Economic Sanctions (1)

Most Christians assume that imposing economic sanctions is a good thing that good governments should do. That is not true. God created people free. Any actions that prevent people in other nations from doing what they choose are morally wrong. The government of a nation does not have the moral authority to prevent people from other nations from trading. The US government has authority over US citizens, but it does not have authority over citizens of other nations.

These days most people believe that war is nasty and morally undesirable so they prefer that their government avoid it, but they want the results that war achieves. They want to make other nations do what they want them to do, and economic sanctions seem like a less evil way to make them do it.

Christians have jumped on board and now expect their government to impose sanctions on nations that they believe are evil or doing bad things. There is never any debate about whether economic sanctions are morally right are wrong. Most people assume that they are a weapon that should be used, but the fact that they are referred to as a weapon tells us something about them.

Stealing is always wrong. It is wrong when people do it. It is wrong when governments do it.

You must not seize (Lev 19:13).

Seizing financial reserves or assets that belong to the people of another nation is wrong.

Total War

In ancient times, war was mostly a struggle between kings and their armies. Ordinary people were not affected unless the battle took place where they lived. War became total when a city was besieged. A siege brought a terrible toll on civilian populations, as the soldiers always demanded the last of the food. In some cities, "useless mouths", such as the elderly and handicapped were pushed outside the cities walls, where they would be killed by the besieging armies. Those who remained were forced to eat dogs, rats and dead birds. Leather and paper were ground up and made into soup.

Thousands of people died of starvation and disease. People who lived outside the city were not much better off, as the land within fifty miles of the city would be cleared of all food to support the army enforcing the siege.

The allied powers imposed a siege on Germany during the First World War. This siege was continued on after the armistice had been agreed, doing huge harm to the civilian population, especially children.

Since the American civil war, the nature of war has changed. War between armies became a total war between two populations and no one could remain apart from the turmoil and destruction. Factories were targeted to weaken the war effort. Cities were burned to weaken the opposition.

During the second world war, civilian populations were bombed to weaken morale and to undermine support for the leaders. The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were totally destroyed even though they had very little military significance. During the twentieth century, total war destroyed the lives of millions of citizens. Economic sanctions take these attacks on civilians a step further by using economic weapons to fight wars, rather than military ones.

Economic sanctions are the modern form of the siege is the sanctions imposed on many nations. These are used most actively by nations with a strong Christian influence, but they are not much better than a siege, because the worst effects are felt by the civilian population, and especially children.

Immoral Weapon

Economic sanctions are immoral. No person or nation has the right to prevent other people or nations from buying and selling. The person who owns something does not have to sell it if they choose not to, regardless of the price that is offered. But if they choose to sell to someone, they are free to sell. o political power has authority to prevent them from selling.

Economic sanctions are a from of blackmail. It is ironic that the nations, which claim to believe in free trade, are the most active in enforcing economic sanctions against others.

Economic sanctions are a nasty and ineffective way to bring political change. They inflict pain on ordinary people, while the political leaders they are directed against, usually find ways to get around them. Some even become rich through trading in the black market.

Some nations have developed what they call smart sanctions, but they are about as accurate as smart missiles and bombs. Their victims find that they are not nearly as accurate as the people who launch them claim. The powerful people in the nation that is attacked with sanctions can use their wealth to escape their consequences. The worst burden is always born by the poor and the vulnerable.

Christians in the nations that impose them most often like to pretend that economic sanctions are more humane than military weapons, but that is hypocritical. Military weapons theoretically strike military targets, whereas economic sanctions kill innocent people. By trying to weaken the economy they are imposing the sanctions on they deliberately take actions that will that will harm the poor and vulnerable.