Planespotting
Nerds with binoculars bust the CIA's torture taxis. (Village Voice)
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Bush signs bill on terror prosecution (AP)
President Bush's Grave Misconduct (Huffington Post)
Iraqi Death Rate May Top the U.S. Civil War (E&P)
Poll: Democrats lead in Republican districts (Raw Story)
The U.N. sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear test are a declaration of war, and the country will "deal merciless blows" if the nation's sovereignty is violated, the North's central government said Tuesday in its first response to the U.N. measures. Thanks U.S./UN! This recent news brings me to the point that Sanctions against other countries have always turned out bad for the U.S and our reputation throughout history. Period.
The North wants "peace but is not afraid of war," says N. Korea's Foreign Ministry. And so have said many previous nations that have been dealt harsh sanctions by the U.S. and it's minions throughout history.
When the U.S. placed sanctions on countries like Cuba and Iraq, they did more damage than good. In Cuba, the people are forced to confide in Castro and to flee the country. The same was the result of harsh sanctions against Iraq, people forced to trust and obey Saddam, and deterioration of their economy.
All resulting in very angry and pissed of people around the world (some a.k.a. terrorists). “The number of Iraqi people who have died in the last eight years as a result of the sanctions exceeds the death toll due to all the weapons of mass destruction used in human history,” said Noam Chomsky to MIT's 'The Tech' in April 1999. And Pat Buchanan states, "sanctions may have caused the deaths of 500,000 [Iraqi] children. When Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State under President Clinton was asked if this horrific toll of Iraqi children was justified, she replied, 'We believe the price is worth it.' "
In the case of Iran, we are again warned by Mohamed ElBaradei (IAEA cheif) back in March, that Iran is not an imminent and sanctions against them is a "bad idea" and "we need to lower the pitch."
The sanctions imposed by the U.S. also deals hard blows to our domestic economy, as "...firms and workers in the United States also pay an immediate price when [sanctions are brought against other nations]. Even though the aggregate cost in relation to our GDP is usually very small, the costs may be significant for individual firms or industries." This is one of the facts that Jeffrey Schott, of the Institute for International Economics, stated to the Committee on International Relations at the House of Representatives on June 3, 1998. We are also told this by Richard Haass of The Brookings Institute, "...often sanctions turn out to be little more than expressions of U.S. preferences that hurt American economic interests without changing the target's behavior for the better."
