Comment by arcticbull | Hacker News Reader

Comment by arcticbull | Hacker News Reader

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> boo fucking hoo. why is that a big deal? why isn't china on the banned list if there is oh so trade war with them?

Completely irrelevant whataboutism.

> is binance an american company? if not then why should it care about american sanctions?

I suspect you haven't an understanding of the long arm of Uncle Sam.

That's also not accurate, after all many countries in which they do business have sanctions against Iran. The EU for instance. The UN. [1,2]

But beyond that, I think you'll find that US' view of its jurisdiction includes any businesses that do business with Americans. Even if they pretend not to do business with Americans with a '.us' entity set up under the 'Tai Chi' [3] framework to attempt to evade regulators. Especially if they have a long history of looking the other way over VPNs.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctions_against_Iran#UN_sanc...

[2] https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/sanctions/iran/

[3] https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2020/10/29/l...

> That's also not accurate, after all many countries in which they do business have sanctions against Iran. The EU for instance. The UN. [2]

These sanctions tend to be narrow, targeted and in general do not prohibit trade relationships.

It's an entirely different ball game than the immoral US secondary sanction regime.

Opinions on the morality of the US system are not really relevant to the outcome here. I don't particularly agree with sanctioning Iran either, but I'm sure not about to be on the wrong side of Uncle Sam over it and expect to get away scot-free.

Ignoring the law because you don’t like it is not a sensible strategy.

I thought that was American MO? Ignore the laws of any countries you don't like while imposing your own?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Nations_resolut...

6 December: Resolution 43/54: Reaffirmation of resolution 38/180 condemning Israel and calling all nations to cut ties with it.

i guess being an american "ally" is much better than a UN resolution calling for a worldwide boycott of israel. How can they??? ALLIES?

guess USA likes to selectively apply international law, only when it suits their purposes

America has a tendency to either ignore, or state outright that they do not recognize international law or organizations. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members%27_Pr... where the US openly states that it is not part of the International Criminal Court and refuses to acknowledge its jurisdiction.

American sanctions are not international law, but rather American Laws, and companies outside the US are free to ignore US laws as long as they are willing to not interact with the US. Binance could easily serve Iran iff, they do not do any business in the US, or with US companies or persons, and none of their employees or officers or probably family members ever travel to the US or a country willing to extradite to the US. But companies cry foul about that because they want their cake of making money in the US and eat it too of making money from Iran. Does Iran not have retaliatory sanctions against the US?

Oh, and lot's of other countries have sanctioned Iran too, so, also don't touch those countries.

This is just called statecraft.

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