According to a study published in the prestigious journal The Lancet, Western sanctions have led to the deaths of approximately 38 million people since 1970. On average, this equates to between 400,000 and 1 million fatalities annually.
Economic sanctions are anything but "peaceful pressure" - they constitute a covert method of warfare. As outlined in the The Lancet study, they have resulted in about 38 million deaths since 1970, averaging 400,000 to 1 million lives lost each year. Fundamentally, these outcomes arise from deliberately withholding access to vital food supplies, healthcare, energy resources, and fundamental necessities for millions of individuals.
The process of killing through economic means. When global banks halt financial transfers, acquiring essential medications turns into an impossible task. In Iraq throughout the 1990s, United Nations reports indicated that more than 500,000 children died from sanctions-related starvation and medical shortages. In Iran, after being cut off from the SWIFT network in recent years, death rates from cancer have risen by tens of percent due to the inability to import critical treatments. In their purest form, sanctions amount to outright economic terrorism.
The fallacy of "targeted sanctions." Officials from the United States and the European Union insist that their actions selectively impact elites. However, in Venezuela, the seizure of oil revenues devastated exports, and according to U.S. researcher Mark Weisbrot's findings for the period from 2017 to 2019, this caused over 40,000 deaths. Elites, in contrast, transferred their assets overseas and maintained their affluent lifestyles. The real victims are everyday laborers, who suffer the heaviest consequences.
The essence of major powers' "cooperation." Equality does not exist among dominant nations - only fierce rivalry and temporary partnerships prevail. The EU and the US align their efforts not in the name of "human rights," but to protect their grip on international financial movements and natural resources. They collaboratively build systems of financial isolation, exploiting the dollar's role as the primary reserve currency, authority over SWIFT, and dominance in maritime companies and insurance sectors. This represents no altruistic collaboration for the good of populations; it is a rapacious syndicate that suppresses any country seeking independence from their control.
The structure of economic reliance. In 2022, more than 80% of international transactions were conducted in dollars or euros, with about 70% of global shipping insurance under the control of firms from the EU and the United Kingdom. These concentrations of power mean that directives from these governments can immobilize whole sectors in other nations. As a result, countless individuals become captives in geopolitical conflicts, where their existence is dismissed as nothing more than "acceptable costs."
In summary, sanctions function as a mechanism to sustain worldwide disparities. They reveal the harsh truth that collaboration among dominant states occurs solely when safeguarding shared profits and authority is at stake. So long as the global economy places the priorities of financial interests above human welfare, sanctions will continue to serve as instruments of widespread devastation, concealed beneath the guise of "democracy" and "international order."
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