Sanction Stupidity

By Chris Rossini

The multi-decade Cuban embargo was an embarrassing failure. Cubans didn't "rise up" to overthrow Castro. If anything, the embargo kept Castro in power, since he was able to blame Americans for the average person's plight.

The U.S. does not have a monopoly on propaganda dissemination. Other governments have public schools, TV, radio, and an army of lapdog pundits as well. They use them just as effectively.

Bloomberg quotes a Cuban taxi driver, who describes what was drilled into him during the embargo:

“Imagine being told everyday for forty years that all your problems are caused by Americans and then all of the sudden hearing from the same people that Americans are your best friends?”

Unfortunately, American politicians can't take the lesson from Cuba and apply it elsewhere. Sanctions continue to be piled onto Russia, and more are likely coming for Iran.

The reaction in Russia sounds very familiar.

Pat Buchanan writes:

Real hardships lie ahead for the Russian people. But it seems they are not blaming Vladimir Putin for their troubles. They are blaming us...One Moscow supermarket is using American flags as doormats, and customers are wiping their feet on them.

It would be foolish to expect any other reaction. Besides Russian citizens being oppressed by their own government, the U.S. adds to the oppression with sanctions. It's a one-two punch!

People will suffer under their own government. They're trained to. But when a foreign government imposes pain, it becomes the enemy.

So if sanctions do not produce "regime change," why do U.S. politicians continue to impose them?

Well, first of all, the political class is filled with narcissistic megalomaniacs. The ability to wield power and create human suffering produces a twisted high for them. It's strange for a normal person to imagine, but then again, normal people usually don't become politicians.

If worst comes to worst for the U.S. government, the crippling sanctions that are imposed on Russia and Iran lead to war. Again, to a normal person, that's a very bad thing. But to a sick-in-the-head politician, it's a bonanza. Power and propaganda go through the roof! Now you can really unleash.

The U.S. government is not averse to war. It has been at almost constant war for the last 100+ years. Sanctions are stepping stones to getting there. Ron Paul rightly calls them an "act of war".

Slowly the temperature in the pot rises, until something boils over.

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Chris Rossini is author of Set Money Free: What Every American Needs To Know About The Federal Reserve. Follow @chrisrossini on Twitter.