Although it failed to achieve the desired goals

The United States has not learned that economic sanctions do not solve its problems

• Kim supervises the launch of a ballistic missile.

  EPA

• The Biden administration eased investment restrictions on Venezuela to compensate for Russia's oil after imposing sanctions on it.

  Reuters

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It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Yet this is exactly what the United States and other Western policymakers are doing when they impose broad economic sanctions against regimes they consider to be enemies or troublesome for them.

In general, the results of these sanctions were not positive.

Instead of persuading the leaders of these countries to change their behavior, these comprehensive sanctions strengthened their conviction in what they were doing, and stimulated the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and other things, while the ordinary citizens of these countries were suffering due to the deterioration of living standards and the increase in government control, while the conditions of the elite flourished from By controlling the limited resources of the state.

We have seen this happen again and again in places as diverse as Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Syria and North Korea.

Sad picture

This last country in particular is a sad picture of these sanctions.

Since it began developing and testing nuclear weapons, after George W. Bush's administration withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty known as the "Agreed Framework" in 2002, waves of sanctions against North Korea have followed, and it has become increasingly isolated.

Although there has never been a large-scale famine that killed two million people in the 1990s, there is serious food insecurity among many North Koreans who eat only one meal a day, according to well-informed sources.

169 watch towers

Using the Corona pandemic as an excuse, the government of North Korean President Kim Jong Un refused to deal with international aid agencies such as the World Food Program, and made it more difficult for its people to not know what was going on outside their country or to be able to flee as refugees to other countries.

The Chinese-North Korean border was relatively easy to penetrate for the North Koreans, but it is now completely closed, as informed sources said that 169 watch towers and double razor wire were installed to prevent the North Koreans from reaching and crossing the Yalu River, and in the end escaping to Korea. South through a third country.

Meanwhile, North Korea carried out several missile tests this year, and restarted a nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, which is likely to be a radioactive disaster being prepared. The Iran model

Iran is another example of sanctions being imposed.

Many sanctions were imposed before 2015, when the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement played a role in encouraging nuclear negotiations, but it lost its purpose when the administration of former US President Donald Trump withdrew from this agreement in 2018, at a time when Iran was complying with it.

Instead of negotiating a better agreement, Iran advanced its nuclear program to the point where it could produce bomb-capable fissile material in a matter of days.

Iran has developed advanced missile programs, in addition to drones.

The primary role of the impoverishment of the state

The political situation in Iran has deteriorated as a result of the sanctions.

Trump's withdrawal from this agreement has destroyed the political fortunes of those who support it in the Iranian government.

After the recent unrest in Iran, more sanctions were imposed.

But negotiations to revive the Joint Action Plan agreement, which could ease sanctions on Iran's banks, oil exports and industries, are dormant.

US sanctions on Iran play the main role in the deterioration of the economic situation in the country.

The poverty of the Iranian people increased, the value of the currency circulating within the country decreased, inflation increased, and investments and trade decreased.

About a third of the Iranian population of about 80 million people is considered poor, according to the same standards of the Iranian government, as the country's economic decline began on a large scale, since Washington began its economic sanctions against it, a decade ago.

Iranian business expert Bijan Khajpour wrote an article in which he said, "The continued weakening of the middle class in the country will increase the economic erosion that the country suffers from as a result of the lack of infrastructure investments."

Also, countries that faced such heavy economic sanctions, such as Cuba, Venezuela, and Syria, were unable to change their economy for the better.

Finally, the administration of US President Joe Biden eased restrictions on US investments in oil production in Venezuela, to compensate for the oil that was lacking in the market due to the heavy sanctions imposed by Washington on Russia.

Supporters of sanctions point out that these sanctions will encourage the regime to change its policies, if the regimes do not change themselves.

But the relationship between sanctions and regime change is simple and flimsy, if not non-existent, and it seems that sanctions often prolong the life of the worst regimes, rather than lead to their collapse.

Accordingly, why continue to impose sanctions?

A reference to virtue?

An alternative to war?

To appease the local political crowd?

Or all of the above?

There are many reasons, but the results don't seem to justify the means.

Will the politicians acknowledge the facts and change the path they are taking?

Barbara Salvin is an American journalist

Supporters of sanctions point out that these sanctions will encourage the regime to change its policies if the regimes do not change themselves.

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