April 15, 2018

The Trump Administration Just Announced More Sanctions Against Russia

This time it’s in response to the suspected chemical attack in Syria.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin during the APEC Summit in 2017.Jorge Silva/Pool Photo via AP

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In the wake of last week’s suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Sunday that the United States will soon move to impose more sanctions on Russia. The Kremlin has been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s most important ally in the country’s lengthy civil war. Haley has criticized Russia for supporting Assad’s regime and for blocking international efforts to investigate Syria’s suspected chemical weapons use. 

“You will see that Russian sanctions will be coming down,” Haley said on CBS News’ Face the Nation. “[Treasury] Secretary [Steven] Mnuchin will be announcing those on Monday if he hasn’t already, and they will go directly to any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to Assad and chemical weapons use.” 

On Friday, President Donald Trump launched what he described as “precision” missile strikes against Syria, in a joint operation with the United Kingdom and France. The strikes targeted a research facility near the Syrian capital of Damascus and suspected chemical weapons storage facilities near Homs. 

Haley stressed that the United States did not want to start a war, but that it wanted to make it clear to Syria and its allies that there would be consequences for the use of chemical weapons. “Our goal was to send a very strong message to Assad and his friends that we are not going to watch them continue to use chemical weapons on their people,” said Haley. 

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced separate sanctions against several Russian oligarchs with ties to President Vladimir Putin. 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

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