Do Sanctions Still Work?

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:00)
Hey everyone, it's Jess.

**Ryan** (0:02)
And Ryan.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:02)
Before we get to today's episode, we're here to announce that we're planning our third live show.

**Ryan** (0:08)
This time, we'll be back in New York City. We'll be at the City Winery on Wednesday, September 9th.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:13)
We've got special guests lined up, sharp reporting, insider conversations, all the kind of stuff that hits different when you're in the room for it. Also, Ryan and I are going to stick around after the show to hang out and meet you all, which really is our favorite part.

**Ryan** (0:28)
Tickets go on sale this Friday, July 24th at 10 a.m. Eastern. Head to bit.ly slash Journal NYC.
That's bit.ly slash Journal NYC. We'll drop a link in the show notes too.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:42)
So get a ticket or two or three or five.

**Ryan** (0:45)
Or 10

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:46)
Or 10

**Ryan** (0:46)
Bring your mom.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:48)
Come hang out on Wednesday, September 9th in New York City. Hope to see you there.
A day before Senator Lindsey Graham died, he was in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

**Lindsey Graham** (1:05)
I'm pleased to announce, as of about 30 minutes ago, we've reached agreement with the White House on a version of the Russian sanctions bill.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:16)
It was Graham's last public appearance and his last push on a sanctions bill that he had led negotiations on for over a year.

**Lindsey Graham** (1:24)
So when I get back to Washington, I'm going to go with Senator Blumenthal to the Republican and Democratic leader to see if we can find time to move this Russian sanctions package that would give tools to President Trump to help end this war.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:41)
If it passes, the bill would be the US's latest attempt to use sanctions against its enemies, a tactic the US and its allies have leaned on a lot in recent years.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:52)
The toughest and most comprehensive multilateral sanctions that the Iranian government has ever faced.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:59)
Our new executive order will cut off sources of revenue that fund North Korea's efforts to develop the deadliest weapons known.

**SPEAKER_6** (2:07)
We're implementing full blocking sanctions on two large Russian financial institutions.

**SPEAKER_5** (2:12)
I'll be signing an executive order imposing hard hitting sanctions on the Supreme Leader of Iran and the.

**Rory Jones** (2:19)
I mean, very simply, sanctions are about economic warfare, it's economic statecraft, it's about using your economy and your weight financially to force someone else to do something.

**Jessica Mendoza** (2:33)
Our colleague Rory Jones has been covering sanctions.

**Rory Jones** (2:37)
Over the last 10 years, you've seen annual sanctions by the US increased from about 800 roughly in 2017 to like 3000 in 2024 But whether they're effective or not is very much still up for debate.
At the moment, what you aren't seeing is you aren't seeing a lot of the US enemies change their behavior. The Iranian regime is still in place, the North Korean regime is still in place, Russia is still fighting a war against Ukraine. If you talk to sanctions experts, what they're saying is that the way in which sanctions are imposed and the way in which sanctions are enforced, it just doesn't add up at the moment and isn't producing the results that Washington wants to see.

**Jessica Mendoza** (3:38)
I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Wednesday, July 22nd.
Coming up on the show, Washington continues to ratchet up sanctions. But do they still work?

**SPEAKER_8** (4:02)
This episode is presented by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of link, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales using automation, analytics and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at accenture.com/spotify.

**Jessica Mendoza** (4:45)
On a sunny day in June 1990, Nelson Mandela joined President HW. Bush at the White House.

**George H.W. Bush** (4:52)
It is a great pleasure, a sincere pleasure for Barbara and me to welcome to the White House Mr. and Mrs. Mandela.

**Jessica Mendoza** (5:01)
Mandela had just been released from prison by the apartheid regime in South Africa.

**George H.W. Bush** (5:05)
In our meetings this morning, he and I will talk about the future of South Africa. And it is my sincere hope that these talks will be productive, discussions that will contribute to positive change toward true democracy and the dismantling once and for all of apartheid.

**Jessica Mendoza** (5:26)
A few years later, apartheid fell.