This
week President Trump admitted what the Washington policy establishment of both
parties would rather be kept quiet. Asked why he intervened to block a new
round of sanctions on North Korea, he told the media that he believes the
people of North Korea have suffered enough. “They are suffering greatly in North
Korea…And I just didn’t think additional sanctions at this time were
necessary,” he said.
The
foreign policy establishment in Washington, whether they are neocons,
“humanitarian interventionists,” so-called “realists,” or even progressives
have long embraced sanctions as a way to pressure governments into doing what
Washington wants without having to resort to war.
During my time in Congress I
saw many of my antiwar colleagues on the Left vote for sanctions because they
believed sanctions are more “humane” than war. Neocons and other
interventionists endorse sanctions because they know that sooner or later they
will lead to war, their preferred foreign policy.
With
his characteristic bluntness, President Trump has exposed this big lie.
Sanctions are not a more humane alternative to war. They are just another form
of war. In fact they are perhaps the cruelest form of war because they do not
target the military of an adversary, but rather the innocent civilian
population. As President Trump said, they make people suffer.
Sanctions
are meant to make life so miserable for the civilian population that it rises
up and overthrows a leader out of favor in Washington. In Iraq in the 1990s,
those sanctions cost the lives of a half a million children, but then-Secretary
of State Madeleine Albright infamously said she thought the price was worth it.
But still the people didn’t rise up and overthrow Saddam even as their lives
became more and more miserable. So the neocons had to concoct some lies about
WMDs and Iraq was invaded anyway. An estimated million more people were killed
in that war. So much for the “humanitarianism” of sanctions.
Sanctions often target water
supplies, sewage treatment, medicine, food supply and other essentials for
civilian life. After the people suffer under the “soft” war of sanctions,
though, they most often are forced to suffer again as the US attacks anyway.
That was the case in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and elsewhere. And it may soon be the
case for Venezuela and perhaps even North Korea.
In
Yemen, sanctions have contributed to the death of some 80,000 children from
starvation. Millions more are facing starvation, yet they continue to resist
Saudi and US demands that they overthrow their government.
Sanctions
do not inspire people to rise up and overthrow their governments. Most
civilians suffering under sanctions couldn’t throw out their rulers even if
they wanted to – after being impoverished and malnourished for years they are
really expected to take on their own government’s military?
I am
glad to hear President Trump tell the truth about sanctions. They hurt the
powerless in the false hope that the powerful will change their behavior. No
new sanctions on North Korea is a good start. Now how about dismantling the
inhumane and counterproductive sanctions from Caracas to Damascus and from
Moscow to Beirut. Let’s return to a foreign policy of peace and engagement,
backed by a strong military for our defense alone.
Dr. Ron
Paul is a former member of Congress and Distinguished Counselor to the Mises
Institute.
Copyright © 2019 by RonPaul Institute. Permission to reprint in
whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are
given.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/04/ron-paul/trump-tells-the-truth-sanctions-cause-people-to-suffer/