The United States is effectively engaged in an economic war against Russia, which is a modern and necessary form of warfare that can be sustained to achieve strategic objectives.

“I actually think we are at war. But it's the most positive form of it in the sense that we are learning a different kind of warfare. Now, if you think about how we used to fight up until basically uh the Persian Gulf War, it was armaments and tanks. And then that evolved in the Middle East because w”

Implementing targeted asset freezes and travel bans, such as those in the Magnitsky Act, is an effective way to hold corrupt officials accountable.

“The idea was that we would freeze their assets in the west and ban their travel to the west. And that became known as the Magnitzky Act.”

Maximum pressure through sanctions effectively curtailed the regime's resources and should be combined with maximum support for the Iranian people.

“Clearly, what we saw under President Trump's administration was something that proved to be effective. And that was maximum pressure on the regime.”

A blockade is an additional tool in the foreign policy arsenal to force Iran back to the negotiating table.

“Is it another form of sanctions? It's another cudgel tool in the foreign policy arsenal to try and force Iran back to the negotiating table.”

Economic strangulation and blockades, such as those imposed on Cuba, cause severe humanitarian suffering without achieving the intended political goals.

“Because the blockade is real. The humanitarian suffering is real.”

US economic sanctions against Cuba constitute a form of economic violence and an international war crime intended to immiserate the population.

“So, Trump is strangling Cuba. They're doing a thing called siege warfare. That's an war, international war crime. They've cut off all the uh fuel. They've cut they've sanctioned every country if you do business with them.”

The US blockade is intentionally designed to cause suffering for the Cuban people as a strategic tool to incite an overthrow of the government.

“The goal here of hurting regular Cubans. Like the goal of killing Carlos rather than allowing him to live is to make his family that survives angry at the government so that they then go into the streets and overthrow the Cuban government”

American sanctions are intended to starve the Iranian population to force them into revolting against the government.

“One of the major factors, of course, is the sanctions that are specifically designed to destroy the Iranian economy so that Iranians mobilize against the administration.”

Mark Sleboda claims that US sanctions against Russia have failed to crush the Russian economy and have instead spurred Russia's economic growth.

“Russia's economy grew faster than the US's last year that is and you're absolutely right the deindustrialization of Germany as a result of no longer having access to cheap reliable Russian gas to fuel their economy it's dragging all of Europe into an economic doldrums”

Europe's attempt to use frozen Russian assets as a down payment on future reparations is a dishonest strategy that will leave the European Union without a seat at the table in future peace negotiation

“By insisting on reparations when nothing is suggesting that Putin will be forced to surrender. I mean, they're not even putting boots on the ground. If they were serious about treating him as a new Hitler, they would have done that. By insisting however on reparations when there is no prospect of fo”

Sequestering Russia's frozen assets in Europe is an economically and geopolitically self-defeating measure that lacks legal certainty.

“My conventional wisdom today is the narrative widely held in Brussels and Western capitals that Europe is helping Ukraine and striking a powerful blow against Russia by sequestering Russia's assets held in Europe. I'm going to argue that this is not only legally questionable but economically and geo”