ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Sanctions go against diplomacy, says Albright

The US Congress's penchant for imposing economic sanctions deprives the administration of the flexibility necessary to carry out an effective foreign policy, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said today.

"I think we must do something about it,'' Albright said on CNN's Late Edition, "because sanctions that have no flexibility, no waiver authority, are just blunt instruments. And diplomacy requires us to have some finesse.''

"I can't do business, or the president can't do business, with our hands tied behind our backs,'' Albright said in the interview taped Friday, while the secretary was in London.

Critics of sanctions, such as Senator Richard Lugar, say unless they are imposed multilaterally, they mainly result in Americans losing business to other countries. "We need to make certain that we understand what we are doing with sanctions,'' Lugar said on CNN.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report