Do Sanctions Actually Work? The Iran Question

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So we got this little Iran summit going on in Switzerland. Yeah, you know, I want to get in the business of making backdrops and signs for like international summits and meetings, man. I mean, they must make a fortune off that stuff. Turn summit bear in the background. Anyway, what do I have to say about this? What do I have to report? nothing. Yeah, I’m gonna I’m gonna tell you right now, I’ve got nothing because it’s nothing but.

mixed messages. it’s various different news sources pumping out whatever they want to pump out. There is no nothing out out there that I can put my finger on and I can say that hey, any sort of certainty this is taking place. This is transpiring. The you know these guys walked out, Vance looked perplexed. What is this and and and all of this stuff and doesn’t mean anything.

at at this point in time because nobody really knows. nobody really knows. And that’s why we’re gonna hold off. I’m gonna instead I’m gonna head a different direction when it comes to this and I I wanna talk about

Sanctions, economic warfare, and how whether or not it works. Because we we we’re always talking about, we leveled sanctions on this one, and we leveled sanctions on that one. do we ever actually look in to see how these policies have worked? you know what first comes to mind, first comes to mind when you think of economic sanctions, when we think of Cuba. we’re we’re

celebrating our what two hundred and fiftieth two hundred and fiftieth anniversary as a nation. the the whole Cuban communist revolution what are they at sixty seven years?

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They they’ve been under US. We’ve we’ve been sanctioning that country for 67 years. It’s it’s an island. An island 90 miles off our coast. And they’re still ticking. They’re still ticking. I I know, I know. President said he may stop off there on bring bringing everybody back from Iran. We shall see.

We have put more than one thousand sanctions on Iran over the past eighteen months.

thousand. How do you even keep track of all that? and again, this is all in an effort trying to get them to bend to what we want to do. And okay, I understand some of that. The question is, is how’s it working out?

their ability to deal with those sanctions, economic pressure, how how is that for years I’ve I’ve always kind of batted this around in my head. We talk about economic sanctions, got rogue regimes out there. And I’ve always said to myself, the people in charge of these countries that run these tyrannical regimes with an iron fist.

Do you think the people in charge are suffering?

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Do you do you think you know, Maduro was suffering really in Venezuela, the people running the country were suffering with all of the economic sanctions we had on them. Who really bears the brunt of economic sanctions? It’s the people on the ground. so we we signed a deal. We’re easing economic pressure, freeing up cash for them.

Again, we all know it’s it’s hurt Iran’s economy. There’s no doubt about it at all. But not everyone is going to follow suit and go along with it. You think China? China gives a damn about our sanctions. And if they defy them, what are we going to do about it? Nothing really. I mean, we do so much business with Iran.

Again, you take a look at other regimes too.

It’s amazing. We’ve got all these sanctions on North Korea. And I I keep seeing stories about this. And I’m like, I’m finding it hard to believe, but I’m looking in at it. North Korea’s continuing to develop their nuclear program, and their regime is wealthier than ever. Russia keeps on ticking along here. what’s the one they talk about you know Burma, Myanmar?

same thing across the board. You know, i in today’s day and age, especially with cryptocurrencies and the ability to defy economic sanctions, what what’s the point? And I’m just throwing this out there. Okay. This is I I don’t know if I’m right or wrong. Again, it it’s something to think about.

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To me, doing business is always better.

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The United States, you know, that you know, that old Ronald Reagan is shining city on a hill. and what what’s interesting right now that you have the World Cup going on in the United States and all these kind of like feel good stories of of people coming here from all over the globe and experiencing America. Not not through a television show.

Not through a television show or or or crime drama, whatever it may be, but actually seeing what little pockets of the United States is like. So we saw this kind of funny video of this you know, Japanese kid. You know, he’s got a flag painted on his face, his stuff, and he’s in Texas. And he’s in Texas, and he’s having Texas barbecue for the first time. And, you know, this is coming.

From Japan. Japan has some of the greatest cuisine in the entire world, but we have our

Bits of pretty good cuisine in the United States too. And again, Texas slow-cooked meat barbecue is one of them. Okay. Me being a vampire, yeah, I love it. Okay, what’s not to like? And that’s that’s what works. That’s to me, that’s what works. Is doing business with people. Even if I’m sorry, you may not agree with some of these regions, but it would seem to me that.

Rather than invading a country, because this is what we’ve been doing, okay, for a a while now. You know, George W. Bush, you know, Team America, World Police, he gave that speech in front of Congress and you know, people yearning for freedom, all of these various different things. Not everywhere, man. It’s not everywhere. And and it’s gonna take some cultures longer than others.

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And when we pick and choose who we decide to sanction, tends to make us look like hypocrites where we will buddy up with certain countries that have tyrannical regimes like Saudi Arabia, but then we will go hammer others because you know that they’re not in our sphere. setting an example to me, doing business has always been the best way. you know, back when I was in

College, you know, this is prior to the complete collapse of, you know, the Soviet Russian and issues. I mean kids going there and you know, bringing American blue jeans or swatch watches, whatever it may be, to sell. you know, basically because people wanted our stuff. And it always takes me back as well. There was a an error by the Soviets.

Where they they aired on their their television, would they have maybe one station?

This PBS documentary, you know, it’s called Poverty in America, and it backfired. It backfired on the Soviets because the Soviets saw, wait a second, you know, people poverty in America, and they’ve got refrigerators and they’ve got air conditioners and they’ve got television sets. Americana in of itself, and just how unique we are.

Has always been our best foreign policy.

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Sanctions again, I I’m maybe somebody can give me some better examples. I I’m just failing to see how they’re working.

Because, you know, quite frankly, you know, I I I’d much rather be doing business again with the Ira maybe maybe I’m just throwing this out there. Okay. no, can’t have it. Crazy. Listen, okay, plenty of countries have been doing business with Iran for the p you know, death to America for 47 years. Yeah, you can go to an international airport in Europe and you’ll see.

Flights to Tehran. They’re buying and selling and and doing they’ve been doing business with them for for some time. just throwing it out there, people. Maybe maybe not sanctions, maybe more business, maybe more investment.

Again, we sell ourselves as the shining city on a hill. Why wouldn’t they want what we have? Watchdog on wallstreet.com.