[arp242]

On the other hand, many of the people living there are not at fault for any of this. They just ... live there.

This is why I have such mixed feelings about these kind of sanctions: sure, I don't really disagree with what you're saying, but on the other hand in practice it means hurting normal people just building a life for themselves.

[Gibbon1]

I read an opinion piece by Margret Meed (I think, memory may be off). Her claim was sanctions don't work. And all the burden falls on the powerless. All you end up doing is harming people that can't do anything and are blameless.

I haven't seen anything in the last 35 years that contradicts that.

The worse thing I've seen is the US is now so schizophrenic that countries under sanctions can't trust that making a deal with US to get sanctions lifted won't prevent them from being reimposed because some other fraction gains power.

[arp242]

I think I read the same piece a while ago, or something very similar to it. I'm not entirely sure what to think of it, I'd have to do some in-depth study to really have an informed opinion and chances are the effectiveness depends on the country as well; I'm not sure if generalizing "all sanctions are {good,bad}" across all countries is a good idea, as North-Korea is not the same as Iran. One case where sanctions and other pressure probably helped is ending apartheid in South-Africa.