Quote:
Originally Posted by SEC_Chick
ET Further A, I think that Biden will undeniably an improvement in our relations with European allies, but I fear that the one thing Biden will really screw up is the Middle East. Obama/Kerry was *terrible* on Iran, and the advancement of Israel and normalization of relations in the ME is probably the biggest single win for the Trump administration. I swear that if Biden brings in Ben Rhodes I will go insane.
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OK, Ben Rhodes it is!
Obama realized the critical point on Iran, which is that is it all about unity with our allies (and, if at all possible, China, too). Sanctions from us alone just move Iran's business to other countries. Thanks to Kerry, we got about four to five years of virtually uniform worldwide sanctions, which will be hard to ever get again now.
In most cases, sanctions just suck as a way of getting anything done, and the beauty of free trade and capitalism does way more to open up countries like Iran to the free world than sanctions do. But there is a narrow set of circumstances where truly global sanctions can work. In all other cases, like with Cuba, they just drive the sanctioned country into other alliances and relationships.
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