John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY CAITLIN JOHNSTONE IN SOUTH FRONT
"STARVATION SANCTIONS ARE WORSE THAN OVERT WARFARE"
Yes, that is a true observation.
Sanctions are characterized by subterfuge. The word "sanctions" sounds so much less brutal than "war."
It’s rather like the language of war discussed by George Orwell in his famous essay, “Politics and the English Language.”
Used as America now uses them, they are completely a form of war, hurting huge populations.
Think of the past and the practice of "starving out" the populations of invested cities.
For example, what Nazi Germany did at Leningrad in WWII, killing roughly a million people over a period.
Now, instead of one technique applied sometimes at specific sites during a war, the United States has developed and generalized the inhumane practice into a new form of war.
And, always keep in mind, sanctions in general hurt and kill almost only civilians, the most ordinary people, the people who cannot protect themselves.
It does not matter what euphemistic-sounding titles the United States applies to each set of newly-published ones, they only have real effect when they hurt civilians.
Just the way America's other favorite pastime, bombing, does.
But sanctions come without all the noise and with less adverse publicity.
You'd almost think a bunch of old captured Nazi figures, Wernher von Braun types, worked the idea out secretly years ago in a white paper and offered it to their captors as a gift.
