Historically, sanctions, especially in authoritarian regimes, often galvanize the targeted countries. U.S. economic sanctions on imperial Japan before World War II were taken as an act of war and encouraged more repression at home and expansion abroad. An October 2019 Government Accountability Office report found sanctions often have unintended consequences, including “negative impacts on human rights or public health.”
Sanctions against Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela haven’t had the desired effects of regime change and liberalization. In fact they’ve served as a scapegoat for bad economic and police-state policies.
Sanctions don’t work because there are almost always workarounds, notes Johns Hopkins economist Steve Hanke. That’s especially true in the current case, with China and India largely abstaining from the Western response.
And why punish regular citizens in autocratic regimes for the crimes of their unelected leaders? Everyday Russians, thousands of whom have been imprisoned for protesting, are also victims of Putin’s madness.
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