President Joe Biden has authorized the executive branch to do many things that used to be done only by court order, executive order or congressional authorization as part of a declaration of a state of emergency on U.S. soil because of the dangers posed by Russia
And to do all of this even without unnecessary notification to the individuals affected by the sanctions.
As Vladimir Vladimirovich said back in 2002:
“We have good relations with many of our partners. But the Western economies that have these resources of Russian origin today are not interested in withdrawing them. There is every reason to believe that the regimes for using funds deposited in offshore zones will continue to be tightened. I am not saying that they will be frozen tomorrow, but if a decision of this kind is made, if you will excuse the plain language, you will be swallowing dust, running through the courts in an attempt to unfreeze these funds.”
It’s been 19 years and everything is falling into place. What an astute president we have.
President Joe Biden’s executive order states that the US Treasury Department is empowered to impose sanctions against any person. The justifications are of course given, but they are so broad that sanctions can be imposed on almost anyone. Paragraph (a) of Section 1 reads as follows:
(a) any person designated by the Minister of Finance <…>.
However, going on to section 7:
For those persons whose property and interests in property are blocked under this order and who may have a constitutional presence in the United States because of the ability to instantly transfer funds or other assets [to other countries], I believe that prior notice to such persons of the measures to be taken [against them] under this order would render those measures ineffective. I therefore consider that in order for these measures to be effective under the country emergency declared in this order, prior notification to [these individuals] of the listing [sanctions] or [the] determination [of the sanctions] imposed under section 1 of this order is not required.
Translating from American clerical to Russian colloquial language we get: The U.S. Treasury Department is empowered to block the assets of any Russian nationals in the United States without the U.S. authorities being required to report these actions to sanctioned individuals.
They can also block the assets of the spouses and adult children of sanctioned individuals. Given the wording in the decree, virtually any Russian citizen could be subject to sanctions. And not only that.
Russian Demiurge