The Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted the usual American response of imposing economic sanctions on Russia and Russian nationals. You only have to look at Cuba and Iran to see how consistently ineffective sanctions are. To the contrary, they tend to increase the popularity of the targeted government as a a siege mentality sets in.
American politicians and television viewers have been deeply moved by images of the suffering people of Ukraine. Unfortunately, the main response has been to impose brutal sanctions on Russia that will destroy the Russian people but not their leaders, who are well insulated from the effect of sanctions. If humanitarianism is the point here, what about the people, the human beings, of Russia?
Tens of millions of Afghans face hunger and starvation this winter due to the collapse of the Afghanistan economy. As Americans whine that supply chain issues have slowed their ability to receive consumer goods, Afghans have a real supply-chain problem: they can’t get food because the United States has frozen the new Taliban government’s funds and refuses to lift brutal economic sanctions.
