact level of measures that must be taken in order for sanctions to have an impact on the policy of the sanctioned state.

In order to determine the effectiveness of a sanctions regime, we will examine nine factors that we believe to be decisive: the economic cost to the sanctioned state; the nature of its political regime; its political and economic stability; the relationship between the sanctioning state and the sanctioned state; the type of objective; international cohesion; the phenomenon of rallying around the flag; the reputation and image of the sanctioned state; and time.

https://theconversation.com/under-what-conditions-are-international-sanctions-effective-147309

I still do not think that sanctions accomplished their intended conclusion……and do more harm than good.

So are these sanctions really all that good?

The genesis of the maximum pressure campaign as articulated by former national security adviser John Bolton and hawkish think tanks like the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, was founded upon a simplistic but appealing narrative: the Iranian Islamic regime has grand designs on the Middle East, including a kind of 21st century colonization that would swallow the region whole. Because this narrative was already fully entrenched in Washington’s security and intelligence establishment, it was a relatively easy one to sell to an administration staffed to the gills with Iran hawks. 

The main theoretical assumption underlying the maximum pressure campaign was as shallow as it was tempting: pummel the Iranian economy with so many restrictions that the ayatollahs would have no choice but to crawl back to the table on their hands and knees and negotiate a new agreement on Washington’s terms. 

However, knowing that caving to U.S. demands would leave it highly vulnerable to similar tactics in the future, the Iranian government has held firm to its original position: if the U.S. wants to talk about a bigger and better deal, it must first re-enter the original Joint Plan of Comprehensive Action (JCPOA) and compensate Tehran for its losses. The Trump administration, as can be expected, finds Iran’s demands absurd, if not insulting. Indeed, as of this writing, the White House, State Department, and Treasury are actively debating blacklisting what is left of the entire Iranian financial sector and thereby severing it from the international community. 

Punishing Iran wasn’t all it was cracked up to be

Really?  We have been punishing Iran for over 40 years and what has that lead to?

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Profiteering From War

Since 1979 and the fateful day when the Iranians took over the US embassy in Tehran there has been some sort of sanctions placed on the Iranian government.

Now we are placing sanctions on Syrians as well.

This time it is some guy that is a friend of Assad’s brother…..and he was targeted for war profiteering….

The Treasury Department imposed sanctions today on Syrian war profiteer Khodr Ali Taher and 11 of his companies – part of the fourth set of designations since the Caesar Act went into effect this past June. The targeting of Taher, a protégé of Bashar al-Assad’s younger brother Maher, is consistent with U.S. efforts to target the Assad family and its closest confidantes, especially the young entrepreneurs who have helped the regime take advantage of war-related business opportunities.

Taher rose to prominence after he began working with Syria’s 4th Armored Division, over which Maher al-Assad exercises control. The 4th Division’s security bureau, which handles its business affairs, began contracting with Taher in 2016 to protect its convoys. The firms Treasury sanctioned today include Castle Security and Protection LLC, which Taher founded in 2017 to manage his protection business. According to Treasury, the firm also operates lucrative checkpoints that collect fees from those crossing the front lines or the border with Lebanon.

Sanctions Target War Profiteer Working for Assad’s Brother

That was a report from a Neocon site…..now I ask what do you call Halleburton, et al?

I know free enterprise, right?

Does that not sound a bit hypocritical?

Now my question is…why is the US the only nation that can participate in free enterprise all others are war profiteers?

Those are rhetorical questions since I understand the concept of might makes right and the US tries to make its own rules.

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US Wants A “Snapback” On Iran

Trump and his idiots in the State Department has gone to the UN and demanded a ‘snapback’ on sanctions against Iran……apparently the US is trying to get some movement in the covert conflict with Iran.

President Trump has demanded the reimposition of ‘snapback’ sanctions on Iran as part of the P5+1 nuclear deal, and revealed the US will go to the UN Security Council on Thursday to demand full imposition of all those sanctions without objection.

Within the nuclear deal, there is a clause that allows the US to snapback all sanctions if they believe Iran is failing in the deal. The clause also says no members of the deal can veto the measure. This is the plan the US is resting on.

And yet President Trump withdrew from the deal in May 2018, and had failed to live up to requirements before then. This raises serious doubts that the US can impose ‘snapback’ under the terms of a deal that they are no longer party to, or whether nations like China and Russia would be compelled not to veto it.

The Trump Administration has argued that because the United States was party to the deal once, they’re still sort of in the deal now, and can therefore take advantage of any rights they’d had then, even if they long ago left the deal.This interpretation suggests that the US never really had to comply with the deal in the first place, and once it got its name in the original text it had immutable rights, even acting in bad faith.

(antiwar.com)

A “Snapback”?

Just what the Hell does that mean?

The United States will initiate a controversial procedure called “snapback” at the United Nations Security Council on Thursday in a bid to unilaterally reimpose sanctions on Iran.

AFP answers key questions surrounding the unprecedented legal measure, which America’s European allies oppose and which threatens the Iranian nuclear deal.

What’s the ‘snapback’ clause? –

Then-president Barack Obama’s administration boasted of having obtained a clause in the agreement that would allow it to reimpose, or “snapback,” all sanctions if Iran failed to comply with the agreement.

The clause permitted a “snapback” without members being allowed to veto. American officials worried at the time that China or Russia may veto any attempt to reimpose sanctions.

According to resolution 2231, any state “participating” in the agreement can lodge a complaint with the Security Council if they deem another participant has significantly failed to respect the accord.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/snapback-us-iran-sanctions-move-233933977.html

Really?

Early in the Trump administration stated that it would NOT be held to any of the sections of the nuke deal and that it would NOT participate in it in any way.

And yet they, Trump and the Pompeo goons, want to use part of the deal that they said they would not participate in…..

This what your mother meant when she said “have your cake and eat it to”?

I think the UN will chuckle at Trump and move on without him or the idiot Pompeo.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Sanctions For Iraq

We know that Trump’s favorite tool is economic sanctions…..easy to install and have very little effect…..that sums up his presidency.

I bring up sanctions because it seems to be the next step in the battle with Iraq.

Yes I said Iraq.

Recently the Iraqi government passed a non-binding solution to have US troops leave the country.

The Trump administration has started drafting sanctions against Iraq over its push to expel US troops from the nation, a White House official who requested anonymity confirmed to Business Insider on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump first threatened economic penalties over the weekend after the Iraqi parliament passed a nonbinding resolution to urge the US military to leave, a rebuke of the lethal drone strike that targeted a top Iranian general in Baghdad late Thursday. Along with Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, an Iraqi militia official was also killed in the escalation.

The Washington Post reported late Monday that senior administration officials had initiated preliminary talks on the potential sanctions, which the US has not yet decided to move forward with.

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/trump-administration-preparing-economic-sanctions-against-iraq-military-withdrawal-iran-2020-1-1028801079

Sanctions and now the idea of cutting military aid to Iraq……

In addition to bankrupting Iraq by seizing the entirety of their oil revenue account, the Trump Administration is now also threatening to cut military aid to Iraq, if the Iraqi government formally asks the US to leave.

The US State Department and Pentagon have discussed the matter, with the State Department working on cutting all $250 million from the 2020 military aid budget already approved, and asking the budget office to cut $100 million from the 2021 request.

While US officials insist they have no intention of leaving Iraq, the continued threats to punish Iraq with sanctions and cuts suggest that they are taking seriously the possibility that Iraq will actually order them out, and that the US may not be able to just ignore it.

While $250 million in aid is substantial, it is likely well down Iraq’s priority list with the oil revenue account containing 90% of Iraq’s annual budget. Iraqi officials haven’t indicated what their intentions are since the threats began, but parliament already voted 170-0 to expel all foreign troops, US included, as soon as possible.

(antiwar.com)

What will all this chest thumping do with ISIS waiting in the shadows?

https://lobotero.com/2020/01/10/isis-in-the-shadows-2/

Now Iraq is worried about a total economic co;;apse if sanctions and such go into effect….

Iraqi officials are warning that they would face almost immediate economic collapse if President Trump follows through on sanctions against them for asking US troops to leave. Iraq’s parliament voted on January 5, 170-0, to order the government to expel all foreign troops.

President Trump has threatened massive sanctions against Iraq, and more recently, suggestions are that the US would freeze Iraq’s bank account at the New York Federal Reserve, where all of Iraq’s oil revenues go.

Which is also 90 percent of Iraq’s budget. Iraqi officials have confirmed “threatening calls” from the US over the troops, insisting that they have no intention of leaving Iraq just because Iraq is asking.

The collapse of their entire economy, while still theoretical at this point, isn’t a healthy thing to have hanging over Iraq going forward. Siemens CEO Joe Kaesar warned he believes that “putting sanctions on something just because you don’t get your will is maybe also not always helpful.“

Siemens has a $15 billion electricity development contract for Iraq. While they say they don’t intend to scale back the project, there is a risk for them, like everyone else, that the US will just take all of Iraq’s money and leave them unable to pay.

(antiwar.com)

So just to retaliate Trump will econ0mically ruin a country like Iraq…..someone that is suppose to be a “friend”…..someone who is a “partner” in the war on ISIS……

Sorry do not see the logic in all this ignorance.

A country swimming in oil and yet it could face economic collapse…..funny but that would be because the oil belongs to corporations and not the Iraqis……if problems then a case for nationalization of the oil could be waiting for a test run.  And that would mean more war….after all oil is why we are there in the first place.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”