tclim988
3 HN mentions · mentioned in 3 months, 2022–2026
0:39 · 117K views · Apr 19, 2013
A one-minute clip of Madeleine Albright on 60 Minutes, answering a question about the cost of sanctions on Iraq.
Linked as a critical example of official indifference to civilian costs of foreign policy.
3 comments from Hacker News
"Sanctions" are just a sanitized way of saying "forced starvation" and "denying basic medical care" because that's what happens. For Cuba, this has been going on so long that the CIA documents about the effect of sanctions and a blockade itself has been declassified ( in 2005 ) [1]. When faced with a UN report that estimated 500,000 children had been killed by US sanctions in 1996, then UN Ambassador and later US Secretary of State Madeline Albright famously said "the price was worth it" [2]. And sanctions don't actually work. Not against enemies anyway. Just like Cuba has endured 60+ years of sanctions and Russia has endured Ukraine-related sanctions, enemies have or build an economy to be resilient to the sanctions to the point that the regime survives, even thrives in the face of perceived exteranl threats. Probably the only successful use of sanctions was South Africa. Why? Because apartheid South Africa was an ally so the BDS movement crippled the economy. And most of the time sanctions have no other reason than the affected country dared to not be exploited by the West and Western companies. [1]: [LINK] [2]: this video
Yep, and many others, some before 9/11, some after and some because of it. Considering the amount of bad things some western countries have done and are still doing, or are helping do, the number of terrorist attacks is surprisingly low.. Terrorism is a war of the weak against the strong and with such massive atrocities and killings as in eg. gaza now, you're getting more and more people with literally nothing left to lose, no home, family dead, friends dead, some already in europe/USS, some soon on their way there. And when something explodes, the media will be asking themselves "who radicalized them?!". But, some say that "the price is worth it": this video
"Morallly obtuse" as if that wasn't what the US was doing[0]. I guess the Red Cross centre my cousin worked in was a legitimate military target when it was hit with a US airstrike :) Perhaps if anyone asks the Russians they can just say it was worth it[1]. Let's stop with pretending that the reason why Ukrainian deaths are different is for any other reason than because they're pale skilled Europeans with blue eyes and blonde hair. Most major media have already admitted it, governments have already applauded it in parliament, it's probably about time that HN stops pretending it's about other reasons too. [0] [LINK] [1] this video