• xor
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    017 days ago

    There’s quite a big space between “does something” and “immediately causes the exact result desired”

    • @dontgooglefinderscult
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      117 days ago

      Hany many decades or centuries? We’re closing in on three quarters of a century of sanctions against Cuba and a quarter century against the Russia we built. There are less than 3% of Cubans alive right now that we’re alive when the sanctions started. Most Cubans have been born and died within the time we’ve sanctioned the country. When does cruelty towards a civilian population make them start to believe you’re the good guys?

      • xor
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        117 days ago

        I never said it makes them “believe you’re the good guys”

        I just said that claiming it doesn’t have any influence on leaders is categorically wrong

        I’d also like to note that sanctions on the USSR are generally considered a contributing factor to its collapse, so the whole “look at noughties Russia thing” is a bit silly given that it did contribute to regime change within the previous decade

        • @dontgooglefinderscult
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          117 days ago

          You did, as that’s the point of sanctions, to make a populace believe their government is wrong and the people doing the sanctioning are right. That is the sole attempted effect of sanctions. To punish a populace for not killing themselves against a wall in revolution, or daring to agree that should happen at all.

          It has no effect on whether a leader stays in power, or whether a leader changes course. Once a country adapts to the sanctions, they’re much more resistant to outside influence. Smart leaders do their best to make life easier for their citizens under this new way of life while the difficult transition away from global trade takes hold.

          The ussr collapsed primarily due to competing with the US in the space race and having to spend most of the rest of their limited resources on fighting off US aggression, on top of corruption that went unchecked - again primarily because police resources were being wasted fighting off us aggression, not due to sanctions.