Archiv: Sanktionen / sanctions


04.11.2024 - 07:50 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Why are the state leaders of China and Russia complying with U.S. sanctions against Iran, Venezuela, Syria, and Cuba?

(August 7, 2021)

Because they want to.

And almost 8 billion morons on the planet are too stupid to understand this, first of all the bunch who think they do other politics than the imperial complex, the war lobby, “political classes”, rulers and their courtiers.

04.11.2024 - 07:49 [ Middle East Eye ]

Iranian press review: China and Russia criticised over response to Israeli strikes

(November 2, 2024)

The daily continued to criticise the stances of these two countries, comparing them to some European nations that have tense relations with Iran.

As western sanctions against Iran have increased in recent years, Tehran has strengthened economic ties with Moscow and Beijing, with one key outcome being the sale of cheap oil to China.

02.11.2024 - 21:21 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Witch Hunt in Israel Against Peace Activists and Haaretz Editor

Israel’s Justice Minister Yariv Levin has announced Thursday, October 31, he’s pushing a bill to impose 20-year prison sentences on Israelis who advocate for sanctions against the country or its leaders. In other words: 20-year prison sentence for exercising freedom of speech in Israel.

The far-right government craziness in Israel is intensifying after a “Call for International Pressure,” initiated by Academy for Equality activists, was wide-world published last week and signed by over three thousands petitioners, including a group of leading Israeli academics, among them: Anat Matar, Smadar Ben-Natan, Moshé Behar, Tamir Sorek, Rafi Greenberg, Shira Klein, Lior Sternfeld, Ophira Gamliel, Hilla Dayan, Regev Nathansohn, Uri Hadar, Snait Gissis, Amalia Saar, Avishai Ehrlich, Efraim Davidi, Maya Rosenfeld, Avraham Oz, Ronnen Ben-Arie, Yael Berda, Anat Biletzki, Sivan Rajuan Shtang, Hannan Hever, Orly Lubin, Raz Chen-Morris, Hannah Safran, Revital Madar, Ilana Hairston, Amos Goldberg, Tamar Hager and Miriam Eliav-Feldon.

The petition stated, “We, Israeli citizens, living in Israel and abroad, are calling on the international community – the United Nations and its institutions, the United States, the European Union, the Arab League and all the countries of the world – to intervene immediately and apply every possible sanction… put real pressure on Israel for an immediate ceasefire.”

27.08.2024 - 13:00 [ Reporters Without Borders ]

Dear High Representative / Vice-President Borrell and Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis,

(August 26, 2024)

Our organizations are writing to request that the European Union take action against the Israeli authorities’ unprecedented killing of journalists and other violations of media freedom, in contravention of Israel’s human rights and international humanitarian law (IHL) obligations. These are part of widespread and systematic abuses committed by Israeli authorities in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and elsewhere, as documented or acknowledged by Israeli, Palestinian and international NGOs, UN experts, the International Court of Justice, and in a request for arrest warrants by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. These violations should trigger the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and further EU targeted
sanctions against those responsible. Regrettably, the EU 27 governments are yet to unanimously acknowledge, attribute, and condemn the Israeli forces’ crimes in Gaza.

27.08.2024 - 11:17 [ Reporters Without Borders ]

RSF and 59 other organisations call on EU to suspend Association Agreement with Israel

“It is time to move from verbal condemnations to action. Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement stipulates that their relations are based on an essential component, which is respect for human rights and democratic principles. The Israeli government is clearly trampling on this article. The EU, which is Israel’s leading trade partner, must draw the necessary conclusions from this and must do everything to ensure that the Netanyahu government stops massacring journalists and respects the right to information and press freedom by opening media access to Gaza. The credibility of the EU is at stake.“

27.08.2024 - 10:54 [ RFI.fr ]

Dozens of media associations call on EU to suspend treaty with Israel

„In response to the unprecedented number of journalists killed and other repeated press freedom violations by the Israeli authorities since the start of the war with Hamas, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and 59 other organisations are calling on the European Union to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel and to adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible“, the groups said in a joint statement.

The call came ahead of a meeting by EU foreign ministers in Brussels on 29 August.

27.08.2024 - 10:45 [ International Press Institute ]

60 organizations urge EU action against Israel’s attacks on press freedom

In an urgent appeal, 60 global press freedom and human rights organizations, including the International Press Institute (IPI), are calling on the European Union to take decisive action against Israel for its escalating violations of media freedom and killing of journalists. In a letter addressed to EU leaders, the signatories urge the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and the imposition of targeted sanctions on responsible Israeli officials.

09.04.2024 - 15:41 [ CovertActionMagazine.com ]

Biden Has Relaunched Reagan’s Murderous War Against Nicaraguan Democracy–How Many Is He Willing to Kill to Win?

(14.09.2023)

When CIA-trained terrorists tried to overthrow the Sandinista government in the 1980s, the left erupted in protest. Now the left is cheering for the CIA.

06.04.2024 - 19:27 [ Amnesty International USA ]

Amnesty International Demands U.S. Suspension of Weapons Transfer to Government of Israel

(04.04.2024)

The Biden administration has continued to provide weapons at a rapid pace despite the overwhelming evidence that war crimes are being committed by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip using U.S.-made munitions. While Palestinians in Gaza remain at risk of genocide and an imminent Israeli government-engineered famine, President Biden last week authorized the transfer of 1,800 MK84 2000-pound bombs that one senior administration official said, “can destroy entire blocks.” opens in a new tab According to news reports, the President is also getting close to greenlighting a sale of $18 billion for American-made F-15 fighter jets. opens in a new tab

06.04.2024 - 19:10 [ Human Rights Watch ]

Gaza: Israeli Strike Killing 106 Civilians an Apparent War Crime

– Israeli forces unlawfully attacked a residential building in Gaza on October 31, 2023, absent any apparent military target, killing at least 106 civilians, including 54 children.
– Scores of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza since October 7 have caused thousands of civilian casualties, underscoring the greater risk of unlawful attacks from explosive weapons in populated areas.
Governments should suspend arms transfers to Israel, support the International Criminal Court investigation in Palestine, and impose targeted sanctions on officials responsible for laws-of-war violations.

06.04.2024 - 18:55 [ Al Jazeera ]

Israel strike that killed 106 people in Gaza ‘apparent war crime’: Probe

(04.04.2024)

The inquiry was based on testimonies from 16 people the group spoke to between January and March, satellite images, dozens of photographs and videos from the site, as well as those shared on social media, the international rights group said on Thursday as it released the findings of its investigation.

It called on governments to suspend weapons transfers to Israel and support the International Criminal Court’s (ICC’s) investigation in Palestine, saying the attack was among the “deadliest single incidents for civilians” since Israel’s war on Gaza started in October.

15.03.2024 - 16:07 [ International Consortium of Investigative Journalists ]

How US lawyers and bankers aided powerful Haitian tycoons now sanctioned over corruption by Canada

(07.02.2023)

In the early 1990s, the U.S. government sanctioned Bigio, his wife, son and others for their support of a military coup that ousted Haiti’s first democratically elected president. Years later, a member of a Haitian militia ‒ or private army ‒ accused Bigio and another businessman of paying for the 1993 assassination of a prominent democracy activist, according to Jeb Sprauge, author and University of California Riverside research associate. Authorities in Haiti did not charge Bigio with or accuse him of wrongdoing.

15.03.2024 - 15:30 [ New Republic ]

The Billionaire Oligarch Who’s Enabling Haiti’s Murderous Gangs

(16.12.2022)

For years, Haitians have said Bigio and other oligarchs are complicit in the violence strangling the nation: This year 1,448 people have been killed, with another 1,005 kidnapped for ransom. Until now, however, the international community has stayed mostly silent about Haiti’s corrupt elite. (…)

Daniel Foote, the former U.S envoy to Haiti who resigned in September 2021 to protest against the disastrous American policy, told me that he thinks Canada and the U.S. State Department are working together to economically punish Bigio and the others. But he suspects that the United States cannot follow Canada’s example by imposing stiff sanctions, possibly because Bigio may be a U.S. citizen and thus entitled to due process. In theory, however, U.S. prosecutors could bring cases against Bigio and other oligarchs for funding the vicious gangs whether these defendants have U.S. citizenship or not. As things stand, inaction is much more likely.

12.02.2024 - 20:44 [ Times of Israel ]

UK slaps sanctions on West Bank settlers for ‘egregious’ violence, following US move

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the four targeted Israeli settlers, one of whom was also included in the US sanctions, were involved in “egregious abuses of human rights.”

“Extremist Israeli settlers are threatening Palestinians, often at gunpoint, and forcing them off land that is rightfully theirs,” he added. “This behavior is illegal and unacceptable.”

12.02.2024 - 16:56 [ Pax Nederland ]

International Organisations: stop arms transfers to Israel and Palestinian Armed Groups

(25.01.2024)

Together with international aid and human rights organizations, such as Oxfam and Amnesty International, we appeal to all UN member states to halt the crisis in Gaza and prevent further humanitarian catastrophe and loss of civilian lives. We call on all states to immediately cease the transfer of weapons, components, and ammunition to Israel and Palestinian armed groups as long as there is a risk that they may be used for serious violations of international humanitarian law or human rights.

04.02.2024 - 15:40 [ theCradle.co ]

Iraqi parliament calling to ditch US dollar for oil trade

(01.02.2024)

Washington imposed sanctions on Iraqi Al-Huda Bank this week, under claims of laundering money for Iran. Several other banks have been hit with similar sanctions over the past year.

The statement came the same day a senior US Treasury official said Washington expects Baghdad to help identify and disrupt the funds of Iran-backed resistance factions in Iraq.

01.02.2024 - 23:35 [ White House ]

Executive Order on Imposing Certain Sanctions on Persons Undermining Peace, Security, and Stability in the West Bank

I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, find that the situation in the West Bank — in particular high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages, and property destruction — has reached intolerable levels and constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, and the broader Middle East region. These actions undermine the foreign policy objectives of the United States, including the viability of a two-state solution and ensuring Israelis and Palestinians can attain equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom. They also undermine the security of Israel and have the potential to lead to broader regional destabilization across the Middle East, threatening United States personnel and interests. For these reasons, these actions constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat. Accordingly, I hereby order:

Section 1. All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person, including any foreign branch, of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in:

(a) any foreign person determined by the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State:

(i) to be responsible for or complicit in, or to have directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in, any of the following:

(A) actions — including directing, enacting, implementing, enforcing, or failing to enforce policies — that threaten the peace, security, or stability of the West Bank; or

(B) planning, ordering, otherwise directing, or participating in any of the following actions affecting the West Bank:

(1) an act of violence or threat of violence targeting civilians;

(2) efforts to place civilians in reasonable fear of violence with the purpose or effect of necessitating a change of residence to avoid such violence;

(3) property destruction; or

(4) seizure or dispossession of property by private actors;

(ii) to be or have been a leader or official of:

(A) an entity, including any government entity, that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, any of the activities described in subsections (a) or (b) of this section related to the leader’s or official’s tenure; or

(B) an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order as a result of activities relating to the leader’s or official’s tenure;

(iii) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, any person blocked pursuant to this order; or

(iv) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person blocked pursuant to this order; or

(b) any foreign person determined by the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury:

(i) to have committed or have attempted to commit, to pose a significant risk of committing, or to have participated in training to commit acts of terrorism affecting the West Bank; or

(ii) to be a leader or official of an entity sanctioned pursuant to subsection (b)(i) of this section.

01.02.2024 - 23:30 [ CNN ]

Biden issues executive order targeting violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank

The order targets four individuals accused of directly perpetrating violence or intimidation in the West Bank, a senior administration official said, including people accused of initiating and leading a riot; setting buildings, fields and vehicles on fire; assaulting civilians and damaging property.

The State Department announced the names of the Israelis targeted by the executive order, which blocks their financial assets and bars them from coming to the US. They are David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman and Yinon Levi.

12.11.2023 - 21:14 [ New York Post ]

Hamas leaders worth staggering $11B revel in luxury — while Gaza’s people suffer

(November 7, 2023)

The terror group’s three top leaders alone are worth a staggering total of $11 billion and enjoy a life of luxury in the sanctuary of the emirate of Qatar.

The emirate has long welcomed the leaders of the terror group and installed them in its luxury hotels and villas at the same time as it hosts a vast American military presence.

Now US Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) is sponsoring a bill that would strip Qatar of its status as a key US ally, The Post has learned, unless it kicks out the Hamas leadership.

19.09.2023 - 21:22 [ BBC ]

Five Americans freed in Iran prisoner swap land in US

The five Iranians released as part of the deal were mostly imprisoned in the US on charges that they violated US sanctions.

In a statement on Monday, US President Joe Biden welcomed the prisoner swap and said that the Americans would be reunited with their loved one „after enduring years of agony, uncertainty, and suffering“.

19.09.2023 - 21:18 [ associated press ]

Five Americans detained in Iran walk free, released in deal for frozen Iranian assets

Five Americans detained for years in Iran walked off a plane and into freedom Monday, most arm-in-arm, as part of a politically risky deal that saw President Joe Biden agree to the release of nearly $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets owed by a third country, South Korea.

31.08.2023 - 20:08 [ Euractiv ]

EU mulls sanctions against Niger junta

Following in the footsteps of the West African regional body ECOWAS, the EU aims to slap the same sanctions on the junta that seized power in Niger several weeks ago, EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell confirmed in Toledo, Spain on Wednesday (30 August).

23.08.2023 - 09:29 [ LiberationNews.org/ ]

3,000 more U.S. troops to the Persian Gulf: New conflict coming against Iran?

(August 18, 2023)

Even going by U.S. numbers, it is hard to see how the “seizure or attempted takeover of nearly 20 ships” over the course of two years constitutes an emergency. That is an average of less than one a month. Additionally, as Iran’s Navy has pointed out, some of the “seizures” have been cases of the Iranian Navy responding to distress signals from the commercial ships. None of these cases have involved fatalities or serious consequences of any sort.

The Iranian Navy asserting its will to board a few commercial ships and inspecting their cargo has, at least in part, been in reaction to the U.S. confiscation of ships carrying Iranian oil. The latest example of that was in April when the U.S. Navy seized and then confiscated the cargo of Suez Rajan, a Marshal Islands-flagged oil tanker, carrying Iranian oil to China.

23.08.2023 - 09:07 [ Washington Post ]

A tanker believed to hold sanctioned Iran oil starts offloading near Texas despite Tehran‘s threats

(August 20, 2023)

Iran has been trying to evade sanctions and continue selling its oil abroad, while the U.S. and its allies have been seizing cargoes since 2019 after the country’s nuclear deal allowing the trade collapsed.

23.08.2023 - 08:54 [ Nachdenkseiten ]

Piraten des Potomac: US-Regierung lässt Tanker mit iranischem Öl im Wert von 56 Millionen US-Dollar entführen und in Texas entladen

Mutmaßlich auf Befehl der US-Regierung wurde am Wochenende ein Tanker mit iranischem Öl im Golf von Mexiko beschlagnahmt. Laut vorliegenden Schiffsverfolgungsdaten wird die Ladung im Wert von weit über 50 Millionen US-Dollar derzeit in der Nähe von Houston (Texas) entladen. Der US-Senat will den Erlös der Kaperung „den Opfern von 9/11“ zukommen lassen. Stützen kann er sich dabei auf ein skandalträchtiges Urteil eines New Yorker Gerichtes, welches mit einer abenteuerlichen Begründung den Iran im März 2016 zu einer zweistelligen Milliardensumme Schadenersatz wegen der Anschläge vom 11. September 2001 verurteilt hatte.

21.08.2023 - 13:53 [ Zentralkomitee der Kommunistischen Partei Kubas ]

US-Blockade bleibt Haupthindernis für bessere Konnektivität

Unter dem Vorwand, Havanna stelle eine Bedrohung für die Sicherheit der Vereinigten Staaten dar, wurde das Unterwasserkabelsystem ARCOS-1 USA Inc., das 24 Punkte in 15 Ländern des Kontinents miteinander verbindet, daran gehindert, Kuba in dieses Netz einzubeziehen.
Dies verhinderte, dass Kuba Verbindungen mit Betreibern direkt auf nordamerikanischem Territorium herstellen konnte, wo sich die wichtigsten Verbindungsknoten befinden. Daher ist die kubanische Telekommunikationsgesellschaft gezwungen, das Netz mit Punkten im Vereinigten Königreich, Jamaika und Venezuela zu erweitern, was Millionen von Dollar an Kosten verursacht.

11.08.2023 - 10:22 [ ForeignPolicy.com ]

ECOWAS Orders ‘Standby Force’ to Niger

On Wednesday, Nigeria’s former central bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, met with coup leaders in Niamey to begin talks. But the junta appeared unwilling to budge without first receiving major concessions, including easing sanctions on the military regime to allow medicine and food to enter the country as well as forcing Nigeria to restore electricity to Niger.

But catering to junta demands and looking wishy-washy over its threat of military intervention is not a great look for the regional bloc.

28.07.2023 - 15:59 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Nordkoreas Potemkinsche Monarchie

(8. Februar 2018)

Die Rolle der russischen Staatsführung in der Korea Situation beurteilten wir mehrfach sehr negativ. Und es gibt aus unserer Sicht keinen Grund daran irgendetwas zu ändern, im Gegenteil. Es hat sich weiter unsere Analyse verdichtet, dass die Russische Föderation versuchte die Sanktionsstrategie (und damit eine friedliche und diplomatische Lösung) der Krise zu verhindern, sie weiterhin versucht zu unterlaufen bzw zu sabotieren, statt einer Lösung durch Sanktionen und Diplomatie gezielt einen Krieg auf der koreanischen Halbinsel in Kauf nimmt, Nordkorea als geostrategischen Bauern benutzt und versucht hat, die u.s.-amerikanische Regierung zu einem (weiteren) Angriffskrieg zu bewegen, diesmal mit noch schlimmeren Folgen als zuvor in bereits sechzehn Jahren Krieg. Gewinner wäre dabei auch die internationale Kriegslobby insgesamt, die wir hier im Groben auflisteten.

(…)

Geht man nun, wie wir bei Radio Utopie, davon aus, dass die Russische Föderation nicht nur bezüglich der Korea Situation, sondern weltweit seit Jahren ein extrem heimtückisches und falsches Spiel treibt und den vermeintlichen Gegnern, den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika und ihrem Klon “Europäische Union”, immer wieder zuarbeitet und in die Hände spielt – z.B. indem sie Nordatlantikpakt und E.U. nach deren eigenem mit faschistischen Fusstruppen durchgeführten Putsch in Kiev zu den “Beschützern” Europas beförderte und deren Aufrüstung auf dem Kontinent legitimierte (die “Neurussland”-Falle) – muss man sagen:

Natürlich gab die russische Staatsführung keine solche Beistands- und Neutralitäts-Erklärung gegenüber Nordkorea ab, wie es nun China endlich tat. Russlands Regierung gab eine solche Erklärung auch nicht gegenüber Libyen und auch nie gegenüber Syrien ab, genauso wenig wie die chinesische Staatsführung, obwohl dies Hunderttausenden von Menschen das Leben gerettet hätte.

22.07.2023 - 13:34 [ RT.com ]

Moscow lists seven conditions for grain deal resumption

Listing Russia’s conditions, Polyansky insisted that sanctions on the country’s grain and fertilizer exports to global markets should be lifted “in practical terms rather than just in words” while all obstacles to Russian financial institutions involved in the sector must also be removed, including their reconnection to the SWIFT payment system.

09.05.2023 - 04:58 [ ORF.at ]

China warnt EU: „Gefährliche“ Sanktionen

Bereits am Mittwoch werden die ständigen Vertreter der 27 EU-Mitgliedsstaaten in Brüssel über das weitere Vorgehen beraten. Dem Vernehmen nach soll das neue Sanktionspaket noch in diesem Monat beschlossen werden.

19.04.2023 - 12:23 [ Al Jazeera ]

Sudan: Burhan dismisses sanctions threats, lauds ties with Israel

(13 Feb 2022)

He also lauded ties with Israel, saying intelligence sharing between the two former adversaries helped arrest suspected fighters in his country.

(…)

US officials have said they are looking into options to respond to the killing of at least 79 protesters, according to a toll by medics, and to moves to impede civilian-led government.

11.03.2023 - 14:42 [ Oilprice.com ]

U.S. And EU Look To Launch Trade Talks On Critical Minerals

The United States and the European Union could launch talks on critical materials trade when U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the White House on Friday.

11.03.2023 - 14:05 [ Scharfenstein / Nitter ]

Von der Leyens Krisenbesuch bei Joe Biden: Scheitert sie, scheitert Europa

03.03.2023 - 17:17 [ Interfax.com.ua ]

Ukraine introduces sectoral sanctions for 50 years against all banks and nonbank financial institutions of Russia – decree

They include 10 points, in particular: stop transactions with assets owned by financial institutions of the Russian Federation; prohibition of establishing business relations, including correspondent ones; prohibition of transactions and investments in favor of financial institutions of the Russian Federation.

This list also includes a ban on the purchase of securities and other financial instruments issued by financial institutions of the Russian Federation, with the exception of the alienation (including gratuitous) of securities in favor of the state of Ukraine.

03.03.2023 - 12:40 [ CODEPINK / Nitter ]

BREAKING: The House is holding a special hearing to fearmonger over China, featuring China hawks from the Trump administration like H.R. McMaster. CODEPINK just disrupted them to call for an end to the warmongering – #ChinaIsNotOurEnemy!

(01.03.2023)

03.03.2023 - 12:25 [ GlobalTimes.cn ]

US hypes joint sanctions on China over ‚military aid to Russia‘ smears, ‚wooing allies for bloc confrontation‘

Washington is reportedly consulting US allies to impose sanctions on China in a coordinated manner „if China provides military support for Russia“ – an unwarranted smear by the US that has intensified in recent weeks.

Observers said on Thursday that the US‘ intentions behind the „open secret“ are crystal clear, including but not limited to justifying US sanctions and other anti-China deeds, undermining China‘s peaceful stance on the conflict to stain China‘s international image, as well as hijacking allies for a bloc confrontation taking shape.

03.03.2023 - 11:10 [ Reuters ]

Biden, Scholz to ‚get into the weeds‘ on Ukraine war, China concerns in Washington

The German leader arrives as United States is sounding out close allies about the possibility of imposing sanctions on China if Beijing provides military support to Russia for its war in Ukraine, according to four U.S. officials and other sources.

02.03.2023 - 13:40 [ Newsweek ]

Moldova, Rival Transnistria Warn Security Risk Intensifies Over Ukraine War

Fears of unrest have mounted in recent weeks as Moldova faced a series of overlapping issues, including soaring energy costs brought on by Western sanctions against Russia, whispers of an alleged Kremlin plot to destabilize the government of President Maia Sandu, and ongoing street protests against Sandu‘s administration.