WASHINGTON TIGHTENS INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS AS THE CORONAVIRUS RAVAGES THE WORLD

President Nicolás Maduro asked Trump to lift the sanctions against Venezuela in order to help the nation face the coronavirus. Trump’s response was to reinforce them by ordering even harsher ones. Yesterday the U.S. froze the assets of a company in the Middle East that was “caught” purchasing petroleum from Iran. It is mind blogging and outrageous that Washington is actually stepping up sanctions against both Venezuela and Iran, especially given the fact that the latter nation is one of the world’s hardest hit by the coronavirus, an occurrence which itself is the result of the sanctions. Some of the progressive media that I access skirts this issue. For instance, a few days ago the Young Turks (whose podcast I often download and like a lot) made reference to the conflict between Iran and the U.S. in the Middle East with no mention of the sanctions. This video by Code Pink’s Michelle Ellner lays the facts out clearly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrCZzE1QA6Y&t=10s