Rogues' Gallery of Sanctions.

• Author: Ullmann, O.

A U.S. embargo against Fidel Castro's Cuba was imposed sixty years ago, but it never achieved the end of the communist regime it had targeted. It probably was counterproductive by prompting the Cuban government to tighten its control and rally the public against a common enemy: the imperialist Uncle Sam. Likewise, a decade of U.S. sanctions have failed to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has thumbed his nose at stringent international sanctions and continues to build up his arsenal of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

Russian President Vladimir...