Preventable Misery: The Breadth, Consequences and Harm of Economic Sanctions with Dr.
Francisco Rodriguez Over the past six decades, there has been significant growth in the use of economic sanctions by Western powers with the overwhelming majority not endorsed by the UN. In 1960 less than 4 percent of countries were subject to sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union, or United Nations in the early 1960s; today, that share has risen to some 29 percent of world GDP and some two billion or more persons. In other words, more than one fourth of countries and nearly a third of the world economy are now subject to sanctions by the UN or Western nations.
Joining us tonight is the esteemed economist Dr Francisco Rodriguez, the Rice Family Professor of the Practice of International and Public Affairs at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies. A native of Venezuela, he is also the founder of Oil for Venezuela, a non-profit organization focused on finding solutions to Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis. He received an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. We review the findings of his comprehensive study recently released on 5/4/2023 by the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) entitled The Human Consequences of Economic Sanctions. It reviews the findings of the thirty plus studies that have examined the same subject.
Sanctions, especially those not endorsed by the UN Security Council can be seen as a regressive act of economic war. It is an act of war because it is a direct attack on the welfare of an entire population not just those you seek to sanction. They directly attack the economic and nutritional well-being of the majority population through its main mechanism pf cutting off the government from foreign currency.
What we will learn in our show tonight is that when foreign currency is drastically reduced it means cutting back on government spending for health care. It means cutting back on government spending on education. It means cutting back on government spending for public services. It means cutting back on government spending for food assistance. It means cutting back on government spending for pensions. And perhaps its most pernicious aspect is that although it hurts everyone, it particularly disproportionately harms the most vulnerable within the sanctioned nation. Think about that. It is not just an act of economic war on a nation, it is regressive in that it disproportionately harms the most vulnerable.
Please join us tonight for important insights into how sanctions impact close to one third of the world population, are not supported by a another third of the world yet there is barely a peep of discussion within our mainstream media (MSM).