> Such transactions, presumably in euros and pounds sterling, would not be transparent to American authorities. Then why make this plan public?
Ask the other question: Why make it secret? Suppose there is a goal, call it X.
Do you think thirty-some countries could negotiate establishing a new international organisation without the US learning about it? I think not, therefore it's better to try to achieve X without secrecy.
The USA invades at least as many countries as Russia.
Purely statistically you cannot even compare them: |US invasions| >> |Russia invasions| But maybe it is because of the difference in GDP: |US invasions| / GDP ~= |Russia invasions| / GDP
So you're saying that having a large GDP is a justification to invade other countries?
This article makes absolutely no sense. The EU chosing Iran over the US?! That is not what is going to happen over the reopened Iran deal. What is going to happen is that the EU will fall in line and Iran will be forced to withdraw its activities in Syria, Iraq, Yemen ... due to the severity of the economic hardship caused by the sanctions.
I think it's the opposite of choosing, they are taking a measure to help their companies to privately trade with Iran so that they don't have to make choices between the USA and Iran.
Politically though, it's very interesting, right? But I hope that we are not discussing that sort of politics here on HN because it rarely produces a good discussion.
Sanctions are one of the most powerful tools in the US toolbox short of war. In fact it's more important than war when dealing with Great Power adversaries because they have nukes. The US should aggressively block any attempt to get around it. Trump shouldn't have pulled out of the Iran deal, but preserving that power for the future is more important. Here's a good article about OFAC, the Treasury Department group th…
> The US should aggressively block any attempt to get around it. The ubiquity of US dollars in international trade allows US to torpedo the economy of any country it so desires. It is like the US has a kill switch to shut down any economy it wishes to. But the only reason the rest of the world plays along and allows the kill switch to exist is that they trust the US to use it responsibly and only in extreme circumsta…
>The ubiquity of US dollars in international trade allows US to torpedo the economy of any country it so desires.
And that's exactly why this is necessary. The above is only cool if you're part of the ~5% of the world that is American.
RoW: Good luck defending arbitrary behaviour in front of a court
I couldn't find the word 'court' in https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/08/285043.htm
That is because your are looking in the wrong place. Please refer to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. In the JCPOA sanctions are regulated.
As long as Iran agrees to nuclear restrictions in exchange for the financial benefits of sanctions relief (as agreed in the JCPOA), the other members should be safe from a legal standpoint.
Additionally, the EU Blocking Statute [1] came into force, mitigating any sanctions that the US might impose due to companies trading with Iran.
This article makes absolutely no sense. The EU chosing Iran over the US?! That is not what is going to happen over the reopened Iran deal. What is going to happen is that the EU will fall in line and Iran will be forced to withdraw its activities in Syria, Iraq, Yemen ... due to the severity of the economic hardship caused by the sanctions.
It’s about Europe choosing sovereignty over their own international politics rather than cow towing to the US. It’s not the EU preferring Iran over the US
But if the means you choose to demonstrate your sovereignty is to defy a new wave of American sanctions on Iran, then you certainly are choosing Iran over the United States, as a brief glance at any recent news headlines will tell you. The current POTUS, and the large number of congressmen who hate Iran with a rather deranged fervour, will certainly interpret it that way.