I NOTE with interest the Agenda contribution from Lindsay Mackenzie (“Why EU sanctions have a limited role in taming the Russian bear”, The Herald, January 10). Sanctions have become the go-to weapon for maintaining world stability, a subject well worth an airing. They have become the way to penalise others for behaviour that rulers think challenging. But opinions change in governments. For example, one of the key foreign policy advisers to US president-elect Trump, Henry Kissinger, says Washington should accept Crimea as part of Russia.
The fines are usually levied unilaterally by a powerful nation, a regional grouping in the West, or the United Nations.
It is widely reported that China will be the next hegemon, so Beijing will likely write the rules of behaviour for all nations. President Obama anticipated that the US would be usurped so he tried to introduce US conditions for trade and investment in the world, an initiative the President-elect says he will scrap immediately when in office.
Ian Jenkins,
7 Spruce Avenue, Hamilton.
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