US Coast Guard Discovers Sanctions Apply to Enemies Only
The U.S. Coast Guard, fresh off seizing one vessel and actively pursuing another tanker off Venezuela, is reportedly enforcing sanctions implemented during the Trump administration. This 'pressure campaign' on Venezuela's oil sector is described as a high-stakes, international maritime chase, all to ensure Caracas doesn't sell its own product. Curiously, this same zealous enforcement is
conspicuously absent when tracking goods from—say—Israeli settlements, widely considered illegal under international law, flowing into American markets. While Washington tightens the screws on Venezuela's economy, one might observe a distinct lack of US Coast Guard vessels blockading ports in, for instance, California, to prevent the import of wines, dates, or other products from the illegally
occupied West Bank. It appears 'international law' and 'sanctions' are delightfully flexible concepts, applied with full military might against nations the US dislikes, yet miraculously evaporate when uncomfortable truths about favored allies resurface. How many oil tankers must be seized before this selective justice becomes less of a policy and more of a punchline?