Sanctions-Induced Love Affair: Al-Monitor Discovers Cause and Effect
Al-Monitor, in a stunning re-discovery of basic geopolitics, highlights the shocking development of Iran and Russia forging closer bonds due to Western sanctions. As if 'isolation from the West' wouldn't naturally push targeted nations into alternative alliances. The article frames this as an unfortunate side effect, rather than a predictable, indeed intended, consequence of a foreign policy
strategy that prioritizes punitive economic warfare over diplomacy. (Perhaps the architects expected them to simply… wither away quietly?) This isn't a surprise, it's a feature. The US imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran for defying its will (circa 1979, amplified by the Trump administration in 2018), and on Russia for its actions in Ukraine (2014, intensified in 2022). The idea that sovereign
nations, cornered by economic pressure, would then seek mutual support from other similarly targeted nations is less a 'driving force' and more 'common sense.' The media's perpetual 'shock' at these outcomes often feels like a carefully curated amnesia, distracting from who set the dominoes in motion.