Middle East Focus: Feel Good Sanctions, Ineffective Sanctions.............
Feel Good Sanctions, Ineffective Sanctions.............
“The cynical(and usually correct) critique of economic sanctions was summed up this way by a retired U.S. diplomat named Douglas Paal: "Sanctions always accomplish their principal objective, which is to make those who impose them feel good…….. To provide economic muscle for the push against Iran, the Obama administration is working closely with Persian Gulf oil exporters, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Saudi Arabia last month to enlist its help in the sanctions campaign -- and, in particular, to lobby China to back the U.N. sanctions resolution. China is vulnerable to Iranian oil pressure because it imports about 540,000 barrels per day from Iran. So the Saudis and Emiratis have been assuring Beijing that they would be prepared to offset any shortfall in Iranian crude shipments. …….. The trick for the Obama administration is to craft a sanctions plan that hurts the Iranian government without causing too much pain for the Iranian people. That's one reason the administration is wary of a congressional proposal for sanctions against Iran's imports of refined petroleum products -- a step that would probably harm the public more than the regime…………” Cheers
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