Enrich smugglers...

The sanctioning of Russia is just about the only arrow left in the Empire's depleted quiver with which to "punish" the Kremlin for its Ukrainian adventures. But if there are any locoweed smokers still out there that think Amerikan sanctions, embargoes and punitive trade measures are intended to do anything other than enrich smugglers, security forces, organized crime bosses and bankers, let us consider how Amerika was, is and will be for the foreseeable future a country that profits from illegal "trading with the enemy". Like everything else here in the Empire, following Deep Throat's dictum ("Follow the Money") will lead one to True Wisdom. 

Take our revolutionary war for instance. Ostensibly fought over "taxation without representation", freedom from tyranny and independence, it actually was an economic struggle over Amerikan smugglers depriving the Crown of customs revenues. One of the most famous episodes of alleged patriot defiance was the Boston Tea Party, which was actually perpetrated by Amerikan tea smugglers worried about cheaper British tea eating into their profits. During the war itself colonials profited by selling to the Brits as well as the "patriots". 
The tradition of Amerikans never letting patriotism get in the way of making a buck began at the beginning. This trend continued with the war of 1812, to the point that the British blockaded all of the Amerikan coastline, with the exception of the New England ports, since the New Englanders eagerly traded with "the enemy". 

The Civil War profited smugglers on both sides of the Mason Dixon Line, with banks providing the financing of ships and cargoes. Whites regularly traded guns and ammo with the red man during Amerika's genocidal neocolonial wars, often with the US Army's connivance. Perhaps most notoriously, Amerikan industry made profits from German subsidiaries operating during WW 2, though this had to come in the form of Congressional dispensation after the conflict ended. 

During the entire Cold War, Amerikan industries profited from selling prohibited technologies to the USSR, using shell companies, cooperative laundering banks and CIA middlemen. Likewise, embargoes against so-called "rogue" nations like Iran have been easily circumvented by profit seeking entities using these same labyrinthine connections worldwide, the same kind of network that facilitated AQ Khan's Nuke Walmart operations with the assistance and profit skimming of the CIA, DIA and NSA. 

In this light, can anyone imagine that embargoes against a country like Russia amount to anything other than fattened back accounts for smugglers worldwide? It might be worth pointing out that a goodly chunk of the international smuggling biz is already run by Russians, who have been in the trade for a lot longer than Amerika was even a name. As far as Russia is concerned, the more sanctions, the better. The only way any sanctions imposed on anyone by O'Bomber makes any sense is that he's getting his beak wet on the smuggling action also. Which many explain a lot.
H Campbell
Quelle