Sanctions here. Sanctions there. Sanctions everywhere. Hardly a day goes by without President Joe Biden imposing a new set of sanctions, mostly on Russia, but let’s not forget his sanctions on Iran, Syria, North Korea, China, and others.
Biden’s newest targets for his sanctions are the two daughters of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Daughters? Yes, Putin’s daughters! Well, that will teach that Russian authoritarian ruler a lesson! Why didn’t Biden, the Pentagon, and the CIA think of that before now? Surely now, Putin will immediately order his army to withdraw entirely from Ukraine and permit the Pentagon and the CIA to achieve their long-cherished dream of installing their nuclear missiles on Russia’s border.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon’s and the CIA’s assets and acolytes in the mainstream press are going gaga over each new daily round of sanctions — and in fact, many of them are calling for more. Heck, why not sanction Putin’s grandchildren, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, and former schoolteachers?
A few days ago, as part of Biden’s frenzied imposition of sanctions, U.S. officials seized a $90 million yacht in Spain owned by a Russian billionaire.
Spain? Yes, in Spain! Biden’s sanctions operate worldwide! Owned by a Russian citizen? Yes, a Russian citizen! That will surely cause Putin to reverse course.
That’s not all. Our sanctions-frenzied president is also seizing bank accounts here in the United States belonging to both the Russia government and Russian citizens. No, there have been no lawsuits or court judgments. That’s not the way things work here in the United States. Just outright seizure of assets without any due process of law whatsoever.
Perhaps it’s worth pointing out that the United States and Russia are not at war with each other. The war is between Ukraine and Russia.
Biden’s arbitrary and capricious seizure of Russian assets reminds me of federal asset-forfeiture laws. For years, those laws have enabled U.S. drug-war goons to steal money and other assets from people without ever charging them with a crime. If a person happens to be traveling on an American highway, for example, with a large amount of cash and is pulled over by a cop, the cop is authorized to steal the money and never has to charge the person with a crime.
That’s what’s going on with Biden’s, the Pentagon’s, and the CIA’s seizure of assets belonging to the Russian government and Russian citizens. Outright stealing without having to go to court to justify the stealing.
This is what happens when a government voraciously seeks money in an attempt to alleviate its massive out-of-control spending, debt, and inflation. It just starts seizing, confiscating, and stealing whatever assets it can get a hold of. Wait until they turn their gaze onto the American people’s 401k and other retirement accounts that are sitting like ripe plums for the taking, just as they did when they confiscated people’s gold coins back in the 1930s.
There is something else worth noting about all this sanctions frenzy: Biden is behaving just like rulers in Russia, China, Cuba, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and other dictatorial or authoritarian nations.
Notice that our sanctions-frenzied president doesn’t go to Congress for authorization to impose sanctions on a country with which America is not at war. He just does it on his own. Like any self-respecting dictator, he just wakes up each morning and issues, willy-nilly, new sanctions and seizure decrees. “Sanctions on that Russian billionaire! Seize his yacht!” Sanctions on Putin’s daughters! Seize their money!”
For that matter, when did Congress authorize Biden to furnish weaponry to Ukraine to assist it with winning its war with Russia? I don’t recall any such vote having been taken. Where then do Biden, the Pentagon, and the CIA gain the legal authority to embroil the United States in that war? Certainly not from the Constitution!
Lost in all this is that the American people end up living under the same type of dictatorial system in which Russians, Chinese, Cubans, Egyptians, and Saudis live — one in which the ruler rules by decree — one that is obviously antithetical to the principles of liberty, the rule of law, and limited government.
Isn’t that ironic? In the quest to punish Russia, which invaded Ukraine to prevent the Pentagon and the CIA from achieving their long-cherished dream of installing their nuclear missiles on Russia’s border, the American people end up sacrificing their own rights and liberties to a frenzied, sanctions-imposing president ruling by decree, just like in Russia, China, Egypt, Cuba, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and other totalitarian or authoritarian regimes.
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The Future of Freedom Foundation was founded in 1989 by FFF president Jacob Hornberger with the aim of establishing an educational foundation that would advance an uncompromising case for libertarianism in the context of both foreign and domestic policy. The mission of The Future of Freedom Foundation is to advance freedom by providing an uncompromising moral and economic case for individual liberty, free markets, private property, and limited government. Visit https://www.fff.org