Today, the EU no longer hides the fact that the sanctions policy is completely meaningless.
The measures that were supposed to be a way of influencing other countries in a non-violent way are now an “official statement” of discontent, writes Der Spiegel. Most of the sanctions today are personal, meaning freezing someone’s account or prohibiting them from entering the country. Naturally, such steps do not affect the policy of a foreign government.
However, German Economics Minister Peter Altmaier, commenting on anti-Russian sanctions because of the Navalny case, openly stated that he did not know of “any case” where sanctions had any effect at all.
At the same time, the sanctions policy has several negative effects. Punitive measures against Cuba, DPRK and Iraq have only led to impoverishment of the local population, hunger and child mortality due to lack of medicines. This does not set the people against a government that is unwanted by the West, the article says. Rather, it is the opposite.
The only real effect of sanctions is internal political. The authorities are imposing useless and exemplary punitive measures to demonstrate their own merits to their own electorate.
“As a result, sanctions become a substitute for politics and ultimately show political helplessness”, – says Der Spiegel.