teleSUR & Richard Becker / Global Research and Liberation – 2017-08-06 23:13:47
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Countries-the-US-has-Imposed-Sanctions-Against-20150309-0029.html
Countries the US Has Imposed Sanctions Against
teleSUR
(March 9, 2015) — As a means of “twisting the arms” of sovereign counties so that they “do what we need them to do,” as President Barack Obama described US sanctions to Vox, the United States has imposed a host of sanctions against countries around the world. The government of Venezuela is only the most recent of those punished for supposedly representing a “threat” to US national security.
The most common argument for imposing sanctions is that the country in question violates human rights or supports terrorism. However, these so-called human rights violators and terrorism supporters are all countries that adamantly oppose US imperialist policies; those who are close allies and true violators of human rights, on the other hand, receive a free pass.
Of course, one of the main propagators of terrorism is the United States itself, with its drone warfare program that strikes fear and random destruction on innocent civilians in countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen.
Below is a list of 19 countries where the US Department of the Treasury, specifically the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions. OFAC itself was formally created in December 1950, following the entry of China into the Korean War, when President Truman declared a national emergency and blocked all Chinese and North Korean assets subject to US jurisdiction.
North Korea
The first sanctions against North Korea were applied in 1950, when the United States entered into a war against the country. These sanctions, intended to weaken one of the Soviet Union’s key allies, affected the country severely, and were maintained until 2008.
The US weakened these sanctions in 1995-96, with the supply of energy and loans to the country. However, in 2013 the US strengthened sanctions again, particularly against weapons and financing, when North Korea expanded its nuclear weapons program. At the start of this year yet more sanctions were announced after it claimed the Asian nation was carrying out destabilization attacks due to satirical film “The Interview.”
Cuba
The blockade against Cuba, which has been maintained for over 50 years, represents much more than sanctions. When Fidel Castro was first chosen to be prime minister of Cuba in 1959, and decided not to submit to the wishes of the United States, the republican government of Dwight Eisenhower applied the first sanctions against the island in 1960. The administration of John. F. Kennedy maintained and strengthened these in response to the nationalization of US companies in Cuba.
The US effort to undermine Cuba took particularly extreme measures, such as withdrawing support for all countries that did business with Cuba, organizing a failed invasion against Cuba in 1961 (“Bay of Pigs Invasion”), and planning hundreds of assassination attempts against Fidel Castro.
The US has prohibited its citizens from visiting Cuba since 1966, under penalty of the law, punishable with up to 10 years in prison and considerable fines.
The Clinton administration further tightened the blockade in 1996, with the Helms-Burton Law, which imposed sanctions on companies that did business in Cuba. Furthermore, in the year 2000, frozen Cuban bank accounts with US$120 million were used to pay “compensation to the victims of Cuban terrorism.”
A recent report of the Cuban government indicates that between January 2009 and June 2014 the Obama administration compelled 36 US-and-foreign companies to US$ 2.6 billion for their economic involvement in Cuba and in other countries.
Iran
The United States has led the international community in imposing economic sanctions on Iran since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which toppled the US-sponsored government of the time. The US froze all Iranian assets, including gold reserves, in retaliation for the occupation of the US embassy in Tehran.
In 1987, President Reagan imposed a complete import embargo on Iranian-origin goods and services. The policy was further tightened in 1996, when sanctions were extended to any country that invested over US$20 million in Iran. The sanctions also included an exclusion of Iran from interbank transaction activities.
These sanctions were further tightened in 2012 in response to Iran’s nuclear program, which made it extremely difficult for Iran to transfer money internationally.
Iraq
In response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, the United States imposed comprehensive sanctions, including a trade embargo against Iraq and a freeze of the assets of the then-Iraqi government.
Burma
The Burma sanctions program began in May 1997 when the President issued an Executive Action after determining that the government of Burma had committed large-scale repression of the democratic opposition in Burma, declaring a national emergency with respect to the actions and policies of that government.
In May 2012, the President and the Secretary of State announced that the United States would begin easing certain financial and investment sanctions on Burma in response to political reforms taking place there. Since July 2012, the US Government has taken various actions in response to the reforms in Burma.
Zimbabwe
The US government slapped sanctions on Zimbabwe’s government in 2003, when the US targeted government officials and entities in the African nation, as a result of the actions and policies of certain members its government, and other individuals, in undermining democratic institutions and processes.
Yugoslavia/Serbia
During the 1991 Balkans War, the UN Security Council adopted a series of sanctions that targeted arms purchases as well as financial transactions. The United States further tightened sanctions in 1998, primarily against government officials. Also, again affecting third party transactions, the sanctions punished anyone who did not comply with the sanctions and who invested over US$500 million for businesses and US$250 million for individuals.
Belorussia
In 2004 the US Senate passed the “Law for Democracy in Belorussia,” in which it required the country to provide the US with information about its arms and technology purchases. The law also allowed the US government to “support democratic processes,” meaning efforts to destabilize the country. In 2011 the sanctions were further tightened.
Syria
The sanctions against Syria were related to Syria’s supposed support of terrorist organizations and those officials who had participated in the occupation of Lebanon. The government was further accused of supporting rebels in Iraq and of developing weapons of mass destruction. The US bank accounts of Syrian government officials and of companies were frozen and the import of practically all products except food and medicine were prohibited.
Sudan
About 30 Sudanese companies were prohibited from maintaining commercial relations with the US, and their assets in US banks were frozen in 2007. The US has maintained sanctions of one type or another against Sudan since 1997.
Somalia
Sanctions against Somalia were particularly targeted against the radical Islamic group al-Shabab, which had come to power in Somalia as a result of US efforts to destabilize the previous government. Members of al-Shabab were prohibited from entering the US and their assets were frozen.
Libya
In 2011 the United States imposed commercial and financial sanctions against the government of Moammar Gadhafi. These sanctions were part of a much larger effort from Western governments to overthrow the Gadhafi government, with the help of a NATO bombing campaign, which eventually allowed rebels to take over and kill Gadhafi. Libya is currently in the ongoing throws of violence and chaos, which is the direct result of the US-and-NATO-supported intervention.
Ivory Coast
In 2011 the United States imposed sanctions against the Ivory Coast’s president, Laurent Gbagbo, as well as his wife and his followers, because elections were canceled and human rights were violated.
Lebanon
With the excuse of wanting to stop people who were strangling “the sovereignty of Lebanon,” sanctions were imposed on individuals in 2012 that prevented them from entering the US and that froze their US-based assets.
Ukraine
In March of 2014 the US imposed sanctions against then-president Viktor Yanukovich and the politician Viktor Medvedchuk, prohibiting their entry to the US and freezing their assets. The US went on to support the overthrow of the Yanukovich government and the division of the country.
Yemen
The US imposed sanctions against government officials in 2012 during its civil war. These sanctions were further tightened in 2014, which included the freezing of government officials’ assets in the US and prohibits US citizens and institutions from engaging in financial transactions with Yemen.
South Sudan
In the wake of the conflict between South Sudan and rebels, the US imposed sanctions on indiviuals involved in the conflict in 2014.
Russia
When the coup took place against Ukraine’s president Yanukovich, Russia’s president Putin supported the independence of regions of the Ukraine and the re-incorporation of Crimea into Russia, following an overwhelming referendum in favor.
The US subsequently announced sanctions against Russian government officials in March 2014, which it justified with the argument that Russia was violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. One of the first to be affected by these sanctions was the Prime Minister of Crimea, Sergei Axionov, who was denied entry into the US and whose assets were frozen.
Russia retaliated by imposing sanctions on the US and the European Union, for a year, prohibiting food exports to these countries.
US and EU sanctions were further tightened in September 2014, when Obama announced, “We will deepen and broaden our sanctions across Russia’s banking, energy, and defense sectors.” Sanctioned enterprises include Gazprom Neft; Lukoil, Rosneft, Gazprom, Surgutneftegaz, Transneft, Rostec and the aerospace company Oboronprom. Affected banks include Sberbank, Bank of Moscow, Gazprombank, Rosseljozbank, Vneshekonobank amd VTB.
On March 3, 2015, Preisdent Obama announced that the sanctions against Russia would be extended for another year, so as to pressure Russia to accept the policies that the US and the EU are pursuing in the Ukraine.
Venezuela
On December 18, 2014, president Obama signed the sanctions into law that the US Congress had passed a little earlier. The sanctions include the freezing of assets and the prohibition of visas for Venezuelan government officials who the US claims have participated in human rights violations during anti-government violent protests in early 2014. These protests had resulted in the deaths of 43 Venezuelans.
Obama then signed an executive order Monday, declaring that Venezuela represents an “extraordinary threat” to the national security of the United States. This executive order further enables the Obama administration to impose more sanctions against Venezuela whenever it chooses to do so.
Why No Economic Sanctions against the US —
A Country with a Long and Bloody Record of “Crimes against Peace”?
Richard Becker / Global Research and Liberation
(July 7, 2012) — July 1 [2012] marked the start of a new round of sanctions designed to destroy the economy of Iran, create widespread suffering among the Iranian people, and thereby effect regime change in that country.
The ostensible reason for the sanctions is that Iran has a nuclear program, which Washington and its allies allege is leading to the development of nuclear weapons. The Iranian government has denied any such intention, stating that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
Iran is far from the first country to suffer from a cutoff or sharp reduction in trade due to sanctions. Over the past several decades, the US — sometimes through the United Nations Security Council, sometimes in coordination with its imperialist allies, sometimes on its own — has imposed sanctions, embargoes and blockades on dozens of countries. Some of the sanctions regimes have lasted for decades, in the case of Cuba a half-century.
The justifications for imposing sanctions have included alleged human rights violations, lack of democracy, military aggression in violation of international law, and engaging in terrorist acts. But a giant asterisk must be attached here, with a notation reading: “Not applicable to the United States, its imperialist allies, surrogates and puppets.”
At Washington’s prompting, the UNSC imposed a blockade on Iraq in 1990. The blockade, which was enforced by the US Navy, lasted 13 years and took over a million Iraqi lives, half of them children under the age of five years.
The pretext for the most stringent sanctions regime in modern history was Iraq’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait in August 1990, after a long dispute between the two states. Iraq charged that Kuwait, which it had long claimed as part of its national territory, was stealing Iraqi oil and undermining its economy.
After Iraq was driven out of Kuwait by a six-week US-led bombing campaign that destroyed most of the country’s civilian infrastructure, the sanctions were kept in place. A new pretext was now needed and quickly found: Iraq’s alleged “weapons of mass destruction.”
Why are there no sanctions against the US? Why are no US leaders — past or present — currently occupying prison cells or awaiting trial?
Top US officials were well aware of the devastating impact on the Iraqi population. When asked on CBS’s 60 Minutes in May 1996, whether the deaths of a half-million Iraq children due to the sanctions were “worth the price,” US ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright replied, “we think the price is worth it.” Albright’s remarks actually constituted a confession to war crimes.
In 1998, President Bill Clinton declared that “some want to see the sanctions ended, I am not one of them,” and signed the “Iraq Liberation Act,” declaring the official policy of the US to be what it had actually been all along: regime change in Iraq. The new justification was a supposed concern for “human rights.”
Five years later, having not achieved its goal by other means, the US invaded and occupied Iraq under the resurrected claims of Iraqi “weapons of mass destruction.” It was not some “intelligence failure,” as later claimed by neo-con and liberal imperialists alike.
The US occupation cost a million more Iraqi lives and thousands of US lives. At least 4.5 million Iraqis were displaced and Iraqi society torn apart. Torture was commonplace for the tens of thousands of Iraqis imprisoned.
Taken together, the Twenty Years War the US waged on Iraq killed, wounded or forced into exile more than one-third of Iraq’s population. All of this death and destruction in a war justified on fabricated pretenses, also known as lies.
Then, there is the on-going US war and occupation in Afghanistan, and the drone missile strikes killing people every day in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. In the 1990s, there was the bombing and blockade of the former Yugoslavia as well as Iraq, and in the 1980s the invasions and interventions in Central America and the Caribbean. And before that came Vietnam, Chile, Korea, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Congo, Iran, Guatemala, etc., etc.—a long and bloody history. Where the US succeeded in overthrowing revolutionary or progressive governments, they were replaced with right-wing, police-state dictatorships.
None of the above countries threatened or could threaten the United States, meaning that all of those wars and interventions were the most serious violations of international law—crimes against peace.
Washington has sent hundreds of billions of dollars and vast amounts of military aid making possible Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine. The US has propped up and protected the most repressive and anti-democratic regimes in the world, like Saudi Arabia and the other hereditary monarchies in the Middle East.
And, of course, the US, which possesses thousands of nuclear warheads, is the only country that has actually used those weapons, destroying the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and killing hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians near the end of World War II.
So why are there no sanctions against the US? Why are no US leaders — past or present — currently occupying prison cells or awaiting trial?
The answer is that the international “justice” system operates much like the domestic one. The rich administer punishment on the poor. The notion of “equal justice before the law” is as mythical internationally as it is domestically. Who ends up in prison or under sanctions has nothing to do with real justice and everything to do with real power.
The Obama administration and congressional leaders are today trying to win popular support for sanctions and other forms of intervention in Iran and Syria by presenting themselves as concerned about “human rights” and “democracy.
No one should be fooled.
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