Inciting discontent with the despots is of course positive, but taking resources away from the common people is not — even if you focus solely on encouraging overthrow, it's counterproductive.

Even sanctions generally apply only to specific individuals and groups, rather than entire economies. Unfortunately, risk-averse financial institituions generally treat them in practice as applying to entire economies, since it can be virtually impossible otherwise to ensure you are not dealing with a sanctioned individual/group.