Whoops!

Posted on April 11, 2006 by Gaius

May have overplayed the hand. Reports are now coming out the the Saudis are trying to get the Russians to block any attempts by Washington to allow UN sanctions against Iran. The Captain's Quarters has a good take on the whole situation.

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2 Responses to Whoops!

  1. Black Jack says:
    April 12, 2006 at 11:20 am

    Sanctions are largely symbolic and don’t actually work to prevent trade and technology transfers, nor do sanctions punish a rogue nation if it has significant resources. Saddam’s oil-for-food scam is a perfect example, and Iran has lots of oil too. The UN already has the template and can get a bribe-dirven program up and running almost overnight.

    All a sanctions program would do is force trade onto the black-market and quickly enrich UN bureaucrats. It buys time for the rogues, and gives those in the 5th column time to organize. Sanctions are nothing but a staged waste of time, but they are also politically correct.

    Consequently, sanctions are a featured tap dance in the whole sorry charade.

  2. Gauis Arbo says:
    April 12, 2006 at 11:33 am

    Yeah, they didn’t exactly work with Saddam, did they?