Should we not run a presidential candidate in 2016?

[sailingaway]

If sanctions are acts of war, then why aren't tariffs acts of war as well? Or even any sort of border control procedures?

Plus, if sanctions are acts of war, does that mean there's a casus belli for a military attack on Iran? Because after the 1979 revolution, pretty much every American asset in Iran was expropriated and nationalized and American investments and importations prohibited by the Iranian regime and most of these sanctions remain in place.

I can certainly see a case for stating a blockade is an act of war. Saying these type of economic sanctions are acts of war is just a consequence of the type of logical gymnastics that Murray Rothbard was forced to promote in order to fit reality into his "every war under the sun was somehow a result of an US government action" mantra.

That said, while I tend to be opposed to sanctions on utilitarian grounds (rarely there's a status quo that justifies the imposition of limits to the right of commerce; and when one exists, economic sanctions rarely work, as GeorgiaAvenger points out), apparently this is one of those rare cases in which not only there's enough of a rationale to justify them and they seem to be working, as the regime is struggling to blame the deterioration of the economic conditions, which is undeniably happening, in external forces - a consequences of the popularization of internet among a very young population and how widespread the support for the sanctions is (similar to the SA apartheid regime sanctions in the 80s).

No, those are your OWN border and sovereignty, not someone else's.

 

[LibertyEagle]

To say they have virtually the same voting record isn't possible when they serve in different chambers at one guy has been in office ten times as long as the other.

I'm pretty confident that he was talking about the votes thus far.

 

[DeMintConservative]

No, those are your OWN border and sovereignty, not someone else's.

There isn't a blockade. The sanctions are countries making use of their own sovereignty to refuse economic cooperation with a third country. Nobody is saying to Iran and, say, China or India, "you can't trade with each other".

 

[sailingaway]

There isn't a blockade. The sanctions are countries making use of their own sovereignty to refuse economic cooperation with a third country. Nobody is saying to Iran and, say, China or India, "you can't trade with each other".

I was speaking to tariffs and border controls which are what you raised, not to every kind of economic sanction. I think that just as a blockade can be viewed as an act of war, sanctions are a continuum that can in aggregate be an act of war. I can theoretically come up with sanctions I would think it silly to consider an act of war, but we don't usually deal in those.

 

[Matt Collins]

Here is PressTV which I'm pretty sure is connected to the Iranian govt, at least I have read so, saying the sanctions are an act of war: http://www.presstv.com/detail/2012/08/06/254726/iran-sanctions-no-less-than-act-of-war/

The government of Iran has not considered any US sanctions an act of war AFAIK. The author of that article is just an analyst, it's some guy's opinion. And they are talking about the recent sanctions, not the sanctions that Rand voted for.

 

[Matt Collins]

I disagree with both your statements.

Feel free to, but you're wrong. I said the same thing initially, but then I did a ton of research trying to prove my point and found out I was wrong. You should try doing your own independent research of classical international relations / geopolitics.

To the second, if the Fed were sanctioned WE would have to pay. You can pay my share.

How so?

 

[Shane Harris]

Governments should not have the power to control who its citizenry chooses to do business with, no matter who they are.