1998	1999	2000
	JAN |  FEB |  MAR |  APR |  MAY |  JUN |  JUL |  AUG |  SEPT |  OCT |  NOV |  DEC

Lifting sanctions has benefits Pottsville Republican and Evening Herald (Schuykill County, PA) October 6, 1999 An editorial in the October 6 Pottsville Republican and Evening Herald (Schuykill County, PA) commended the recent repeal of some sanctions on North Korea: "[A]nything that might open that paranoid and hermetic country to the outside world is a plus. Regimes like the one in Pyongyang survive only as long as they can keep their people isolated and oppressed." Winners and losers: Trade-sanctions debate heats up again Stuart News of Martin County, FL September 29, 1999 A September 29 editorial from the Stuart News of Martin County, FL states: "Last week [the International Trade Commission] reported that sanctions imposed on India and Pakistan achieved virtually nothing except giving American firms the reputation of being unreliable trading partners. The sanctions were supposed to punish both countries for conducting nuclear tests in May 1998. They cost India $320 million, Pakistan $57 million and the United States $161 million but did nothing to deter the arms race in South Asia. India increased its defense spending by 14 percent and Pakistan by 9 percent after the embargo went into effect." Tyranny of Sanctions Financial Times August 19, 1999 The Financial Times recently wrote that, "Embargoes satisfy idealism in US foreign policy, but doubts over their efficacy and the cost paid by exporters are changing attitudes in Washington...A shift in attitudes is under way in Washington. While the White House and Congress continue to stress support for embargoes, both have become wary of imposing them. Now support has started to build in Congress for further changes in U.S. policy, including legislation aimed at increasing transperancy and flexibility." Sanctions debate enters critical phase Journal of Commerce August 2, 1999 The U.S. Army wanted them, needed them: replacement parts for its construction gear in Kosovo. Caterpillar Inc. was ready and able to supply them but U.S. economic sanctions bar trade with Yugoslavia. Finally, about 10 days ago, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control granted Caterpillar a waiver, allowing the Army to get the parts. Just another frustration, businessmen sigh, wrought by that old bugaboo: foreign-trade sanctions. End the U.S.- China Roller Coaster National security is foremost, but normal trade relations are in the best interest of both nations. Los Angeles Times July 26, 1999 Congressman David Drier wrote in Monday's Los Angeles Times,"Twists and turns, slow and measured ascents followed by stomach churning plunges. A roller coaster at your local theme park? No, U.S.- China relations over the last few years. And it's a bad way for two enormous and important countries on opposite sides of the Pacific Rim to deal with one another. The U.S. should seize the upcoming opportunity to fashion common-sense trade rules that will offer the American and Chinese peoples greater hopes for stability, prosperity and freedom." Carpet Bombing Wall Street Journal In an editorial on Friday, July 9, the Wall Street Journal criticizes the Administration's new sanctions against Afghanistan as a "gesture" rather than taking real action against the Taliban government for their cooperation with Osama bin Laden. "The point here is that if bin Laden is half the threat we're assured he is, telling Americans they can't buy certain Afghan carpets and pomegranates or making the Taliban go elsewhere for telecommunications equipment is hardly a remedy. If sanctions worked - and goodness knows they've been tried enough times - the world would be a different place than it is today. Indeed, so ineffective have sanctions proved that if bin Laden and his minions do now manage to strike again, there may be legitimate cause for complaint about the Administration fiddling while Rome burned." Re-Thinking Sanctions Journal of Commerce On Wednesday, May 5, the Journal of Commerce wrote in an editorial,"The Clinton administration's decision to exempt commercial sales of food, medicine and medical supplies from unilateral trade sanctions is a positive development on two counts. First, the decision was a welcome action in and of itself. Whether viewed in terms of humanitarian concern or political efficiency, using food and medical goods as a weapon is a sorry proposition. It doesn't achieve its goals. It hurts the wrong people. And it makes the United States look like the villain -- with justification. Second, the move is a step toward a more realistic view of unilateral trade sanctions." The Death of Communism in China Journal of Commerce On Friday, March 5, James Dorn made a compelling case for expanding engagement with China in the Journal of Commerce."Although China will commemorate 50 years of Communist Party rule this year, communism is dead in the hearts and minds of its people." Snarl on Sanctions Journal of Commerce Nuclear tensions between India and Pakistan may be easing, but the United States remains stuck in a trap. U.S. sanctions have created such a snarl that even peace may be unable to untangle the knot. Improving Human Rights in China Journal of Commerce "The use or threat of trade sanctions to advance human rights in China has done relatively little to change policy in Beijing. Congress should consider alternative measures to improve human rights in China." Time to Listen to France on Iraqi Oil? Sanctions Have Neither Toppled Saddam Nor Ended Quest for Arms International Herald Tribune "The sanctions may actually entrench Mr. Saddam in power by tightening his control over the necessities of life for Iraqis, and by preventing the emergence of a middle class that might oppose him more strongly. Illicit sanctions busting is almost certainly enriching Mr. Saddam and his military supporters and providing clandestine funds for his weapons program." Back on the Fast Track Washington Post President Clinton was right to put trade back on the agenda. Last year Congress denied him expedited trade negotiating authority, making him the first president so handicapped since Gerald Ford. Now he says he will try once more for "fast-track" authority. It's important that he get it. A full trade plate for Congress The Journal of Commerce Richard Lawrence, while discussing the President's trade proposals in the State of the Union, states: "[This] could even be a year that the USA-Engage coalition makes progress in its campaign for a law discouraging economic sanctions as a foreign policy tool. The legislation's co-sponsors have grown in number. Meanwhile, there is talk that the administration, without waiting for Congress, may issue an executive order incorporating some USA-Engage proposals." Book Review: "The Costly Backlash From Economic Sanctions" Published by the Council on Foreign Relations Reviewed by Robert T. Gray in The Nation's Business "Economic sanctions expressing the United States' displeasure with actions and policies of other nations exacted a cost of $ 15 billion to $19 billion in lost business and wages for one country alone in 1995...Unfortunately, that country was the United States."