[Johnssmithss]

Selling stuff to dictatorships is bad, even if you make money from it.

[xnyan]

First, sanctions on Iran have zero to do with its authoritarian government - the US has no problem selling to authoritarian governments - but rather the geopolitical conflict stemming from a slew of lovely US actions such as overthrowing the democratically elected leader of Iran and installing a repressive and brutal dictator which destabilized the country to a degree that the events of 1979 and after were possible.

The efficacy of economic sanctions is complicated and debated, but one can absolutely say there is little compelling evidence that they result in positive outcomes for anybody.

[segasaturn]

The U.S. President fist-bumped with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia last year... I don't think authoritarianism is at issue here.

[skhunted]

The U.S. funded and actively supported Saddam. We don’t mind trading with and funding dictators so long as they are our dictator. That said, the IRGC deserves to be eliminated and it is OK to sanction Iran.

The petty dictatorships are forming their own trading club: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea.

[asdasdsddd]

Sanctions have nothing to do with style of government, it's all about geopolitics.

[swarnie]

Why?

Is one system provably better than all others and therefore must dominate?

I personally find the idea of an Oligarchical Republic to be a bit batty nuggets... Do i get to trade? Am i up against the wall in your world?

[Johnssmithss]

If you are against democracy then yes you may be up against the wall. Tough luck.

[nashashmi]

I dont think we have a policy of sanctioning dictatorships. Dictators in Saudi Arabia too.

And Iran is not a dictatorship. (Surprised?)

[cutemonster]

It's a dictatorship.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Leader_of_Iran

[thriftwy]

It seems that most of the world (population- and GDP-wise) is drifting towards authoritarian rule with immutable Dear Leader. Russia, then Turkey, then China, India is arguably getting there too. You're placing Iran in the same bucket. Maghreb countries? Middle East? Central Asia?

As far as dictatorships go, Iran actually has some political life.

That would eventually make your position untenable.

[Johnssmithss]

> That would eventually make your position untenable.

When exactly would it be untenable for me to not support trade with authoritarian regimes?

[geff82]

Then what about ending all trade with China? Or what is the difference?

[Johnssmithss]

I would be happy to see a long-term plan to phase out trade with China. Of course that couldn't change from one day to the next, but I wouldn't mind a plan to phase out trade with countries like China.

[lupusreal]

America doesn't care whether a country is a democracy or a dictatorship. Saudi Arabia is a dictatorship and America does business with them, even sells them weapons to murder Yemenis with. Iran was a democracy but America and the UK deliberately undid that.

[ok123456]

So, we're going to stop selling weapons to Israel?

[crowcroft]

Could you expand on this, my understanding was that Israel held relatively free and fair elections.