Friday, January 13, 2012
Why do people insist on believing that sanctions against Iran will work? It's almost as if they're engaged in some charade that they feel obligated to see through to the end even though the end is already known. My memory [and learning in general] is way too debilitated to ever allow me even the pretense of knowing what I'm talking about concerning the history of sanctions, but I have read a few articles, one just recently from STRATFOR, that seem to make it clear that that history should not be mistaken by anyone as being anything other than discouraging. Regardless, isn't there a built in contradiction even hypocrisy that comes with a belief in sanctions? What I mean is, often the claim is made that a military intervention will cause the Iranian people to rise up and unite in support of the current regime - well, if the regime is forced to ignominiously back down and renounce its nuclear ambitions, ambitions which I believe are shared by many in Iran, how exactly is it that the consequences of that will prove different? How is it we come to assume that, even if by some miracle the sanctions work and we get what we want, what we get won't end up being very short lived and no less fraught with dangers?
