Russia agrees on Sanctions for Iran?

Calling Iran's nuclear stance "irresponsible, Russia's president said Iran's leadership needs to heed an international community now in agreement on sanctions against that country, a Russian state news agency reported.

"Nobody wants sanctions," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told reporters on Saturday during a visit to Germany, where he met with Chancellor Angela Merkel. "But in some cases, it is necessary to agree on them."

More here...

My comments: There's been speculation as to whether the Obama admin has come to some sort of agreement with Russia regarding western expansion in Eastern Europe (Namely Ukraine) in exchange for support for a tougher stance on Iran. Russia's new position is certainly a change from their previous talk, indicating there was some sort of deal/arrangement struck.

Sanctioning Burma

The site Guernica magazine has an interesting article on the effectiveness of sanctions against the Burmese government. Here is an except:

"Morten Pedersen:South Africa was actually a partial democracy. Blacks were not involved in that democracy. But there was a white constituency that had influence on government decisions. In Burma, there is no such constituency. There’s no one outside the army that has influence on policy decisions. There’s a close business community. But while they’re close to the generals, they have no political influence. In South Africa, there was a large business community that had direct influence through electoral processes and beyond that. And South Africa was also heavily integrated into the global economy, and the global cultural community. The whites were really hurt by being shunned by what was in fact their peer group in Europe. So they were hurt, culturally they felt isolated, the shaming worked, and the economic pressure worked. And they then put pressure on the government. That may not have changed otherwise.

Guernica: In Burma, those elements are not there?

Morten Pedersen: The Burmese generals have no affinity at all with the people who are sanctioning them. Culturally, there’s no link whatsoever."

And the remainder of the article can be found here...