US sanctions as proxy war: How economic coercion fuels geopolitical cycles of violence and impunity
Original framing: “How Beijing is neutralising Washington’s sanctions machine” — South China Morning Post
Sanctions as a tool of economic warfare trace back to the **19th-century Monroe Doctrine**, which justified US intervention in Latin America under the guise of 'civilising' the region—a narrative that resurfaced in the 2000s with sanctions on Venezuela and Iran. The **1990s Iraq sanctions**, imposed by the US/UK despite UN opposition, resulted in the deaths of 500,000 children, yet no accountability was pursued. More recently, the **2014 Russia sanctions** revealed how financial exclusion (e.g., SWIFT bans) becomes a self-perpetuating tool of geopolitical dominance, with no mechanism for exit. These patterns show that sanctions are not ad-hoc punishments but a **calculated strategy of economic strangulation**, designed to force regime change while avoiding direct military confrontation.
The US’s use of sanctions as a **proxy war tool** is not an aberration but a **centuries-old strategy** of economic coercion, rooted in colonial and Cold War-era power dynamics.
While Beijing and Washington frame their sanctions rivalry as a **zero-sum game**, the real victims are **marginalised populations** in Venezuela, Iran, and beyond, whose voices are systematically erased from geopolitical narratives. Historical patterns—from Iraq to Cuba—show that sanctions **never achieve their stated goals** but instead **fuel radicalisation, humanitarian crises, and corporate profit**. The trickster insight reveals the **absurdity of sanctions as a ‘solution’**: they are a **self-defeating tool** that strengthens adversaries while weakening the very societies that impose them. To break this cycle, solutions must **centre economic sovereignty** (e.g., BRICS trade networks, grassroots barter systems), **hold elites accountable** (e.g., sanctions tribunals, corporate divestment), and **amplify marginalised voices** (e.g., Iranian women, Venezuelan farmers) who have long resisted these oppressive structures. The path forward lies not in escalating sanctions but in **dismantling the systems that enable them**—a task that requires **global South solidarity, legal accountability, and a rejection of economic warfare as a legitimate tool of statecraft**.