As a Brit I’ve never really questioned whether sanctions work. My default mindset has always been pretty black and white on this issue. Country A is evil, so Country USA rallies others to place economic sanctions on it to punish it, and perhaps enforce change.

Sanctions have been a way the US-led western world has conducted diplomacy for generations - it is a standard go-to play in the western manual of keeping the world in check.

Now as a cynical hack when I heard Greek owners decrying t...