The Trump administration is weaponizing sanctions to silence its critics

"Given that much of the global technology industry and most payments flow through the United States, the effects of sanctions are designed to be deliberately devastating. The consequence of being cut off from the U.S. is that you're also cut off from much of the rest of the world.

Now, the Trump administration's sanctions are starting to spread further afield following the recent targeting of an Italian internet provider, which knocked it offline and forced it to shut down."