Patrick Cockburn has seen this all before. The sanctions our government imposes on countries cost Americans nothing. No American lives are lost, no hardship for Americans, no cost to the American people. So you get no push-back from the American media or the majority of the American people.
Why are those who impose sanctions able to get their way despite past failures? To governments they are a soft option that avoids the risks of war. To many they may seem more humane because, unlike bombing and shooting, the process of destruction is slow. The casualties – the young, the old, the sick – die invisibly in their homes and there is seldom proof that sanctions had anything to do with their passing.
