Sanctions Don’t Work

David Baldwin wrote that sanctions get a bum rap (Commentary, Aug. 18). My opinion is they get the rap they deserve. Sanctions are like gun control. Governments use each to give the appearance of doing something. Either works only to keep law-abiding people in check.

Bad people running governments and criminals pay no attention to rules. Consider the current government of Zimbabwe. President Robert Mugabe and his cronies ignore the economic sanctions applied by Western countries because they have no regard for effects on the population; they are not suffering themselves. For North Korea and Kim Jung Il and his generals, it’s the same story.

Jim Dodd

San Diego