Economic sanctions - another case of good intentions leading to bad outcomes

Naom Chomsky has made this point repeatedly about Iraq (and probably abt other countries) - that applying economic sanctions against a dictatorship merely fortifies the status quo. The common man who is fighting for bare survival has no time or the means to understand the grand goals of those sanctioning the sanctions. He has no choice but to depend more heavily on the ruling establishment (which he most likely hates) for basic necessities. Thus, sanctions keep local constituencies in the rest of the world satisfied, but actually harm those living in dictatorships.

As far as I know, the only leader who openly opposed sanctions was Margaret Thatcher who had the foresight to make this point in the case of South Africa - that UN sanctions was a second layer of sanctions against the victims of apartheid.

Curiously, this article says sanctions worked against S.A. It also says that using Charles Darwin is better than using Adam Smith to understand the behaviour of tyrants. May be. But to understand the behaviour of the common man, Adam Smith will do...