Sanctions imposed on Russia -- another view -- CathNews NZ

Sanctions imposed on Russia — another view

Friday, August 14th, 2015

The other day there was an item on CathNews expressing dismay and anger by anti-poverty campaigners, at hundreds of tonnes of food being destroyed by the order of Vladimir Putin.

This is much less than half the story and the other side needs to be aired also.

When Western nations impose sanctions on other nations, they do not usually advertise the fact that these sanctions, which are generally imposed by men, have, by far, their most harmful effects on mothers and children, innocent victims of this self- righteous imposition.

Part of sanctions always includes cessation of the financial aid, which, in a round-about way, enables thousands of women to be employed in a kaleidoscopic variation of employments, thus supporting their families – especially if their men are without employment.

So the main effect of sanctions, such as those imposed on Russia because of the Ukraine incursions, is to make family life, over vast swathes of the population, very difficult.

Women lose their jobs, their ability to support their families, are reduced to poverty or worse, while we, in the West, congratulate ourselves on our upholding of important principles.

Once again, all this is usually done by men, who feel empowered to make fundamental decisions which affect the health and family life of the other half of the population.

In the West, we have the greatest difficulty in recognising that our culture is only that – it is only our culture. It is not shared by billions of people living according to other norms.

There is nothing sacred or set in stone about our culture – our worship of democracy does not even stop to consider the travesty of democracy lived by countries which are nowhere near ready for this style of government.

We cannot conceive of women living totally different lifestyles from our women and being happy living that way.

So we express wonder that people do not have the common sense to view the world as we view it, and do not see that we are imposing sanctions only for their good.

In time they will learn to follow the path of true righteousness which we are showing them.