Sanction: Here's How President Obama Is Using the 'Oil Weapon'—Against Iran, Russia, and ISIS

Oct 10, 2014 | Michael Klare, Mother Jones
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It was heinous. It was underhanded. It was beyond the bounds of international morality. It was an attack on the American way of life. It was what you might expect from unscrupulous Arabs. It was "the oil weapon"—and back in 1973, it was directed at the United States. Skip ahead four decades and it's smart, it's effective, and it's the American way. The Obama administration has appropriated it as a major tool of foreign policy, a new way to go to war with nations it considers hostile without relying on planes, missiles, and troops. It is, of course, that very same oil weapon.