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America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

economist.com

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Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#91

Post by tehjoker »

This is an interesting article, but exposes the Economist's bias and lack of an honest historical accounting. While the it is new, interesting, and important that the world is becoming more skeptical of the dollar, it is kind of laughable that the only reference to Iraq and sanctions is the ones that were in the news recently.

Iraq and many other countries have been subject to crippling US sanctions many times in the past. In the 1990s, sanctions were issued by the Clinton administration that were so severe that hospitals were scrubbing the floors with gasoline (https://theintercept.com/2018/03/21/us-war-iraq-legacy-of-bl...).

https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/iraq-study-baghdad-hospita...

"In June, 1991, Medicine For Peace medical teams began working in Baghdad pediatric hospitals. The following is a description of what they found:

"The hospital was in darkness. Ventilators, incubators, dialysis machines were not functioning and any patients dependent on these support systems had died. We made ward rounds with Iraqi physicians, many trained in the US and Great Britain, who were despondent and demoralized. No x-rays, lab tests, or possibility of surgery. Worse of all, intravenous fluids and supplemental feedings for the scores of malnourished children were in short supply, the pharmacy had exhausted its store of antibiotics for treatable infections, and there was not one vial of morphine to relieve the pain of children suffering with tumors on the cancer ward."

Outside of the US, economic sanctions of this magnitude are often regarded as war crimes. They are routinely deployed against the populations of official US enemies and have been for some time under the theory that if we make life as bad as possible for the people, maybe they'll overthrow the regime. Hint: It usually doesn't work and the regime uses the sanctions to (correctly) characterize itself as under attack by foreign enemies.

In the modern instance, the case for sanctions in Iraq can only be described as barbarous bullying. The Iraqi government voted to remove US troops in response to an unprovoked assasination on an Iranian top general on their soil while performing what is claimed to be a diplomatic peace mission (another war crime). In response, the US employs sanctions to bully the Iraqis into acquiescing to an unending occupation that they have judged does not serve their interests.

Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek Finance Minister (paraphrased, talking about austerity in Greece) said that where they used to use tanks, they now use banks. In the case of Iraq, sadly, tanks, banks, and aerial bombing have all been used in various combinations at various times.

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#92

Post by baybal2 »

headcanon wrote: post #66
sschueller wrote: post #2

For the rest of the world this is a good thing. Why would the United States be the one to decide if Germany is allowed to build a pipeline to Russia or not? Image if it was Germany that used sanctions to prevent the US from building a pipeline to Mexico. Would you be ok with that?

The United States' main geopolitical imperative is to maintain global hegemony. Part of this is ensuring regional powers are either allied (in the case of NATO countries or Saudi Arabia) or contained (in the case of Russia and Iran). It is a fundamental rule of Geopolitics that every country assert itself to the best of its abilities with the strengths they have. One of Russia's biggest strengths is natural resources…

"United States have no geopolitical strategy, but a lot of self proclaimed geopolitical strategists."

I once have heard this position from US ambassador in Kazakhstan on a private reception event.

The guy told people he expected a visit to a *stan country to be like a visit to a warzone.

He was learning martial arts, hostage negotiation, and been mentored by multiple self proclaimed experts on "warlord politics" of the region.

There was no end to his disappointment when he came to understanding that all that geopolitical BS he learned was for nothing, and he came to station the most boring post-Soviet hillbilly town.

I think most Americans, even the most educated ones tend to greatly overthink "geopolitical conspiracies"

Ex-USSR fiefdoms, Russia included, are ran by very simple people, without any geopolitical ambitions.

For them, blackmailing Germany and other wealth nations in Europe by threatening to close the tap has no political story to it at all, just plainly a way to extort some extra bucks, and show the world how big their balls are.

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#93

Post by crisdux »

LatteLazy wrote: post #14
aazaa wrote: post #11

The lack of any viable alternative has kept the dollar in its current dominant position. That alternative won't exactly announce itself so that US policymakers can rationally decide to change course about the weaponization of money. It will instead, sneak up on the country in the form of weird little experiments that don't seem worth the time and effort to track or regulate. By the time one of them becomes the obviou…

Isn't the answer the euro? Stable, inflation proof, light or no sanctions. As brexit proceeds and more financial services move to mainland Europe, you won't even have to worry about the brits messing with it... I seem to remember the EU agreeing to setup a psudo bank to deal direct with Iran so they can bypass restrictions on trade? Edit: here it is! https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.dw.com/en/eu-mechanism-for-...

The Euro doesn't look great either. The EU's sovereign debt crisis gets worse every year. The economic growth of the region is predicted to lag the US. A rising banking crisis is being swept under the rug. An aging population. The EU proved during the Cyprus banking crisis that they will reach into bank accounts and confiscate deposits.

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#94

Post by linkregister »

baybal2 wrote: post #92
headcanon wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The United States' main geopolitical imperative is to maintain global hegemony. Part of this is ensuring regional powers are either allied (in the case of NATO countries or Saudi Arabia) or contained (in the case of Russia and Iran). It is a fundamental rule of Geopolitics that every country assert itself to the best of its abilities with the strengths they have. One of Russia's biggest strengths is natural resources…

"United States have no geopolitical strategy, but a lot of self proclaimed geopolitical strategists." I once have heard this position from US ambassador in Kazakhstan on a private reception event. The guy told people he expected a visit to a *stan country to be like a visit to a warzone. He was learning martial arts, hostage negotiation, and been mentored by multiple self proclaimed experts on "warlord politics" of t…

> Ex-USSR fiefdoms, Russia included, are ran by very simple people, without any geopolitical ambitions.

The people of Georgia, Crimea, and the rest of Ukraine would beg to differ.

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#95

Post by wavefunction »

cavisne wrote: post #70
wavefunction wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US opposition to a pipeline to Russia is confined to a small group of people who are strangely very friendly to Russia on all other matters. There is no widespread or popular opposition to Germany building a pipeline to Russia in the United States. This doesn't really treat with the dollar-denominated world economy but I wanted to point this out to differentiate the current irrational foreign policy of the US governm…

> strangely very friendly to Russia on all other matters This "friendly" policy is basically not considering what Russia does within its borders justification for military action. This was always the unofficial policy, with the new bit being the Trump administration doesn't pass moral judgement on what Russia does within its borders. A pipeline between germany and Russia strengthens Russia (increased GDP, increased c…

Trump is also a big fan of Russia's activities outside its borders as we all know. I won't get into the "Russia if you're listening" or excluding American translators from his meetings with Putin, as we can consider one element of Russia outside its borders: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/26/trumps-be...

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#96

Post by adventured »

taurath wrote: post #52
jariel wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Why would the United States be the one to decide if Germany is allowed to build a pipeline to Russia or not?" Because America provides defence for Germany, and Russia has 1000 nuclear warheads pointed at Germany, the US and others, and they are an antagonising state, actively trying to disrupt the governments in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, etc. All these issues are quite fundamentally related, so it matters…

What is this protection that the US provides other than ensuring the US would be drawn into a war between the EU and Russia? France has enough nukes to provide MAD protection.

If MAD were all that you actually needed, NATO wouldn't exist.

It's entirely reasonable to believe that France is not going to commit national nuclear suicide merely to defend Czech or Poland from a Russian invasion. MAD - mutual assured suicide - would only be utilized in a case where their own existence were threatened.

That's where a very powerful traditional military comes into play.

That's why NATO exists instead of merely relying on having a stockpile of nukes to point at Russia. You might actually have to stand off Russia in a real military confrontation or at a minimium give the strong impression that you can if necessary. Russia can gamble that France isn't going to commit suicide via nuclear weapons to save Lithuania, and it would be a correct bet, at which point it's down to traditional military vs military.

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#97

Post by shostack »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #50
shostack wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would happen to life in the US if the dollar was no longer the global reserve currency?

I think it would put us on par with other countries, we would lose a nice advantage. Worst case scenario would be a sharp economic decline, but I optimistically think it would be a slow leveling out, a slow decline in consumer purchasing power, limit government expenditures, etc. But, I am not at all sure what will happen.

Do you think that hostile foreign nations are actively trying to end the run of the petrodollar?

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#98

Post by baybal2 »

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #55
LatteLazy wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the answer the euro? Stable, inflation proof, light or no sanctions. As brexit proceeds and more financial services move to mainland Europe, you won't even have to worry about the brits messing with it... I seem to remember the EU agreeing to setup a psudo bank to deal direct with Iran so they can bypass restrictions on trade? Edit: here it is! https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.dw.com/en/eu-mechanism-for-...

Didn't the whole Greece debt situation show why that could be a problem? One country's debt crisis caused the euro to tank 30% in a very short time. It ended up rebounding, but pretty much forced the EU to handle the situation (write off debt and provide low interest loans for the rest) or risk the whole thing exploding. It seems like your betting on 5-10 countries not failing, when with most currencies you just have…

Greece was fiasco for Euro.

It's a lesson learned now, and ECB will hold binge spenders on a leash.

UK can leave EU, Greece or Eastern Europe can not.

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#99

Post by wavefunction »

thrower123 wrote: post #85
Udik wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a small group of people who are strangely very friendly to Russia on all other matters. Can you give actual examples of this friendliness? I see it cited very often but I don't know any concrete example. I know Trump has imposed new sanctions on Russia last September, that is sanctioning European companies for the Russia pipeline, and that he's doing anything that he can to destabilise Iran, which is supported by R…

It's not possible because it is a bit of mass propaganda, from people who haven't yet realized the Cold War was decided thirty years ago and still see a KGB agent under their bed and in every dark closet.

That's why you post under a throwaway account.

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#100

Post by texasbigdata »

linkregister wrote: post #94
baybal2 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"United States have no geopolitical strategy, but a lot of self proclaimed geopolitical strategists." I once have heard this position from US ambassador in Kazakhstan on a private reception event. The guy told people he expected a visit to a *stan country to be like a visit to a warzone. He was learning martial arts, hostage negotiation, and been mentored by multiple self proclaimed experts on "warlord politics" of t…

> Ex-USSR fiefdoms, Russia included, are ran by very simple people, without any geopolitical ambitions. The people of Georgia, Crimea, and the rest of Ukraine would beg to differ.

Go back another 60 to 70 years and a few more would too.
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