The US Sanctions Against Cuba

1 Literature Review In his text, Lamrani (2013) provides a historical analysis of the economic war that was levelled against Cuba by the USA through the use of a blockade. In the book, Lamrani argues that it is currently impossible for a person to get a full and contextual understanding of presentday Cuba without understanding the economic sanctions that it has had to live with as a result of the blockade by the USA. For more than fifty years, the US government levelled these sanctions from president to president, thus communicating the message that the blockade was part of the country’s foreign policy. One of the main arguments that Lamrani makes in this text is that the sanctions against Cuba functioned as a way for the US government to continue with its campaign to undermine the Cuban Revolution.

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2 In this way, therefore, even though the sanctions were of an economic nature, they had political undertones and had the key aim of carrying out political functions.

The text by Lamrani (2013) is particularly important in understanding the situation in Qatar. The author delves into a concise assessment of the origins of the blockade, the manner in which it was effected, the extent to which the blockade contravened established norms of international law, how the blockade affected the day-to-day lives of common Cubans, and the various strategies used by the Cuban government to navigate the US blockade. Notably, Lamrani’s work implies that Cuba is indeed a country of contradictions. As he argues in another text, despite the sanctions, the country was able to survive not only an economic crisis but the effects of economic isolation, particularly from the USA (Lamrani, 2015). In order to accomplish this, the country had to look away from the USA and towards other international actors in order to obtain the support that it needed. Therefore, just like Qatar’s strategy of strengthening ties, one of Lamrani’s key arguments is that Cuba was able to survive because it looked for support from other countries other than the West.

The example of Cuba can be contrasted with that of the sanctions which were imposed by several members of the international community during the Russo-Ukrainian War which occurred in 2014. The work conducted by Wang (2015) contains an analysis of the manner in which the sanctions imposed against Russia affected the country. In February of that year, Russia invaded Ukraine in order to seize control of Crimea. It is worth noting that the crisis came as a result of a lengthy dispute regarding the extent to which Russia could be said to have a right to dominate Ukraine. In trying to annex the region of Crimea, Russia sought to continue with its project of incorporating Ukraine into the idea of a greater Russia.

3 After Russia invaded Ukraine, the USA and the EU imposed international sanction over Ukraine. In imposing the said sanctions, the aim was to pressure Russia to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine and recognize it as a country which, according to international law, had a right to self-rule. Here, it is worth noting that it is not only Russia as a distinct state which faced sanctions. Instead, certain individuals, business organizations, and official members of the government also had sanctions imposed on them (Wang, 2015).

In their research article, Veebel & Markus (2015) note that, in order to deal with the crisis brought about by the sanctions, there were several strategies employed by the Russian authorities. The first thing that Russia did was to respond with its own set of sanctions. The author notes that these sanctions by Russia were imposed on several countries. Additionally, the country also effected a total ban on the importation of food from countries such as those in the European Union, the USA, Canada, and Australia. It is possible to argue that the imposition of counter-sanctions by Russia was a way through which the country could assert its national and territorial sovereignty. Even though this strategy may not had economic underpinnings, it was particularly useful because it allowed the Russian government to demonstrate that it had the right to conduct its affairs as per the principle of sovereignty.

From the work by Veebel & Markus (2015), one learns that, in order to be able to survive the sanctions, Russia focused on three key areas. First, it cut public spending. The country was able to achieve this by coercing its banks and other corporates in the country to clear up their balance sheets. This process was necessary to Russia because the sanctions imposed by the country had inevitably resulted in a situation where foreign investment had reduced significantly.

The second strategy used by Russia to survive the sanctions was to create local substitutes for the goods which were typically imported. This strategy augured well with the state of circumstances

4 at the time because of the counter sanctions which Russia had imposed on the other countries. It will be noted that, in the case of Qatar, there were no counter-sanctions effected. In addition to this, the country did not necessarily increase domestic production. Instead, it looked away from the GCC and ought to increase trade with other countries.

Weisbrot & Sachs (2019) argue that the difficulty of navigating sanctions, blockades, and embargoes can be seen in the manner in which the Venezuelan crisis was handled. In particular, one can note that, in seeking to strengthen foreign ties with other countries, Qatar and Venezuela share a similarity in so far as counter-strategies are concerned. It is necessary to note that, for a period slightly over a decade, the US has been imposing sanctions in Venezuela as a response for the activities of both the Venezuelan government and some of its individuals. Overall, the US sanctions have been with respect to terrorism, drug trafficking, human rights violations, and corruption. As Weisbrot & Sachs (2019) suggest in their text, the main effect of these sanctions has been a reduction in the amount of oil production.

As was noted, in order to deal with these sanctions, the Venezuelan government has opted to rely on its relations with other actors on the international plane. Here, it is noteworthy that, because the president of Venezuela effectively shut out foreign aid from countries such as USA and Canada, it has effectively placed itself in a position where it has to form international ties with other countries in order to address the challenges faced by its citizens as a result of the sanctions. The work by Weisbrot & Sachs (2019) shows that, in the recent past, Venezuela has turned to countries such as Iran in order to be able to navigate the crisis. In doing this, it is using the same strategy as Qatar.

As a result of the diplomatic row with its Gulf neighbors, Qatar has been undergoing a currency crisis. As the stalemate is still ongoing, Qatar has taken to the use of certain strategies

5 to be able to survive the sanctions imposed on it by its neighbors. One of these strategies was the use of currency shock, where Qatari Riyals were targeted and sold in low rates by Blockade countries, which resulted in USD devaluation. In seeking to understand the extent to which Qatar’s strategies will be successful, the work conducted by Ari & Cergibozan (2018) to look into the Turkish currency crisis of 1994 becomes useful. In their text, these two authors suggest that, when the USA imposed sanctions on Turkey in 2018, the country's strategy was to raise interest by 6.25%. It will be noted that, in that case, the move was able to introduce a level of calmness into the economy. However, it soon became evident that this calm was only temporary. This is because the economy continued to struggle. It is worth adding that, just like in 2018, the country is currently on the brink of facing another crisis. Guided by its past strategies, the country has the option either of obtaining more foreign currency through engaging in borrowing, or it could decide to raise interest rates as a way of responding to the deficit.

Even so, the raising of interest rates is not the only way through which countries facing sanctions attempt to navigate the said sanctions. Indeed, in the case of a country like Iran, the country’s strategy in responding to the currency crisis brought about by US sanctions is by injecting billions of dollars into the economy. This is as per the research conducted by Ahmed et al. (2020), who note that, in putting significant amounts of money into the economy, the aim is to stabilize the Iranian currency and to prevent it from falling even further.

As was noted in the case of Venezuela, the other strategy has involved the use of international ties. As Bootwala (2020) notes, there are several campaigns initiated by Iranian leaders not just to cooperate with countries like Venezuela, but also to put countries like the UK under the sort of pressure which will help them to bolster their currency. The pressure placed on the UK is with respect to a long-standing debt amounting to more than 400 million dollars. In

6 taking this second approach, it could be argued that Iran differs significantly from countries like Qatar. For Qatar, the main method of getting out of the crisis is to pay attention to its foreign exchanging while increasing and diversifying its trading channels.

Finally, the research conducted by Sharma (2018) demonstrates that, ultimately, when it comes to the question of currency crises, it may not be possible for a country which is facing a currency crisis to recover from the crisis without necessarily relying on the efforts of external forces. In his view, the recovery achieved by Thailand came about mainly on account of two factors. The first is that the country on a process of financial restructuring whose key aim was to offer support to banks. The second factor was the adoption of a strategy which placed its dependence on foreign firms as well as the export industry. It is these two strategies which helped the Thai government to recover from its crisis. Indeed, the example of Thailand has certain similarities with the twin strategy which is currently being utilized by Qatar.

References Ahmed, Y. A., Rostam, B. N., & Mohammed, B. A. (2020). The effect of the financial crisis on macroeconomic variables in Iraq, Iran, and Turkey. Economic Journal of Emerging Markets, 12(1), 54-66. https://doi.org/10.20885/ejem.vol12.iss1.art5 Ari, A., & Cergibozan, R. (2018). Currency crises in Turkey: An empirical assessment. Research in International Business and Finance, 46, 281-293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2018.04.001 Bootwala, M. (2020). The Iran Problem: An Evaluation of US Sanctions on Iran and Global Reactions. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 21, 136-141. https://doi.org/10.1353/gia.2020.0009

7 Lamrani, S. (2013). The economic war against Cuba: A historical and legal perspective on the US blockade. NYU Press.

Lamrani, S. (2015). Cuba, the Media, and the Challenge of Impartiality. NYU Press.

Sharma, S. D. (2018). Thailand: Crisis, reform and recovery. In The Asian financial crisis.

Manchester University Press.

Veebel, V., & Markus, R. (2016). Will sanctions against Russia be successful: will Russia fall before Ukraine? Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues, 5(4), 465-480. http://dx.doi.org/10.9770/jssi.2016.5.4 (2).

Wang, W. (2015). Impact of western sanctions on Russia in the Ukraine crisis. J. Pol. & L., 8, 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.9770/jssi.2016.5.4 (2).

Weisbrot, M., & Sachs, J. (2019). Punishing Civilians: US Sanctions on Venezuela. Challenge, 62(5), 299-321.