Enea Gjoza is a former senior fellow at Defense Priorities. Enea worked at the State Department and has a BA in Political Science from Duke University and an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he was a Belfer Fellow.
America’s dominance of the global financial system confers many advantages: influence over the institutions governing the global economy, the ability to borrow cheaply, and regulatory authority over most large foreign corporations. Policymakers have abused this power, often sanctioning other states to punish rather than secure realistic political concessions. Overuse of sanctions has spurred other nations to develop alternative economic and financial institutions outside the U.S.-led system—threatening to undermine U.S. financial hegemony. Sanctions, a tool of statecraft, are best employed when carefully crafted and in pursuit of necessary, clear, attainable goals.
The Saudi-UAE-led intervention in Yemen’s civil war undermines U.S. interests: It prolongs and exacerbates a civil war that has increased Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) presence there, needlessly breeds new enemies and resentment toward the United States, and undermines U.S. standing as an exemplar of liberal values. None of our limited interests in the Middle East, and no achievable security or prosperity gains in Yemen, justify our involvement. U.S. military support for the Saudi-UAE-led coalition should end.
