If I may, I'd like to bring up some of the debate about the FPR two years ago that I was involved in as a Senator, as I think it brings up some relevant issues to consider.
Why full economic restrictions on the Congo DRC , but none at all on Rwanda and Burundi, which along with Uganda, support rebel armies in the Congo, and extract minerals from Congo in order to fund them? Certainly Kinsasha is not blameless, but the last thing we want to do is put them at a disadvantage against the rebels. Targeted restrictions would be better.
(I'd like to note I wrote an amendment to address this issue, which passed the Senate, but has not been retained in the current proposal.)
My general opinion is that we should not place full economic restrictions on any nation except in extraordinary circumstances. We should be encouraging through trade those industries which promote the well being and sufficiency of people in other countries even when we do not approve of the government.
I have to agree with what my colleague is saying. While full economic sanctions can be a tool in helping affect democratic change in some cases, such sanctions often come at a significant loss of human life among the people while the ruling class simply substitute traded goods for the best domestic goods they can get... further depriving the people. Purposely depriving people of basic necessities in order to rile them up and affect change in their government is not much less cruel than the atrocities many of these despots are responsible for in the first place.
As Shua said, we should have targeted sanctions that hurt the government most while still allowing trade that is beneficial to the people (like food, building material, components for internet access, computers, etc. Nothing brings democracy better than modern day instant, universal communication).
on Somalia:
Somali pirates bring economic goods and activity to the impoverished Somali people, and thus they gain their approval. More legitimate venues of economic activity there are what is needed, not less.
And what about terrorists? Let's not pretend that Al-Shabaab isn't just dying to get a hold of money and goods sent to Somalia. I really see this as a preventative measure.
We should support through trade the efforts of Puntland and the other regions outside Al-Shabaab control. The more we cut them off, the less they will be able to withstand encroachments by the terrorist forces.
Now, in spite of our hostile policies toward the government and people of Somalia, they seem to be making some strides forward in defeating the terrorists and instituting a more democratic government.
